A Kiss for Corona. Oct 14, 2011.
"Fairytales may not come true, and life may not be happily ever after, but to believe in a world of magic, beauty and chasing after your own dreams is a far better way to live than not believing"
Fairytales were a cruel device used to make girls all over the world believe in something unrealistic; that a knight in shinning armor atop a gallant horse would always be around to save the poor defenseless maiden, that a fairy godmother with a flick of her wand would magic away unfortunate circumstances, that "good" will always prevail "evil", and that one day we could all have our happily ever afters.
Those are the words of a cynic. And this is an age old argument that I've been afraid to spar with. For after all, there have been far greater and more eloquent men and women who have battled it out with each other; fiercely, barbarically, diplomatically, but even so, none has made great headway to either side.
And I'm not going to start.
Instead, I'm going to tell you about a real life victim of those evil goblins and fairytales. She would make a perfect case study for the very subject we're scrutinizing. And whilst living so immersed in the fairytale culture, she grew up just as lost and innocent as the next mortal.
She grew up believing in magic. Her childhood was spent barefooted, hair wild and tangled, running with racoons and dogs saving the life or falling in love with any Johns who crossed her path. She spent countless days under the sea, crooning to fat yellow fishes and crabby Sebastians, all the while combing her hair and staring up at the sky, dreaming of great big adventures and "somedays."
She was anything and everything; she cut her hair and brought "great dishonour" to her family by shaming them to have to be seen in public with her dishelved head. She toiled hard every day cleaning for her ungrateful (step)mother who never appreciated her hard work (I mean, who knew sprinkling soap on the floor could be so...soapy). Many a day her fairygodmother transformed her plain little soul to one of a beautiful princess, so majestic that she would force any of her childhood friends (wonder why there weren't many) to lie down across a "puddle" and she would stomp daintily across them, just so her delicate glass slippers wouldn't get wet.
Oh there were dangerous Arabian nights flying across the starry skies on a rugged flying carpet falling in love with handsome street urchins; countless lazy mornings of refusing to wake up and go to school on the pretense of waiting for her one true love's kiss to awake this sleeping beast. She dragged her neighbour's son, and forced him to become the dragon that she must slay. She was wild, she laughed often, she enjoyed the unreined imagination that only the youth provides, and she fiercely believed in magic.
Of course that enchanting young girl is me.
My childhood was colorful. All that I've described above is merely a glimpse of the fairytale that I lived. People may whisper about the mental development and delusions that a fairytale generation kid may grow up to be, but hey! Look at me, I turned out fine. ;)
Sue me if I believe that the "good guy" always win. Judge me if I want to live a happily ever after. Shut me up in a mental institute wrapped in a straitjacket if I secretly tell you that with just Faith, Trust and a little bit of Pixie Dust, we can fly for the second star to the right and journey straight on til morning to a place where we won't ever have to grow up!
But alas, I never did find Neverland, and had no choice but do the boring thing and well, grow up. And grow up I did, just like any other non-dragon slayer believer. The only probable negative impact Disney has had on me is my misguided notion about love. I am in love with the idea of being in love. The romance. The fireworks. The roses. The too-fast heart beating.
"Karl, you're never going to fall in love at this rate, because you'll never find the right guy unless he jumps right off the covers of a Once-upon-a-time story and knocks you down galloping on his white steed." Thanks friend.
Even if that turned out to be true, I wouldn't give up my childhood for anything because despite the mockery that may follow, I learned a lot of things from my favorite Disney princesses.
The strength to do the "right" thing despite not only facing the condemnation of society, but also risking bringing shame and being ostracized from the very people whom you were trying to protect (Mulan); the patience to see the good in everyone no matter how hard and the capacity to love even the ugliest of beasts because appearances is often only skin deep (Belle); the courage to never give up on life but to embrace it with the hope and fervency of having the world in your hands even if you're locked up in a dark and gloomy tower for, well, ever (Rapunzel).
Truly, fairytales may not come true, and life may not be happily ever after, but to believe in world of magic, and beauty, and chasing after your own dreams is a far better way of living than not believing.
Daughter of Triton. Nov 1, 2010.
Rapunzel. March 11, 2010
The Wind. Nov 7, 2010
These flipping brilliant works of art belong to one very talented Alice X. Zhang. She's just, breathtakingly amazing and her work - which ranges from Disney to Sherlock to Paramore - needs to be shared! Gallery [Link].
