Fairy tales may seem normal and fantasy-like, but in reality they are not, if we analyze them in more depth. The portrayal of women is one of the negative things about fairy tales because it reflects all the work that a woman has to do in order to be in good standing with a man. Women in fairy tales have to sacrifice a lot in order to do things right. There are also those main characters who try to find their freedom even though others want to keep them locked up, as for example in the case of Cinderella, Snow White, and the Little Mermaid. The Little Mermaid had to confront her father in order to get what she wants, Cinderella confronts her stepmother and her stepsisters and her father was never present, Finally Snow White ends up leaving her house fleeing from her father as well. These main characters, despite the fact that there were people who wanted to keep them locked up, did not let themselves be controlled. Fairy tale movies demonstrate feminism because there were main characters that did not let themselves be controlled by others while there were some that did seek their freedom. 

The role of men in fairy tales could be said to be important but at the same time not, why? Because in fairy tales there is not much representation of men since they, for example, do not have and do not do what corresponds to women. That is why in almost all fairy tale movies women are the protagonist because they are the ones who always receive rejection, humiliation, and are pushed aside among other things. But despite everything, there are some who manage to fulfill their dream despite the fact that other people want to hold them back, such as Merida, The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, and Rapunzel. These are the main characters that I know that struggle with their family so they can get out of their comfort zone.  Jeana Jorgensen says… “In fairy -tale scholarchip, too, masculinity has often been treated as an afterthought, beyond the more general concern with topics like heroes. Here I focus on masculinity not only as a contracting element to femininity, but also as a complementary aspect of gender. construction.” (338). Gender roles in fairy tale books are really important because As we see here, these are books that are in school and they are books that will reach students who are in school, which can harm their learning because later, as they learn more about history, they will find it normal for women to do everything.  

Feminism in fairy tales is not only seen in the way men treat women, but it can also be reflected in women once they grow up and begin to hurt other people because of what they suffered when they were little. Laura Mattoon D’Amore says about Hansel and Gretel, “The second textual analysis is about Gretel, as reimagined in the 2013 film adaptation of Hansel and Gretel, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, which examines Gretel as a survivor of abandonment, abduction, and trauma. Gretel becomes a witch hunter after she and her brother are nearly cooked and eaten by a terrifying witch; she molds her body into a strong, confident, and dangerous weapon of destruction.” (387).  One example is that some main characters in their childhood go through a bad time because they were mistreated or maybe because their parents did not love them, because they rejected them. But these main characters that are witches and evil in the stories are because someone once did the same to them and they want to cause the same harm to another person. Ursula from The Little Mermaid was an evil witch but she also had to go through a bad time in her childhood. 

Here is another proof that fairy tales do contain feminism. What happens with this topic is that they do not want to bring it to light so that other people do not realize the true content that it contains. This is reflected in the way that some women go through sexual harassment and do not say it. Lisa G. Propst says “In Marina Warner’s study From the Beast to the Blonde, her novels Indigo and The Leto Bundle, and her short story “Ballerina: The Belled Girl Sends a Tape to an Impresario,” she reinterprets fairy-tale scenes of sexual violence as, paradoxically, potential catalysts for women’s self-assertion. She refuses to define rape by the suffering it causes.” (125-126). The way that feminism is reflected in this evidence is because it speaks of a woman or perhaps a fairy who had to pretend and stay silent about sexual abuse. It may have been a woman because there are different versions of each Disney movie. For example Cinderella has different versions, Bluebeard, and the Sleeping Beauty. In the movie the Sleeping Beauty, there is a version where she is prostituted without her knowing it, which makes this a possibility of sexual abuse.

But even though fairy tales reflect feminism and some women know it, there are still those who believe that this is a lie or that the main characters give them courage to carry on. This is what can be observed in this article by Elizabeth Wanning Harries, who says…“In the great feminist fairy-tale debates of the 1970s, all the participants assumed that tales have a direct effect on women’s lives and dreams, presenting “romantic paradigms that profoundly influence] women’s fantasies and the subconscious scenarios for their real lives” (Rowe 69). Even Alison Lurie, who sparked the debates with her 1970 article “Fairy Tale Liberation,” assumed a fairly direct relationship between women’s lives.”  As you can see in this article, it talks about how there are some women who feel identified with the main character  because they practically have to do the same thing that they do, something that is really wrong because they should not normalize this. On the other hand, I think that each person has a different point of view and in addition to that, each person has a different story, even with fairy tales. And you will see hundreds of women who will feel identified with the main characters. 

In conclusion, fairy tales are stories that people see as something normal or as something fantasy. But on the contrary, fairy tales sometimes are about feminism and they make both men and women understand that it is normal for them to have to do everything or that it is normal for them to have to endure humiliation from other people in order to gain something. But mostly, characters in fairy tales are strong in the end. I say this because just like there are characters like Cinderella and Rapunzel, who at first are seen to be controlled by another person, in the end they get out of this situation. And so we can see in real life with women that they are strong and brave to face the obstacles that life has for them, and we are in a generation where half of women no longer let themselves be controlled by a man, and now they try to get ahead to depend on themselves. 

Jorgensen, Jeana. “Masculinity and Men’s Bodies in Fairy Tales: Youth, Violence, and Transformation.” Marvels & Tales, vol. 32, no. 2, 2018, pp. 338–61. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.13110/marvelstales.32.2.0338. Accessed 19 Nov. 2024

Laura Mattoon D’Amore. “Vigilante Feminism: Revising Trauma, Abduction, and Assault in American Fairy-Tale Revisions.” Marvels & Tales, vol. 31, no. 2, 2017, pp. 386–405. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.13110/marvelstales.31.2.0386. Accessed 19 Nov. 202

Propst, Lisa G. “Bloody Chambers and Labyrinths of Desire: Sexual Violence in Marina Warner’s Fairy Tales and Myths.” Marvels & Tales, vol. 22, no. 1, 2008, pp. 125–42. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41388862. Accessed 19 Nov. 2024.

Harries, Elizabeth Wanning. “The Mirror Broken: Women’s Autobiography and Fairy Tales.” Marvels & Tales, vol. 14, no. 1, 2000, pp. 122–35. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41380745. Accessed 19 Nov. 2024.

Grimm, J. (n.d.). Cinderella. Grimm 021: Cinderella. 

https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm021.html.

Bruno Bettelheim. Bartleby. (n.d.). “Analysis Of Cinderella by Bruno Battleheim”

https://www.bartleby.com/essay/Analysis-Of-Cinderella-By-Bruno-Bettelheim-FJ7JAKLU6GT#:~:text=Bettelheim%20argues%20throughout%20his%20article,parent%20of%20the%20same%20sex.