It’s funny how you don’t realize how much you miss a book
until you pick it back up again and start reading. I forgot how much I love
Orenstein. Her style and her humor really make the book a delight to read. Some
of my favorite parts were when she called a random toy “tawdry and badly made- what a bargain!” and
when she said that Edward falling in love with someone as plain, untalented,
and helpless as Bella is the true fairy tale of the Twilight series.
Orenstein had some very serious points that made me think.
In discussing violent play on pages 98 and 99, Orenstein notes that it can be
useful if kids are able to use “their imaginations to create the story lines,
props, outcomes.” This type of imaginative play has become rather rare now,
since TV programs “essentially became vehicles to sell toys.” This causes kids
to simply just copy the story lines they see on TV. Playing all over the
country has become “homogenized” because there is no need to imagine what can
happen anymore; everything the characters do is shown on screen.
This passage reminded me of an article we read earlier in
the year, called “The $500 Million Battle Over Disney’s Princesses” by Claire
Suddath. To summarize, Suddath explains that kids want toys that are connected
to TV shows or movies. They like characters and stories. Instead of kids creating
them themselves, big companies create and market them to kids.
This makes me so upset. Imagination is so important to
development and childhood in general. Without imagination, there would be no
entrepreneurship. Imagine if Steve Jobs never invented the iPhone. How much
worse off would you be?
I am afraid that if kids grow up with stories and characters
already shoved down their throats, innovation will cease into oblivion. How can
we expect the next generation to create the products and methods that make our
lives better without ever letting them explore their imaginations?
Further, Orenstein explores the original
fairy tales on page 100. She cites Bruno Bettelheim, and writes, “Fairy tales
demonstrate that hardship may be inevitable, but those who stand fast emerge
victorious.” This was a much more positive statement than I had seen recently
about fairytales, and it’s one that I agree with. Fairy tales are meant to be fictitious.
Princesses are meant to undergo hardship and end up happy. In Disney versions
of fairy tales, happiness equates to marrying a prince, which is problematic.
However, this doesn’t have to be the case. Orenstein points to The Paper Bag Princess, in which the
heroine is rejected by a prince because of her paper bag appearance, so she
dumps him and goes independently on her merry way. I certainly didn’t know
there were fairy tales where the princess can find happiness in being alone.
While Orenstein thinks this is flawed because she wants her daughter to still
find a man that makes her happy, I believe that girls will try to do that no
matter what, but they should be taught that they don’t have to stick around
jerks, and that it is possible to be happy and single. This is the opposite of
what Twilight tells teens. Bella is
always unhappy unless she is with a guy. UGH! I hate Twilight and so does Orenstein. It’s unrealistic and the characters
are annoying. I’m getting heated just writing about it now.
It was great to explore the problems with princess culture
with Orenstein again. I look forward to reading what else she has to say soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment