Sooooooo yeah XD Sorry for posting this on Sunday; had some stuff going on yesterday and I mainly just slept and cleaned and failed at stuff. Not the greatest day.
But today’s Mother’s Day, which is good– got something nice for my mum, and we’re going to have breakfast with my Nana and Papa, and my Aunt and Uncle. S’nice; plus we’re making biscuits today so yayyyyy *drools* XD
I love biscuits…
Okay, but onward. As you can tell by the title, I will share some of my random thoughts involving the story Sleeping Beauty, as well as share a picture I drew at a hockey game Thursday night. It looks cool.
So here is the picture first; which has absolutely nothing to do with Sleeping Beauty:
Sooooooo yeah XD
This is a random depiction of what is sometimes known as a jorogumo, or Japanese spider lady. Every culture in the world pretty much has a version of a spider lady (and a spider man, but they’re a different story). And here is a version of the Japanese one facing off with a swordsman who may or may not be a character from one of my stories.
….So yep. I like drawing jorogumos. XD They’re scary-ish… pretend to be a pretty lady then LEAP out of a hole and eats the random traveler! They’re very sneaky.
Okay now onwards to the Sleeping Beauty tale.
So we all pretty much know the story of Sleeping Beauty; even if for most it’s probably the version spun by Disney (which isn’t the original story… go figure). But basically it begins by a King and a Queen finally getting the baby they always wished for: a beautiful little girl.
Being the great and forward thinking parents they are, they think about it and realize that if they invite the fairies of the land and make them their child’s godparents, then their daughter will be set up for success for life.
So they invite either 12 or 9 or sometimes 7 fairies, set up this huge party with custom-made plates to honor the fairies, give them presents and bleh blah blah – the fairies are very impressed.
Inevitably there’s a bad fairy who was either thought to be dead, and so was not invited, or thought to be so evil that nobody wanted to invite her lest she hurt the baby. Which of course leads to her coming and hurting the baby, after the baby’s already gotten a load of gifts from the other good fairies.
But let’s concentrate on that bit- The King and Queen invite the fairies… knowing that they’ll give their daughter attributes such as wit, beauty, great dancing, great sewing, ect, ect…
Isn’t that selective genetics, basically? Only done by fairy, not by a scientist in a lab with fancy lab equipment. The parents invite the fairies, knowing their child will be given anything she could need to win the best husband in the future and succeed as a future queen.
So while selective genetics for parents today is a fairly heated issue, back in Fairytale land they’re doing just that- not only in Sleeping Beauty, but almost every story involving fairies: trying to alter whatever their baby might be right now, to make them into that perfect princess or prince. Or commoner’s child, if you’re a really lucky peasant. Which doesn’t often happen; or at least, not as often as with princes and princesses.
I think it’s a little creepy. I mean, great for the parents; they’ll have a perfect little lady or man, and I guess the kid gets to be flawless. But it’s not really that great. And there’s the added problem that instead of the mother and father thinking “Oh hey, people who get involved with fairies usually get screwed some way, somehow…” they decided to engineer the perfect little ruler.
… O,o
That’s creepy. Right up there with Nazis and the 3rd Reich and their variety of plans… minus the fairies, and the whole princess and prince thing.
I guess it usually turns out well for the prince or princess; but I wonder what or who they would’ve been; if the fairies and parents hadn’t gone and interfered with their future that way. The fairies are just used as a way to secure the future of the kingdom I guess…. But it still creeps me out. They’re like the modified gen people in the show Almost Human. I feel kind of bad for them– people would always expect them to be perfect; to do exactly whatever their parents had hoped.
That sucks.
And it’s really sad.
So… I guess either way, whether with science or pixie dust, I kind of think altering anyone so drastically; at birth, without taking a chance to find out who they are; is weird at least, and pretty wrong. For finding and fixing diseases; that wouldn’t be bad really; but just manipulating a kid before they can even say “Wait, hold on! Maybe I like me!” …?
That’s not right.
Maybe Sleeping Beauty would have grown up to be the greatest pie baker the world had ever seen. Or squirrel tamer. Or would’ve run away and created and entire army of elves in the forest and went and kicked that bad fairy’s butt. But instead, the bad fairy is never resolved somehow (I suggest throwing her into a really deep well, or turning her into a newt), and Sleeping Beauty’s future is assured– she just has to miss out on 100 years time and marry a guy from the future.
…Oh hey, cryogenic sleep and time travel. Sounds like “The Door Into Summer” by Heinlein…. *muse*
That book is awesome.
I guess the moral of this story is let your kids grow up instead of volunteering them to become some ultimate human. That’s a lonely life. And either they’ll grow up sad, or become giant jerks. And sometimes conquerors too. That never turns out well for the rest of humanity.
Hope you have a great week,
Jack.
Attack of the Plot Bunnies 