After watching that documentary about gender roles. Well, there are those cliche examples of these roles like violence as male behaviour and beauty and youth for girls. I realized something else while watching a Super Mario parody. From our early childhood, we are unconsciously exposed to this idea that girls need boys to save them. Take the princess from the game Mario, she waits Mario to jump over some gaps and mushrooms so that he can reach there and save her. Or Snow white, or Rapunzel, or Shrek... In any story with a princess, same things keep repeating itself. Princess is saved by a male, either he is a prince or a plumber or an ogre. It might be insignificant but I believe that this has to do with all those girls that have no confidence in them. Some girls seriously expect some sort of a superhero or a short random guy to show up and kill the final boss and make these "princess"es' lives better. I think our community needs less princesses and more Zeinas that do not wait their heroes to do all the job.
oh and by the way "beauty and the beast" teaches girls to be in a relationship with rich abominations? (Not my idea, saw it on the internet too, but sounds funny)
definitely - that's the idea that's reinforced over and over again and it puts not only a lot of pressure on girls - to become the helpless girls that need saving but also on boys to become the heroes that can protect the princesses... Girls who can stand up for themselves or deal with their matters on their own are often perceived as too masculine and even if they are actually strong enough to mind their own business they may start pretending that they need help - to seem "normal" and "feminine" in order to avoid negative reactions from their environment - and in time this learned helplessness may be the only thing left... they unlearn being the Zeina they have the potential to be... sad but unfortunately true... that's why it's important to become aware of these subtle messages woven into all sorts of things like games, ads, movies, poems, etc...
YanıtlaSilby the way about the "beauty and the beast" - I don't really think I agree with the idea you've mentioned - I'd rather say it has some contradictory messages - on the one hand emphasizing the importance of phyisical beauty but on the other hand saying that it is "inner" beauty that counts?
YanıtlaSil