[quote] At Bristol's Old Vic theatre this Christmas, it will not be Sleeping Beauty who pricks her finger on a spinning wheel and falls into a deep slumber.
Instead, it will be a Prince named Percy, who has to be saved by a heroine.
This is because the producers of the pantomime don't want to enforce gender stereotypes on children.
Director Sally Cookson told The Sun: “We wanted a proactive heroine.
“Our fairytale heroine is able to save herself and other people. Both the hero and the heroine can be vulnerable and brave. We don’t pigeonhole.”
...
Another change sees the fairy godmothers being replaced by the "Wise members of the Women's Institute".
The website advertising the pantomime says: "This Christmas, Bristol Old Vic presents director Sally Cookson's fun-filled fairy tale Sleeping Beauty, brought bang up to date with a new spellbinding story. [/quote]
[url]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/12024434/Princess-axed-from-Sleeping-Beauty-pantomime-because-of-gender-stereotypes.html[/url]
Progress!
[quote] Another change sees the fairy godmothers being replaced by the "Wise members of the Women's Institute".[/quote]
Please tell me this is satire.
"Brought bang up to date"
Ahh, "updated" classics! Because how else could you improve on Karate Kid, Annie, or Ghostbusters?
uh if the fairy tale enforces stereotypes maybe don't remake it and actually do your own thing because this doesn't fix anything
[QUOTE=Water-Marine;49214713]"Brought bang up to date"
Ahh, "updated" classics! [B]Because how else could you improve on Karate Kid, Annie, or Ghostbusters?[/B][/QUOTE]
Justin Trudeau says it best.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLk2aSBrR6U[/media]
I'd love to see them do Beauty and the Beast in the same manner.
Or you could, you know, write new compelling stories that have interesting female characters instead of trying to "update" ages old stories which created tropes that have been beaten into the ground by now.
[QUOTE=Canuhearme?;49214730]Justin Trudeau says it best.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLk2aSBrR6U[/media][/QUOTE]
I'd argue that having well written characters would do better for women rather than simply having characters be female.
Don't know if you guys have ever seen a panto but this is nothing new. Pantos often have gender-swapped characters, especially in the form of drag queens. Pantos aren't too serious either, so while they might be "pushing agendas", they're also very self-conscious as fun-for-all-ages theatre performances and constantly play with gender norms and fairytale stereotypes.
Unless it's a shit panto of course.
[QUOTE=BearsAteMyCat;49214800]Don't know if you guys have ever seen a panto but this is nothing new. Pantos often have gender-swapped characters, especially in the form of drag queens. Pantos aren't too serious either, so while they might be "pushing agendas", they're also very self-conscious as fun-for-all-ages theatre performances and constantly play with gender norms and fairytale stereotypes.
Unless it's a shit panto of course.[/QUOTE]
Swapping characters' genders and using guys in drag for comedic effect is a bit different than changing them with the goal of 'avoiding the enforcement of gender sterotypes'. Especially when you're also replacing fairy godmothers with 'wise members of the Women's Institute'.
[QUOTE=Grandzeit;49214735]I'd love to see them do Beauty and the Beast in the same manner.[/QUOTE]
I'd actually watch that.
It sounds like a genuinely interesting interpretation of the story.
This whole "updating stories to prevent gender stereotypes" thing is two steps short of revisionist history.
Isn't this just the case of that [i]*Ms.Male[/i] kind of character, or whatever the FemFreq fans call it?
[QUOTE=Ganerumo;49214742]Or you could, you know, write new compelling stories that have interesting female characters instead of trying to "update" ages old stories which created tropes that have been beaten into the ground by now.[/QUOTE]
I agree, removing the [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeping_Beauty#Basile.27s_narrative"]forcible rape of the protagonist that leads to her becoming pregnant with twins in the second act[/URL] is terrible revisionism, those Grimm brothers need to keep their progressivism out of fairy tales. I don't want my children seeing a modern interpretation with 'modern values', I want the original, dammit!
Sarcasm aside, you guys know that the Grimm fairy tales are quintessential examples of traditional stories being updated to appeal to then-modern sensibilities, right? Like I understand not wanting to inject gender politics into everything but you are choosing an extremely ironic production to take a hardline stance on. This kind of revisionism is exactly what modern fairy tales are to begin with and a panto is not exactly a hard-hitting piece of serious drama.
[QUOTE=catbarf;49215326]Sarcasm aside, you guys know that the Grimm fairy tales are quintessential examples of traditional stories being updated to appeal to then-modern sensibilities, right? Like I understand not wanting to inject gender politics into everything but you are choosing an extremely ironic production to take a hardline stance on. This kind of revisionism is exactly what modern fairy tales are to begin with and a panto is not exactly a hard-hitting piece of serious drama.[/QUOTE]There's a difference between deleting a goddamn rape/unwanted pregnancy for the sake of making it kid friendly and gender-swapping the entire thing and making it this stupid "progressive" caricature of itself. I mean I get what you're saying and I can't really disagree with your statement by itself, but come on.
This isn't even "modern sensibilities" anyway, so there is that too.
[editline]30th November 2015[/editline]
Either way this is panto and so it isn't some big deal anyway, this is hardly newsworthy aside from the "ha HA! look at this" factor.
[QUOTE=JumpinJackFlash;49215723]There's a difference between deleting a goddamn rape/unwanted pregnancy for the sake of making it kid friendly and gender-swapping the entire thing and making it this stupid "progressive" caricature of itself. [/QUOTE]
Back in the Grimms' day removing the rape aspect would be considered progressive. The point of the fairy tales was mostly to educate children according along the lines of a few basic life lessons and as far as early Renaissance peasants were concerned, brutal rape and/or murder was necessary to hammer home the message.
The Grimms set out to collect traditional fairy tales that had previously been mainly communicated by word of mouth, and tame them down to a more acceptable standard for children. Hence why the Grimm version of Sleeping Beauty lacks the rape, but still retains some good old killin' in the form of the Ogress throwing herself into the pit of snakes she had prepared.
Then Disney came along and, again, it was modernized, sanitized, toned down in line with what was considered acceptable for kids.
My point is that what is considered 'progressive' is entirely a matter of the time and place where it's being modernized, and it's ironic to demand that nobody alter Disney's alteration of the Grimms' alteration of Perrault's alteration of Basile's interpretation of word-of-mouth folklore.
So yeah, I think this is all a real big non-issue. If they want to make a gender-swapped version of a fairy tale that has been altered time and time again it's none of my business.
the irony of people getting offended that people are gender-swapping plays for fun, and then simultaneously whining about how those gender politic liberals get [i]so offended[/i] by everything
[QUOTE=Grandzeit;49214735]I'd love to see them do Beauty and the Beast in the same manner.[/QUOTE]
This is really brilliant.
[QUOTE=Grandzeit;49214735]I'd love to see them do Beauty and the Beast in the same manner.[/QUOTE]
Beauty and the Hambeast
[QUOTE=Benjimon007;49215953]This is really brilliant.[/QUOTE]
A lovely peasant discovers the inner beauty of a hideous hamplanet and, at the end, his love transforms her into a beautiful thin princess, who sticks with the peasant man and they live happily ever after.
I think you can see the parts where people will take offense to this.
[QUOTE]Another change sees the fairy godmothers being replaced by the "Wise members of the Women's Institute".[/QUOTE]
I don't really have a problem with the gender swap but that sounds pretty stupid.
[QUOTE=elfbarf;49214668]
Progress![/QUOTE]
Because nothing says progress as women having to act like men :v:
[QUOTE=Grandzeit;49214735]I'd love to see them do Beauty and the Beast in the same manner.[/QUOTE]
Shrek is kinda similar tbh
[QUOTE=Overwatch 7;49216168]I don't really have a problem with the gender swap but that sounds pretty stupid.[/QUOTE]
It depends how they do it; it could be hilarious if done right.
[QUOTE=LoneWolf_Recon;49215201]This whole "updating stories to prevent gender stereotypes" thing is two steps short of revisionist history.[/QUOTE]
what the fuck is this even?
this in no way diminishes the original version. we aren't sending out theatre based lynch mobs to find and destroy anyone who dares practice and perform the original version. it's a totally harmless artistic change to a classic tale. it doesn't hurt you, it doesn't hurt "culture", so shut up and deal with it.
Wouldn't it make more sense to update the princess with character, rather than replacing her? This makes 0% differense if she'll still be as developed as a brick.
Take Fiona from Shrek as example, it's perfectly do-able to have a "generic princess" with great character development.
why create new and interesting characters or stories when you can just make genderswaps?
honestly there's no problem here but dumb changes like the fairies being the women's institute and shit like that is just stupid.
jesus Christ you guys are sexist, a woman gets put into a film, and you mra's screech and whine
[QUOTE=BANNED 4EVER;49220749]jesus Christ you guys are sexist, a woman gets put into a film, and you mra's screech and whine[/QUOTE]
"Why not create new and interesting women characters rather then just genderswap men"
"Holy shit you're sexist!"
That's how you sound.
[QUOTE=KennyAwsum;49215150]I'd actually watch that.
It sounds like a genuinely interesting interpretation of the story.[/QUOTE]
It'll be the story of a closet furry who finds out his girlfriend is a werewolf, they yiff before Gaston does them in fire.
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