Fairy Tale Princesses Will Kill Your Children is a book written by Australian author Jane Gilmore that retells the Disney princess classics. Gilmore discusses, disseminates and rewrites Disney’s original “top five princesses”: Snow White (1937), Cinderella (1950), Sleeping Beauty (1959), The Little Mermaid (1989) and Beauty and the Beast (1989). The similarities between all these stories include a beautiful, unselfish, motherless young girl, beset by a jealous older woman and saved by the Handsome Prince. As Gilmore puts it “Other than identifying older women as the only real threat to young girls, each story is about the Princesses’ path to true happiness in the form of marriage to the Handsome Prince.”
The first four of these OG princesses are covered in my Happily Ever After Series in which I tried to reframe the princesses in a more active role, as shown below. In addition to Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella,and The Little Mermaid, I also looked at Rapunzel and Hansel and Gretel.
Snow White and Sleeping Beauty
Falling in love with unconscious young women is considered normal in both Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. If submissive princesses are all the rage, then you can't be more passive than these almost-dead princesses. Both heroines are sexually assaulted whilst unconscious and then wake up and marry their attacker. Gilmore goes into the details of the original stories, and needless to say it's alarming.
Cinderella
The story of Cinderella combines the popular rags-to-riches tale with the classic make-over trope. The makeover movie is when the unassuming lead female character undergoes a radical, yet superficial, physical transformation involving makeup, new clothes, and a visit to the hairdresser, which now makes her undeniably attractive to the lead male character. This is obviously what happened to Cinderella, as the Handsome Prince was unable to recognize her face when she was dressed in her rags. A modern-day Cinderella story can be seen in Pretty Woman (1990). As with my depiction of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, the Handsome Prince is removed from the picture. You can read more about my depiction of Cinderella here.
The Little Mermaid
The Little Mermaid falls prey to an evil older woman and literally gives up her voice for her chance for love. She has a little male fish called Flounder that follows her around as an ineffectual chaperone (like Olaf in Frozen) but she does not have a mother, aunty or even a female friend that can offer useful advice. She is just another lonely Princess surrounded by males and jealous older women.
In the depiction of the Little Mermaid above, instead of giving her a voice, I have given her a nursery rhyme, She Sells Sea Shells, which is inspired by the Victoria-era fossil hunter named Mary Anning. As a pioneering paleontologist, Anning was responsible for the discovery of several categories of animals. However because she was a woman, she received little credit for her achievements at the time, but has since received acclaim for her work. Both Mary Anning and Ariel, two women by the sea, trying to find their voice in a male-dominated world, joined together in an artwork.
Rapunzel
Rapunzel is one of many 'woman trapped in the tower' stories which may have originated from the story of Danae in Greek mythology. You can read more about Danae and Rapunzel here. In Rapunzel's case, she was trapped in the tower by an old witch and was later rescued by a Handsome Prince. There are no surprises here. In my imagined retelling, I replace the Handsome Prince with a female ally who helps her escape.
Hansel and Gretel
Hansel and Gretal is a German tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and punished in 1812. The story of Hansel and Gretel sits outside the classic Disney princess story however it shares many similarities with the aforementioned top five princess stories. In place of a loving mother, the siblings have an evil stepmother who asks their hapless (and blameless) father to abandon the children in the woods. This part of the narrative shares similarities with all the other princesses’ stories in which the fathers show little interest in protecting their children from their first marriage. Like Snow White, these children are abandoned in the deep dark woods and left to die. Hansel and Gretel are then preyed upon by an evil older woman, which appears to be a very common threat in medieval times since it is a recurring theme in the Grimm Brothers stories. While the Handsome Prince does not appear in this story (he is too busy to trifle with the children of poor families), Hansel does manage to rescue his sister, thereby enacting the common damsel in distress storyline (albeit without a Handsome Prince).
Beauty and the Beast
The final story in Gilmore’s novella is Beauty and the Beast. According to Gilmore variations of this story have appeared in many cultures, including The Woman Who Married the Snake in Indian folklore, the Fairy Serpent in Chinese culture and the Russian story called The Secret Flower. I never did like Disney’s version of Beauty and the Beast, even as a child. The singing and dancing cutlery did not distract me from the uneasy feeling that Belle was being coercively controlled after being gifted to the Beast like a piece of furniture.
Gilmore eloquently points out what my childlike mind could not articulate. Belle is in an abusive relationship with the threatening and controlling Beast. Furthermore, the Beast’s salvation relies solely on Belle’s selfless and compliant behaviour. I could not bring myself to paint any version of this tale.
Instead of Beauty and the Beast, I focused my attention on a different beast: the wolf. Belle becomes Little Red Riding Hood (the nameless girl) and the Beast is the Wolf. In my retelling, Little Red tames the wolf into an obedient domesticated dog, not only eliminating the threat but turning it into an ally.
Fairy tales have always been a reflection of their times, shaped by the cultural fears and values of their origins. By revisiting and reshaping these stories, both Gilmore and I not only critique outdated paradigms but also create space for more empowering narratives. In my reinterpretations, I aim to honor the essence of these tales while offering a fresh perspective—one where the heroines take control of their destinies, defeat their "beasts," and create their own happily ever afters.
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