"Once upon a time there was a girl...": an analysis of bad girls in feminist revisionary fairytales

Abstract

Abstract : Women have for a long time been regarded as secondary characters inhuman history. They had to sacrifice their potential to fit in thepatriarchal norms of good behavior in order to be socially accepted. Theaim of this study is to analyze feminist revisionary fairytales in search ofportrayals of women who rebel against those norms, disobeyingPatriarchal ideology, and offering alternative femininities. Becausepopular narratives such as myths and fairytales take part in shapingone?s identity, it is important to look at them from a critical perspective;and revisionism highlights the importance of women?s re-telling ofstories in order to re-think themselves and their positions, and re-definetheir identities. The works analyzed are: the short stories ?The BloodyChamber,? ?The Snow Child,? ?The Werewolf,? ?The Company ofWolves,? and ?Wolf-Alice,? by Angela Carter; ?Snow White,? by theMerseyside Fairy Story Collective; ?Bluebeard?s Egg,? by MargaretAtwood; and the poem ?Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,? by AnneSexton.

Por muito tempo mulheres foram relegadas a personagens secundárias na história humana. Elas tiveram que sacrificar seus potenciais e se encaixar nas normas patriarcais de bom comportamento para serem socialmente aceitas. O objetivo desse estudo é analisar contos de fadas revisionistas feministas em busca de representações de mulheres que se rebelam contra essas normas, desobedecendo a ideologia patriarcal e oferecendo femininidades alternativas. Por narrativas populares como mitos e contos de fadas tomarem parte na formação da identidade, é importante examina-los através de uma perspectiva crítica. O revisionismo em questão enfatiza a importância da recontagem de historias sob uma perspectiva feminina para que as mulheres repensem suas posições e redefinam suas identidades. Os trabalhos analisados são: os contos The Bloody Chamber , The Snow Child , The Werewolf , The Company of Wolves , e Wolf-Alice , de Angela Carter; Snow White , do coletivo Merseyside Fairy Story Collective; Bluebeard s Egg , de Margaret Atwood; e o poema Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs , de Anne Sexton.