![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Writer's Block: Happily ever after
Oct. 24th, 2011 01:51 pm[Error: unknown template qotd]
I've always been very drawn to Sleeping Beauty (highly colored, of course, by the Disney version). Maybe I identified with Aurora because of her long blonde hair; maybe I hoped that I, too, was really a princess being raised away from my royal parents but would someday return to my birthright, and there was some handsome prince out there whom I was destined to marry. It also helps that Philip is my favorite of the Disney princes, and how romantic were all his struggles to reach her. He fights a friggin' dragon. Badass.
Also, as evidenced by my handle, the story of Tam Lin has always resonated with me. It wasn't until I was older that I discovered most versions other than my children's storybook have Janet pregnant by Tam, which adds a whole new level to the story. But in any case, the depth of Janet's love and devotion, her willingness to bear the worst the fae could throw at her in order to save Tam, made a big impression on me. I didn't realize when I was young how relevant that would be to real life. Relationships have their difficulties, some of course bigger than others, and love is something that deserves to be fought for through it all.
It occurs to me it's a little funny that Aurora is so passive in her story and shows so little agency of her own (not the best role-model, I admit), and Janet is so determined and brave and proactive, but I can see myself in both of them.
I've always been very drawn to Sleeping Beauty (highly colored, of course, by the Disney version). Maybe I identified with Aurora because of her long blonde hair; maybe I hoped that I, too, was really a princess being raised away from my royal parents but would someday return to my birthright, and there was some handsome prince out there whom I was destined to marry. It also helps that Philip is my favorite of the Disney princes, and how romantic were all his struggles to reach her. He fights a friggin' dragon. Badass.
Also, as evidenced by my handle, the story of Tam Lin has always resonated with me. It wasn't until I was older that I discovered most versions other than my children's storybook have Janet pregnant by Tam, which adds a whole new level to the story. But in any case, the depth of Janet's love and devotion, her willingness to bear the worst the fae could throw at her in order to save Tam, made a big impression on me. I didn't realize when I was young how relevant that would be to real life. Relationships have their difficulties, some of course bigger than others, and love is something that deserves to be fought for through it all.
It occurs to me it's a little funny that Aurora is so passive in her story and shows so little agency of her own (not the best role-model, I admit), and Janet is so determined and brave and proactive, but I can see myself in both of them.
