You've probably seen them before if you're reading this. Various mysteriously sourced and rated "Blog Awards," that fellow bloggers pass on to eachother, which is has a nice passing it forward feel to it, and helps knit a sense of community. Last week I was a proud recipient and bestower of the Happiness 101 award, and the next day I received this Princess award from the very principled and wonderful EYE of the Orchid Style blog (http://aygenart.blogspot.com). I'm am very honored by Eye's mention, but have felt a bit uncomfortable with the title of the award.
For you see, this Miss Bella never wanted to play princess. I grew up on fairy tales, and loved them, the old school kind, the Brothers Grimm to the brim and Hans Christian Anderson kind, and I really liked the surreal dark world they conjured. To be honest there wasn't a whole lot of happy endings, well, at least happy endings that didn't come with a price. So this pepto-pink wash on everything girlish brand of Princess is something I never did relate to. Honestly: why would I want to be a snivelling and helpless princess when I'd rather be QUEEN?
Like a Queen in Chess: cut-throat, goes everywhere on the chessboard and is THEE major bad-ass. A royal bad-ass. I like THAT kind of royalty.
Ari, my cool, tall glass of water neighbor, who is a bad-ass woman studies major just turned me onto an interesting website called Fallen Princesse (www.fallenprincesses.com ) where photographer Dina Goldstein did a series exploring the real-life outcome of the princesses found in fairytales.
One of the most iconic images of the series depicts a harried Snow White as housefrau:
Before you think I'm ungrateful, let me thank my Hamburg helper and fellow blogger, Eye for thinking of me. Thank-you. I'm happy to have found you and enjoy reading your blog. I hope others enjoy reading your blog too (shameless plug): http://www.aygenart.blogspot.com. But I am no princess. I much prefer power over pamper, and don't need a default handsome Prince to rescue me. Let me bestow upon all of you the sincere wish that you never need a prince to save you...because...GOD SAVE THE QUEEN.
6 comments:
I love this post! <3
Thank-you, Ari. Ari was my inspiration for this post and you can read her Woman-Friendly blog here: http://feministified.blogspot.com/
I have a niece who is 3, a spunky powerhouse of a chick who came to our family from Guatemala, and I made the family promise that there would be no "princess" bullshit. She's not my daughter, but she's my kin, and I won't have it! Her bio-mom gave her up because she already had 6 kids and her husband had left her and she didn't read or write and couldn't care for another child. I'm confident that this amazing woman didn't give up a child to have her come to the US and aspire to be Paris Hilton or Beverly Hills Chihuahua. No t-shirts proclaiming "diva" on the front, no sweatpants announcing that the child is "spoiled" across the butt. I did make her a charming black t-shirt with rhinestones across the front that says "smart" - I'll have to find a photo to send you!
Great blog entry. Thanks.
Christy, I would LOVE to see that black bling-encrusted T-shirt. In fact, wouldn't mind having one of my own as well. Thanks for your comments! xo. -Bella Q
Queen also did "God Save the Queen". Congradulations on the accolade.
Yes they did. And they also did Killer Queen which I also considered posting. But the SP had the cool pic which sort of matched....and that works, right?
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