UNFAIRY TALES

Our entire childhood was spent hearing and reading about fairy tales, be it Cinderella, Rapunzel, Beauty and the Beast, Snow white, Alladin...the list is quite huge. These stories were instrumental in not only shaping the concept of happy endings in our real lives but also introducing us to the concept of beauty. The women especially were made to believe that the physical allurement was an essential quality if they were to be adored especially by the man of their dreams.

Most of such fables portrayed an “easy to apprehend” correlation between wickedness and ugliness with the colour of the skin of the perpetrator. A good looking and usually fair skinned protagonist was almost always considered virtuous. The sublime virtuosity was, somehow, always seemed to be a consequence of the skin colour rather than intrinsic beauty of the soul. All of us, in our infantile years, have watched our favorite princesses on television, in the Disney shows, with similar blind admiration.

They always had a demure countenance, a lithesome body of inconceivable proportions, beautifully colored round eyes and long flowing silken hair. The naïve minds of young girls were systematically prejudiced in such a manner that it would inevitably cause a psychological upheaval whenever they looked in the mirror and found themselves quite unlike their idols.

Consequently, they would then adopt the severest forms of atonement by subjecting themselves to reckless diet regimes and harmful beauty products, thereby, not only spoiling health and skin but also giving their parents a nightmare by demanding products that would make a hole in their pockets. Most girls come to terms with their initial fascination for such flawlessness and absurdity of their impracticable desire. But there were some unfortunate few, who would still remain convinced about this bizarre concept of acquired beauty. Their confused understanding of beauty would often drive them to turn to inexplicable remedies, such as, plastic surgery, to give them the desired appearance. Some would succeed, but most would fail miserably, looking even more pitiful and feeling more so.

Fashion lovers often associate fashion with fairy tales. That is why we hear about a fairy tale wedding or a fairy tale ending to a love story. It represents impeccability and excellence in every conceivable characteristic. It has the charm of imagination and fantasy, glamour and glitz. Quite naturally, the allure of fairy tales attracts the rich and the famous, those who have the wherewithal to actually live those fantasies. The accessories, the gowns and costumes, the food, the decoration, the mannerisms, the locales, everything has an aura of splendor and opulence about it; as if living in a mythical dream world, The El Dorado.

Not a lot of people would have missed Kim Kardarshian's fairy tale wedding with Kris Humphries. Though it didn't last long, it definitely made women across the world swoon enviously.

Not just weddings, even designers all across the globe have made imitations of the beauty represented in some of the famous tales; Rapunzel in Alice and Olivia's presentation, Alexander Mcqueen's Part stag part woman, Chanel Couture's Cinderella pumpkin to name a few. Recently the Fashion Institute of technology displayed its 'Fairy Tale Fashion' theme. It examined the fairy tales through the lens of high fashion.

What we must notice in fairy tales is its ability to give children a new dimension to their imagination and thinking - the ability to differentiate between good and evil, to be kind and supportive, and most importantly, to be human in their endeavors. Not only do these stories assert a child's imagination, it also enables them to express their suppressed anger towards the villains in the stories. It allows them to believe that goodness begets goodness. It also helps them establish a relationship with the ones they are surrounded by and those from whom they hear the stories.

Fairy tales were created to keep the varying cultures of the world alive. They were passed on in the form of ballads and recitals before being penned down and converted into television shows. They are now known worldwide and form the part of a common culture where they are meant for all children to witness fantasy. Every thing in this world has its pros and cons. It truly depends on us as to what we want to absorb, whether we want to imbibe the notion of beauty or the notion of goodness or evilness depends entirely on us. A fairy tale wedding and princess like looks cannot assure eternal happiness. Fairy tales only teach us that there are good parts in life. Our lives may not always be happy, but the condition of our minds, the way we perceive, can keep us happy in every contingency.

-By Anushree Bhattacharya