The Analysis of Pygmalion and Galatea

This is a painting of Pygmalion and Galatea. Since I was in British Literature last year, I wanted to look further into this story. Pygmaliona and Galatea is a Roman myth about a sculptor, Pygmalion, who was disgusted by women after, I can only suppose, having too much run ins with the wrong kind makes a perfect, virginal woman sculpture and falls in love with it. He names it Galatea (well, actually, a Frenchman named her Galatea after the Greek myth about the nereid who fell in love with a human man and turns into a goddess), and he prays to Aphrodite to make her real. Aphrodite makes her real, and the two live happily ever after.

If only it could really happen. I actually was looking at the Greek painting of The Triumph of Galatea by Raphael when I remembered this story. It is typically masculine becuase there are no "perfect women" in the world. Men's ideals of a perfect woman is just nonexistant, especially in their terms. I wish the story went on to describe all the actions of Galatea such as if she obeyed his every command, cleaned, cooked, had beautiful baby boys for Pygmalion, etc. The thought of a man creating a "perfect woman" both tickles and irritates me. It's symbolic to me that no one is perfect, but I wish she never came to life because it would have been better as a satire on how men chase after the ideal woman in vain.

The painting depicts what men want I suppose. In the painting, there is a baby angel holding clothes around her to emphasize her innocence and pure angelic nature. At least, she is above him in both position and perhaps in purity, etc. The one thing that saves me from hating this story is that he is enthralled by her; she holds power over him!

The Real Little Red Riding Hood

Interesting... ok, well, a little mind blowing, but it makes sense. Most fairy tales, now that I think about it, do not really have morals or lessons to them, and in the end, seem really pointless and merely candy instead of food for thought.

I find it a little sad that our culture (if it's old enough to even exist) in America (and England I suppose) slowly dumbed down fairy tales until there were no substance left which led to safer minds or innocence untouched or what have you, but look at Americans today. The clothes industry alone is competing to see who'll buy the shortest shorts and the tailors, etc. all cheer because their clothes can be made with less and less care. Girls love tattered clothes, frayed ends, worn this and that. They want their shirts to be see through. Clothing companies must be having money fests just cutting back on cloth, thread, enough paint to actually screen a whole shirt because a little splotchy, faded, half unreadable pictures are in. Being seductive, scandalous, might I go as far to say as a little slutty is what most girls strive for. Like the lipstick, girls should want to be chased by wolves.

What I really loved about Ms. Magazine's article was the mentioning that tales like Little Red Riding Hood originated by women with strong leading heroines. The Little Red pulling out a magnum or at least tricking the wolf is more my style. It irritates me to no end to think men took their ideas of how women should be, and made it into "lessons" for girls to follow to be more submissive and good.

In a way, though it is shocking, I like these more realistic fairy tales because they have meaning to them. It is true that if you were pretty in that time in France you could easily be seduced and disgraced. However, I do wish there were some fairy tales (scarily realistic or not) teaching men lessons, too such as not to be wolves, etc. In a way, sexist sounding or not, some American girls might need to hear the French version, and all girls who think men are all powerful or that it's fine to just act loose because it's all about sex and money, etc. could hear one of the true original fairy tales straight from the source, women.

Trip Down Memory Lane

When I first read the prompt, my first thoughts went to the Disney princess fairy tales. However, on further inspection, I realize I did not really like any of them. Sleeping Beauty sleeps until the prince wakes her up (not to mention her dress is not that pretty), Snow White cleans for little men then takes an apple from a stranger, and Cinderella, though probably the most interesting due to the fairy godmother and the cute mice, cleans until someone realizes she is kind hearted and drop dead gorgeous and marries her (of course he's a prince).

My favorite children's stories are probably the short tales from those Japanese collections like The Sticky Pine, Momotaro, and the Jizou Statues. I suppose I like them because I love my Japanese culture, learning about it, being a part of it, etc. Plus, the stories have morals, the good guys win, and the bad guys lose, but with better reasons and rewards than Disney. However, it was probably the culture that got me into it; I was not that deep of a six year old. I also like Soup From a Stone because it was funny, and the soup actually sounded really good. My mother was also a very comical and realistic storyteller.

As I think about it, the one Disney fairy tale if it even counts, is Anastasia. I like the music, the plot, and the touch of magic. Bartok, the bat was hilarious, Anastasia is a strong heroine which I tend toward even now, and of course, it ends happily ever after.

I realize that even as a little kid, I like those three things: magic, music, and, in a way, history. After I outgrew Disney and the like, I went on to those Royal Diary books which were semi-fictional diaries of princesses throughout history from all sorts of different cultures.