capri0mni | Cuteness Time (Warning for possible overload): Fluffy Wee Cygnets!

So now, I'm ready to tackle "The Ugly Duckling."

[Edited -- put more words in my rant, and then put it behind a cut, in case you just want to skip to the fluffiness]

That means it's time to embark on an image search, so I know how the heck to describe my main character. Three photos in, and I'm overwhelmed with the urge to kill you all with an Overdose of Cute.

Just so you're clear on this fact: H. C. Anderson was writing about parochial bigotry (only our Own Kind are Beautiful), and NOT about outgrowing awkward, physical, embodiment into some universal ideal of perfection and beauty. I contend that, despite the lyrics in That Song by Moss Hart (With feathers all stubby and brown), our titular hero would have been attacked as "ugly" even after maturing into a snow-white swan, if he'd stayed in the flock that raised him ("His neck is far too long! Get the Surgeon to shorten it!" "His feathers are too white! Get the Dyer to color them!"). What brought him the happy ending was being found by his own kind, who recognized him for who he truly was.

I'm also thinking this story puts the lie to the "It gets better" meme. He did end up in a better place, but only because he took matters into his own ~~hands~~ beak, and ran away from his abusers, even though he had no idea there was a better community for him in the future. He did Not just patiently wait it out, hoping to earn their love by submitting to their authority.

(And after scrolling through pictures, I've got a "Behavioral Problem" detail to write about; I imagine it would drive his adult duck caretakers to distraction every time Our Hero tried to climb unto his "mother's" back [A parallel, perhaps, for kids on the autism spectrum? Don't want to claim this, outright, because that's experience outside my ken])

And as proof, I present the following evidence

(You may want to wear some cuteness-filtering glasses. Don't say I didn't warn you):

1) http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/ca/d9/f7/cad9f7899ff8cd3a050786113775df7a.jpg

2) http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/9d/b3/22/9db322a1a2b53461fdb289431b474912.jpg

3) http://www.fotothing.com/photos/af9/af9f10d875c63a142338bbed14053823.jpg

4) http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/08/03/article-1203971-05EEE05F000005DC-611_964x684.jpg

5) https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/91/264807734_489ced7d99_z.jpg (Okay, so adolescents are awkward. But that's true regardless of species).

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

redsixwing

*bweee* Cuuuuute!

capri0mni

I know, right?!?

I figured this would make everyone's day a little better.

davidgillon

("His neck is far too long! Get the Surgeon to shorten it!" "His feathers are too white! Get the Dyer to color them!")

There's an interesting parallel here with the ending of "In the Country of the Blind".

Yes... Except Wells is horribly ableist about it, since, in his revised version of the story, the Country of the Blind is doomed for destruction, while Nunez escapes to freedom, because he can see the impending rockfall, and the villagers scoff at his warning (Still equating blindness with ignorance, not realizing they need their sighted savior).

I mean -- Really! Wouldn't the blind people sense the impending landslide through their heightened sense of touch, noting shifts in the vibrations in the ground, long before Nunez could climb high enough to see it?

Humph!

Either it's too long since I read it, or that whizzed straight over my head.

I do have notes for a story to be titled "In the Country of the Wheeled", where the resolution would be the opposite ;)

I admit: I cheated. It had been too long since I'd last read it, myself, so before I commented, I popped over to Wikipedia and read the plot synopsis. ;-)