Just a little literary deconstruction:
Apr. 7th, 2009 12:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
capri0mniThe Prince: A spoiled, arrogant royal brat who humiliates an old woman in public, because she is old, and a woman with a hunched back and arthritic hands, and because he has the power to do so (unfortunately for him, she's also a witch).
The Princess: Also a spoiled, arrogant royal brat, who (once she she's told that she can't use her royal status to slip out of a promise), throws a temper tantrum a two-year old would be proud of, and (I quote):
She picked up the frog with two fingers, carried him to her room, and climbed into bed, but instead of laying him next to herself, she threw him bang! against the wall.*
And it was only after he landed in her bed, and regained his human form,** and she realized he was wealthy and powerful, that she decided she loved him.
...
The only thing remotely romantic or hopeful about this story is that once they married each other, they spared anyone else from that same fate.
*Grimms' 1812 version, translated by D. L. Ashlimann, Professor of German, University of Pittsburg (retired).
**That demur kiss on the cheek was an example of Victorian tidiness. The thing that Frog!Prince really needed to do to break the spell was get into bed with the Princess, whether she wanted him there or not.
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Date: 2009-04-07 06:09 pm (UTC)I prefer the Muppet version.
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Date: 2009-04-07 06:35 pm (UTC)Yeah...
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Date: 2009-04-07 07:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-07 07:58 pm (UTC)(only slight hyperbole).
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Date: 2009-04-08 01:39 am (UTC)I had that record! Prolly still do.
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Date: 2009-04-07 08:21 pm (UTC)Which is fair enough for a woman presumably raised to accept an arranged marriage based on the wealth/power of her future husband's family.
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Date: 2009-04-07 09:55 pm (UTC)However, I'm still annoyed by how this story is used to symbolise the hope of romance, and the redemptive power of "true love."
Whether in human form or frog, both these characters are sufficiently ugly as people.
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Date: 2009-04-07 10:34 pm (UTC)http://www.amazon.co.uk/Frog-Prince-Stephen-Mitchell/dp/0609605453/
?
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Date: 2009-04-07 11:10 pm (UTC)hee! I'll keep my eye out for it at the library, when I go, tomorrow...
D. L. Ashliman has a whole page of enchanted frog stories, here: http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/frog.html#contents
I particularly like the fourth one, which combines motifs from Beauty and the Beast with The Frog Prince, because the human daughter is understandably disgusted when she's forced to marry the frog, but the frog earns her affection by the power of his sweet singing.
This, I think, is something that is true to both human and froggy nature, as listening to frogs singing in a summer garden at night is one of life's greatest pleasures... :-)
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Date: 2009-04-07 10:58 pm (UTC)I've not seen the Muppet version, but yeah, the Muppet version of everything is better.
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Date: 2009-04-07 11:22 pm (UTC)The only characters in S.B. who actually do anything to move the plot forward are the Wicked Fairy and The Good Fairy, and both of them leave the stage after the first scene.
The princess pricks her finger because of the curse (because of something her parents do), and falls asleep for a hundred years. That's it, period.
The prince who kisses her isn't even responsible for waking her up. He just happens to be passing by her castle at the moment the hundred years are over.
Big whoop. Some hero.
And yet, both these stories are the go-to metaphors for the most romantic relationships ever.
No wonder we're messed up when it comes to love.