Fairytales – a cornerstone of childhood. No matter which ones you heard or in what format, I think we have all come across the classics at some point, and had dreams of living in one (either as a child or during exam season). These stories create paintings of an idyllic life, however look deeper, and it is not so simple: many of these stories gloss over or completely violate the idea of consent. So is that happily ever really as enchanting as it seems, or really a disenchanted caricature of love?
Ella Enchanted is one of the best modern examples of consent in fairytales. This retelling of Cinderella was first published in 1997, before being adapted into a film in 2004. The basis for those of you who have not come across it is a girl (Ella) who is given the gift of obedience at birth from Lucinda, her fairy godmother. What is interesting about this is that although Lucinda believes Ella should be appreciative of her gift, it is actually more of a curse – Ella has to do exactly as she is told, when she is told to do it. Even if she says the word ‘no’, she is unable to act on it; she is forced to bend to the will of others.
Lucinda is one of the main antagonists of Ella Enchanted: she sees this form of total obedience as being desirable. While obedience is obviously important in some senses (maintaining law in society, taking medication as instructed by a professional, or not talking in the quiet coach of a train), it can be harmful or even dangerous in others. At one stage, Ella is put in acute danger due to her literal following of the command “stay where you are”, as she is unable to move out of the path of an oncoming carriage. This particular scene demonstrates a lack of agency on Ella’s part, and her inability to choose for herself; she is unable to refuse the commands thrown at her, even if they could cause her severe harm.
Although Ella struggles to consent freely within the confines of the curse, an example is seen later on where she is able to choose during the kiss scene in the film. Both through dialogue and the lack of use of a specific chime sound – which is used to indicate that her ‘gift’ is forcing her to obey – we see Ella able to choose to act on her feelings for the Prince without the coercion of the curse. This particular interaction is a beautiful depiction of how consent should look. However, the model in Ella Enchanted is unfortunately not one seen universally.
Snow White is a German fairytale, first put to paper in the early 19th century when it was published by the Brothers Grimm in 1812. Though there have been many adaptations and variations over the years, it is the 1937 Disney film that drew controversy around consent. In the original story, Snow White was revived when her coffin was knocked, and the piece of poisoned apple was dislodged from her throat. In the Disney adaptation, the remedy was changed to be a kiss from Prince Florian. This has long been seen as a romantic moment, and one of many iterations of “true love’s kiss”, however it is slightly unsettling that this happened while Snow White was unconscious.
The issue was highlighted in Amnesty International’s 2018 “No Consent = No Fairytale” PSA, which discussed the idea of mutual consent. While the Disney film does not include unwanted sexual contact, this interaction has previously been framed as ‘just a kiss’, a mentality that has wide reaching consequences in terms of teaching and enforcing boundaries around consent.
Yet Snow White is not the darkest scenario out there. That award goes to Sleeping Beauty. First written around the 1340s, the original version of this fairytale details the prince repeatedly raping Sleeping Beauty over several months while she is asleep, resulting in her giving birth to his children (which is what finally wakes her up); this is a crime in the modern day. Not only is this scenario atrocious in itself, Sleeping Beauty later goes on to marry the Prince, seemingly with no consideration for what happened to her. Although the 1959 Disney adaptation sanitises this massively, once again relying on the “true love’s kiss” trope, Sleeping Beauty reinforces a very dangerous message for young children: both that this sort of behaviour is acceptable, and that such violations can be remedied with a wedding ring.
The impacts of such messages are harmful and long-reaching: the boundaries of consent are blurred for both girls and boys in terms of what to expect, and what is acceptable. The idea that non-consensual behaviours can be justified by a person’s status as the hero is highlighted in the ‘No Consent = No Fairytale’ campaign, but it needs to be more widely recognised. Fairytales present a happily ever after that children aspire to: is it really a good idea to show such behaviours without consequence?
This is not only an issue of consent, but of the greater extremes presented in these stories. Ella Enchanted demonstrates how seemingly ideal traits such as obedience can cause harm when taken to the maximum, particularly when these traits are performed due to force (either external or internal), fear, or a combination of the two. Regardless of the fact that Ella eventually broke the curse, it was still used against her throughout the story in an attempt to keep her away from Prince Char. This indicates that the desirable traits shown in fairytales can be used as a means to harm, which is something that translates into life beyond the fantasy.
So where does this leave fairytales? I don’t think they necessarily need to be banned, but they should be reframed slightly. There is a potential for some of these stories to be used to spark age-appropriate conversations about consent with young children, whilst highlighting the positives and negatives of healthy relationships. Fairytales can be very beautiful love stories, but at the same time they do have the potential to reinforce some quite unhealthy ideas about consent; this has to be combatted. The real enchantment of the story would be if “I do” could truly be the princess’s choice.
