It seemed to me that she took a fully stereotypically feminist stand on her story. A stereotypical feminist is defined in this blog as the feminists that are represented in caricatures: stubborn, butch, and completely hateful of all men.
Rather than being strong or heroic, men are completely helpless. They need women to guide them and they are usually completely idiotic. For instance, the young prince who had to find Beast's skin: He believed that everyone would take care of him and help him along his journey, but when he actually had to do things for himself, he was completely incapable. The only men who were not represented as horribly were Beast and the Marsh King, both of whom had very feminine characteristics, rather than attempts at being masculine.
I think the story would have been more interesting had gender roles been discarded. While I will note that the majority of readers would likely assume that the heroes were male and the damsels were female, I think it would have been a refreshing change from a story in which there are relatively rigid gender roles.
Even more interesting would have been mixed gender roles, where women were antagonists, damsels, and heroes, and men assumed the same roles, depending on the character and the situation.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the story. However, I have grown tired of stories which many claim have pushed gender roles, when, in reality, they simply seemed to have replaced every "she" with "he" and vice-versa.
I think the story would have been more interesting had gender roles been discarded. While I will note that the majority of readers would likely assume that the heroes were male and the damsels were female, I think it would have been a refreshing change from a story in which there are relatively rigid gender roles.
Even more interesting would have been mixed gender roles, where women were antagonists, damsels, and heroes, and men assumed the same roles, depending on the character and the situation.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the story. However, I have grown tired of stories which many claim have pushed gender roles, when, in reality, they simply seemed to have replaced every "she" with "he" and vice-versa.
One of my teachers was at a feminist rally, and a woman asked him why he was there; he said he supported women's rights. She told him "All men are potential rapists." It is important to remember "He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster"
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting point, and after reading your blog I do agree. I think that gender roles are not entirely discarded in this story. However, can gender roles every be completely discarded or misconstrued. Is it possible for there not to be gender? I have heard that there are languages where gender is more ambiguous.
ReplyDeleteTATY SAID: You have a really great point in your blog. I did not really take a look at the story from that viewpoint but now I can really see how it is laid out. It does seem to be that she pushes the women’s viewpoint in a feminist way.
ReplyDeleteWell said, Peter. I can't believe some feminists fill out the stereotype that you described, Lauren. It seems like we're going backwards...
ReplyDeleteGood point peter. i agree with lauren as well when she said she had grown tired of stories that push gender roles.
ReplyDeleteI personally really liked how she changed the typical gender roles but I never really thought about it as being a feminist stance but I guess in a way it could be described that way.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you when you say she purposely switched the gender roles. It doesn't bother me that she did this. It was interesting to see the story from the other side.
ReplyDeleteI'd argue that this first part of Valente's novel is more complicated than a mere switching of 'he' for 'she'. I do agree that Leander, for example, starts off as an idiot, mainly because he's naive. But throughout the course of the novel, he grows and changes, so that at the end, tho' he may be paralyzed, now at least he's thoughtful and cares about the well-being of others besides himself. Also in traditional fairy tales, as your in-class presentation nicely showed, there's a conflation of powerful women with evilness, just because they are powerful women. In this novel, that doesn't happen. Valente isn't giving us characters who are evil just because they are men: both the King and the Wizard have back stories that help us see how their personalities became twisted. It's their histories that serve as the source of their evilness, not merely their maleness.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete