0 Article: "Fairy Tale Fathers" by Kristina Wojtaszek

Fairy tale fathers: they tend to be absent, passive, possessive, abusive, foolish or "shadows" (weak). 

But there are a few who are, perhaps, underrated with the circumstances they have to deal with and who do, ultimately, seem to care about their children (Note: the further across the globe you range, the easier it is to find decent father figures in fairy tales but the better known European fairy tales in particular, prove a tough bunch when attempting to find a decent guy!)

Author and blogger, Kristina Wojtaszek of Twice Upon A Time, posted a wonderful tribute to fathers of all kinds everywhere in her blog last year and, being Father's Day today I wanted to point you back to it. She begins:

If you want to really appreciate the father figures in your life, try reading a few fairy tales.  Fairy tales bring out the best, and worst, in every character, but the dads in fairy tales are often excessively dull, single minded, and even downright negligent.  Who can blame the stepmother for donning the pointed hat and hopping on her ill-used broom?  After all, somebody’s got to bring the plot home! 

But there are exceptions.  There are fathers who are worse than evil, like the ones who try to replace their lost wives with their own daughters (who ought to be reigning from asylums, rather than castles) or those daddy Darwin’s who cunningly pit their sons against each other in cruel, and often deadly, competitions for the throne.  But there are fairy tale fathers who’ve risen from the mire and even earned bit of our respect. are three such prime padres:

Go HERE to find out whom Kristina is giving kudos to and why. 

It's lovely and heartfelt and makes you think a little harder about those fathers in fairy tales who had a lot more on their plate than average and yet still did their best to look after their families.

(from) The Frog King by Walter Crane

I would add one note: the tale of The Frog King or Iron Henry (ie The Frog Prince). This is the father of a teenager (most likely), sitting with his daughter at the dinner table and having a conversation and, with no mother in sight, there's a good chance he's a single dad too. Commendably, he insists she be careful of her word and keep her promises, even to a lowly frog (it is assumed, he has NO idea that chances of a naked prince appearing in her bedroom, were on the high side). Although I don't like how spoiled this princess appears to be in this story to start with*, I'm always on the side of this particular King who is trying to get his daughter to behave as a princess should. Plus, how can you not like a King who insists a frog be given a decent meal and cared for as promised?

If you have any to add to the list, feel free to share in the comments. 

And Happy Father's Day to all the father figures of all kinds who, in the words of Ms. Wojtaszek:

"... (have) contributed to the well being of children everywhere; children who would surely have floundered without a father’s care to light the dark and winding forests of their futures."

What she said. (Thank you Kristina!)

Detail: Article: "Fairy Tale Fathers" by Kristina Wojtaszek

0 When Fairy Tales Stray Beyond Their "Borders"...

This is a funny (as in a little skewed and strange) thing that people have latched onto: that a certain tale belongs in a certain cultural context only. As such, people get very territorial when it comes to certain tales. To me, it's means they're missing one of the best things about fairy tales - that they belong to everyone. Fairy tales show us our differences and our similarities across the world and I think it's one of the reasons they're so important for children to learn when they're young. People everywhere - in every place, culture and society - are just like you, but also unique.

As fairy tale people, you're very likely aware that there are, for example, versions of Cinderella in almost every culture in the world, meaning that the tale type is - by and large - the same, but the context and details are different. Cinderella doesn't "belong" to any ones place or peoples. only the versions of them do (and that could be debated as well, considering how those tales came to be).

There has been a lot (a LOT) of "gender-bending" illustration of Disney characters (and non-Disney fairy tale characters too, but less so) and recently I came across a "race-bending" set of illustrations by an illustration student who hosts a Tumblr titled Let There Be Doodles. While I like imagining what the stories would be like set in a different cultural context, it was the questions and responses that followed the posting of these illustrations that caught my attention.

And I was delighted to find SurLaLune being linked to as a resource for the many versions of different stories as well (Heidi - your work is so very, VERY important and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. xx)

People really are concerned and curious and I'm grateful that this exchange, at least, was done with respect and courtesy! (I left all typos and phrasing intact to keep the original spirit of the exchange):

Anonymous asked: So I want to appologise before I ask if this sounds mean spirited, I'm trying really hard not to be. But WHY would you do race bent disney characters? Like, I get wanting more POCs and that's hella. I'm all for it. But fairy tales don't make since out of their cultural context(i.e. Meg as an Egyptian, Cinderella as a Geisha, even Jasmine as African instead of Middle Eastern). So why that change? Sorry again if this sounds mean, I'm just really confused here.

(( No, you’re fine, no worries! :)
Before anything else, I’d like to point something out. Fairy tales are constantly being taken out of their cultural context. Most of the fairy tales that we know now were taken out of their original cultural context and altered. Aladdin was originally set in China. The Frog Prince was Latin, and was altered over and over again in several countries. The stories have been and can be altered in many ways. *shrugs*

Anyway, I’m not necessarily trying to alter an entire story (although it would be fun) I’m just working with character design. I create racebent characters simply for fun and because I’d love to see more diversity in our media. :) ))

To the anon who said fairy tales don’t make sense outside their cultural context…

There are actually many variations of the Cinderella story. 

As well as Sleeping Beauty. 

The Little Mermaid is a story by Hans Christian Andersen, but there are a fewvariations on that theme as well (though not nearly as many as the previous two, but I’m sure there are more.) 

There’s like a bunch of them for Snow White. 

I’m not gonna touch Hercules (or, as he’s more properly called since the movie takes place in Greece, Heracles) or any of the Hans Christian Andersen based stories like The Snow Queen/Frozen (except, of course, for The Little Mermaid.)
Fairy tales don’t have to make sense. It’s all about the story, or the message contained within it (like with Aesop’s Fables.)

And, in case you're wondering, there were people that had a problem that it wasn't just white princesses that were getting "race bent", but that's actually the point. The tales belong to the world. The variations of the tales can crop up anywhere and the tales will still be "the tales".

I don't think I really need to add much more commentary to this. I'm just really glad the conversation is happening out in social media (and going viral as a result). It's another way people are learning that there are many, many tale variations all over the world and that we share more with each other globally than many people realize.

What are your thoughts on this?

Detail: When Fairy Tales Stray Beyond Their "Borders"...