Introduction to the Analysis of Gender in the ATU 514 Fairy Tale Type on Examples from the Balkans (original) (raw)
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Stereotypical Gender Roles in English and Turkish Fairy Tales
Abstract : Every society has its folk tales and fairy tales, which are passed from one generation to the other by oral speech. Because fairy tales are universal in all ages, societies, races and cultures they have many similar aspects in their plots, forms and contents. When we examine fairy tales in a feminist reading, it is obvious that traditional social norms or traditional gender roles trait young minds with stereotypical gender patterns so early in so–called fairy tales for children, lots of them are for adults. The fairy tales produce passive female and active male behaviors idealized in patriarchal society that female characters are stereotypically portrayed as submissive, dependent, powerless, incapable and obedient while male figures are typically portrayed as dynamic, independent, powerful and disobedient. This paper not only gives a short definition and historical background of the term fairy tale, but also focuses on a closer feminist reading of traditional gender roles in fairy tales in English Fairy Tales (1890) collected by Joseph Jacobs and Forty Four Turkish Fairy Tales (1913) collected by Ignácz Kúnos. Keywords : fairy tale gender role good and evil figures Article: Download PDF Journal DOI : 10.15373/22501991
THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN RUSSIAN FAIRY TALES
2009
This paper examines the portrayal of women and girls in Russian fairy tales, not merely for insights into their social roles in early Russian society but, more importantly, for an understanding of the stereotypical, archetypal, and symbolic significance of the female sex in early Russian thought.
Fairy Tales and Their Contribution to the Process of Constructing Gender Roles
Yaratıcı Drama Dergisi, 2016
As it is widely known that fairy tale refl ects the basic characteristics of a culture. Beside their functions such as preparing children for sleeping, to improve their imaginary, and guiding for the appropriate attitudes and behaviors; they have a critical role in the process of transferring basic rules and norms of the society to the next generations. In this paper, I would like to propose a study examining how fairy tales contribute to the process of constructing and transferring gender roles. More specifi cally, this proposed question aims to investigate the decisiveness of narrators of the fairy tales in the process of transferring gender roles. This question is worth studying and needs scientifi c attention since the survival of the fairy tale depends on social acceptance. In other words fairy tales are needed to be reproduced according to the needs of the society in that specifi c period. Additionally, examining reproduction process is critical to understand how gender roles are constructed and transferred. The hypotheses of this study examine decisiveness of women as the narrators of the fairy tales in the process of transferring gender roles.
The Princess Turned Prince. Transsexual Metamorphosis in the “Ileana Sâmziana” Fairy Tale
Philobiblon. Transylvanian Journal of Multidisciplinary Research in the Humanities, 2021
Seeing that the majority of folk tales feature a male protagonist, the "Ileana Sâmziana" fairy tale, collected by Petre Ispirescu, represents a deviation from this heroic archetype by focusing on the emperor's daughter, who would become Prince Charming. Circumscribed to the ATU 514 folk motif, i.e., change of sex, it depicts gender fluidity reminiscent of cross-dressing in pubertal rites of passage. Based on these premises, the present paper closely analyses the process of transsexual metamorphosis of the main character. Ultimately, it is aimed to expose any resemblance to traditional formative discourses on masculine social values and determine whether the emperor's daughter should be regarded as a true feminine and /or a heroic figure. Keywords Fairy tale, rite of passage, androgyny, cross-dressing, change of sex.
Gender Subversion: A Cultural Reconsideration through a Fairy Tale
Volume V Issue I
The following paper tries to socially understand gender norms and the possibility of subversion of the recommended roles. Judith Butlers (1990) Performative theory of gender acts, discussed probability of gender subversion in various societal conceptualizations of gender. The undertaken study, through thematic analysis, investigated particular characters in a fairy tale, The land of stories: Beyond the kingdom (2015). It was found that gender was a social construct, and it existed due to repeated and accepted socially ascribed practices. The characters reconsidered gender through subversion by breaching the expected traditional societal gender norms. Though, for the intelligibility, these reconsidered gender roles needed recurrence. The findings also seemed to assert that the subversive acts could be shocking and unacceptable, but, they do not possess the potential to terminate the established gender norms, rather, just assist the characters to meet their ends, towards fresh identit...
2020
Mainly targeted to children and written with the aim of reiterating dominant social patterns and codes, fairy tales play a significant role on conditioning individuals to perform the idealized gender roles they are expected to play in society. Thus, they have been frequently studied on from various perspectives in terms of gender, essentially focusing on the construction and subordination of feminine identity. However, the construction of masculine identity and its relation to, and dependence upon femininity, has been thus avoided. This thesis utilizes critical discourse analysis (CDA) to interrogate hegemonic masculinity as product of a dominant sociocultural discourse exposed through the selected European fairy tales; Hansel and Gretel, Fortunio and the Siren, The Pig Prince, The Wild Boar, and Little Snow White. The aim is to reveal that these pan-European fairy tales are sociocultural devices playing a significant part in reproduction and maintenance of a common androcentric gender discourse which normalizes masculine domination and legitimizes the objectification, devaluation, and repression of femininity in regional and global levels. This examination demonstrates that hegemonic norms of masculinity imposed in the selected fairy tales are contradictory since in order to exist they require the perpetuation of the same androcentric discourse and thus the representation of women. As might be expected, when the infrastructure of this androcentric discourse is interrogated and decentered, the hegemonic masculinity also falls into an existential crisis. The “masculinity crisis” noised around in Western societies today, is due to this preexisting ontological insecurity for it is no longer possible to discursively limit women into androcentric representation of woman.
2012
Fairy tales emphasise such things as the passivity and beauty of female characters, thus functioning as gendered scripts which serve and support the dominant gender systems in societies. Beauty, which is represented as an ideal state of being in fairy tales, is a socially constructed notion indicating that the physical appearance of a woman is her most important quality, and that she should therefore strive to perfect it. The ideal of feminine beauty is “viewed largely as an oppressive, patriarchal practice that objectifies, devalues, and subordinates women” (Baker-Sperry & Grauerholz, 2003: 711); however, some women willingly strive to attain beauty since this is seen as a way to empower themselves. Studying the significance of beauty in fairy tales from a gendered perspective can provide an insight into the dynamics that exist between power, culture and gender, as well as their significance. This study is therefore interested in the gender dynamics of the texts, the state of gende...
Cinderella Wants to Decide: A Feminist Study of Several Versions of This Fairy Tale Over the Years
2014
The literary fairy tale, present along history since the Middle Ages, is a device that portrays the ideology, politics, values, and morals of a society. However, they have also worked as an acculturation device for many centuries now. The language used in these tales is a key element, for it is selected by the tale collector or the tale writer with a purpose. A clear example is the fairy tale "Cinderella". People with power, men in the majority of cases, have articulated some specific discourse in order to reproduce or, rather, create, a reality in which men are strong while women are weak, men are active while women are passive, men are the leaders while women are the followers, just to mention a few dichotomies. Male collectors of fairy tales such as Basile, the brothers Grimm, and Charles Perrault have used their power as storytellers to reproduce a hierarchical structure of society, namely, patriarchy. These biased ideas on women, which the literary fairy tale has help...
Exploring Speech in Russian Fairy Tales
2012
Both because of their prevalence in contemporary culture and because of their ability to affect the acculturation of children, fairy tales are commonly examined from a feminist perspective. Many scholars have begun to ask if the distribution of agency in tales reflects patriarchal values, for example, are princesses nothing more than passive damsels in distress? One way to discuss these types of power relationships is to examine speech. The ability to speak can be viewed as a type of agency that shapes a character's outcome within a narrative; it is through speech that characters bless, curse, and interact with one another. This paper seeks to explore the connections among agency, gender, moral alignment, and speech in Russian fairy tales from the Alexander Afanas′ev collection. As part of this research, the frequency of male and female vocalizations has been measured, as well as different types of silence. This research also examines the patterns of speech that appear in different tale typologies that revolve around a central female character. v