An article comparing two popular fairy tales and their strength as romance plots can be found at It’s the Journey: “Beauty and the Beast” vs. “Cinderella” by Joanna Novins. Here's an excerpt of the article which spends a splendid amount of time praising Robin McKinley's Beauty. Why, yes, that is always a worthy activity...
The first few paragraphs from the article:
Though I’m not a gambler, I’d be willing to bet that “Cinderella” is the fairy tale most commonly retold in modern-day romances. What’s more appealing than the mistreated scullery maid who, with the wave of a wand, is provided a complete makeover, including fabulous shoes, and entrée to a ball, where a handsome prince instantly falls in love with her?
But in my opinion, Cinderella and Prince Charming are the laziest hero and heroine ever. Sure, there’s that whole grain sorting/floor scrubbing/impossible task so she gets magical help thing, but really, all Cinderella has to do win the prince’s heart is get a makeover and show up. As for Prince Charming, all he has to do is be tenacious in his efforts to find the owner of the size 5 glass slipper. Time consuming, yes, but heroic? Meh.
Nothing new for SurLaLune readers but sometimes it's nice to read about Beauty and the Beast and how so many adore the tale...
it will always be "beauty and the beast" that resonates for me. the idea of seeing beauty where other people don't through the power of love and being patiently loved in return is the height of romance for me. whether it's a male beast or a female beast, makes no matter to me :)
ReplyDeletebesides, "BB," there's "ESWM," "Jane Eyre," "White Cat," "Wuthering Heights," etc...