Fairytales

Everyone wants to have their own fairytale.

We all imagine ourselves as brave and fearless, loyal and steadfast, trustworthy and perfectly flawed at some point in our lives.

When we were young, we watched how Cinderella was mistreated by her step family and when we were bullied by our siblings or disciplined by our parents, we imagine that we are Cinderella, and fantasize that any day now, Price Charming would come to our rescue and we would live happy ever after.

And boys, they imagine themselves to be superheroes - Power Rangers, Ultra-man, Batman, Superman. They want to be strong and brave.

Some say that fairytales are the root cause of the modern youth being so out of touch with reality. We think we are living in a fairytale and that Prince Charming or Princess Perfect will just jump out of nowhere and we'll have a happy ending.

Things don't work that way.

However, fairytales serve as positive encouragement as well. Shrek and Fiona are a good example of a strong male and a strong female together. They fight and argue and disagree and leave and get back together again. But they're strong together and no matter what happens, they always stay together in the end.

There, you get your Prince Charming and Princess Perfect.

But the thing that makes this imperfect fairytale perfect, is in fact, it's portrayal of imperfection.

Neither Shrek not Fiona are perfect characters.

Shrek is loud and obnoxious and selfish to a degree, but actually has a good heart and values friendship and love. He acts just like a big baby, but when the sky falls down, you can count on him.

Fiona is spoilt and bossy and also selfish to a degree, but just like Shrek, she has a good heart and tries hard to be better, like she does with the annoying donkey. She acts like a brat at times, but when it comes down to it, she is always going to stick by her man. And she can lead a troupe of fighting fairytale princesses to her hubby's rescue. *bonus point*

So, what I mean to say is, identification with fairytale characters is acceptable and should be encouraged to some degree. Just make sure you identify with the right ones.

*I personally prefer to be Selene or Alice (the zombie-arse-kicking Alice mind you). But then, I don't mind being Fiona. She is kinda kick-ass after all. :p  *