The Perfect Fairy Tale Kiss

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As my colleague, fellow folklorist Linda J. Lee, discusses in her post on “True Love’s Kiss,” the kiss as awakening and  transformation motif in fairy tales has a long and less-known history. From early versions of “Sleeping Beauty” to “The Frog Prince,” fairy tale kisses are tied up with violence and sexuality in a way that would make a Disney heroine blush. This is yet another reminder that fairy tales were not originally intended for children, so their shift in audience has seen accompanying changes in content.

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About Jeana

Jeana

Jeana Jorgensen, PhD recently completed her doctoral degree in folklore and gender studies at Indiana University. She studies fairy tales and other narratives, dance, body art, feminist theory, digital humanities, and gender identity.

  • I_Am_Me

    I greating enjoy erotic BSDM versions of fairy tales.  Sleeping Beauty being one of them.  But I hate the trend these days in movies where any hot sexual encounters have to be Debby Downer’ed by following it up with tragedy.  Like the message is, “If you are having hot, fantastic sex … someone is gonna die.”

  • http://twitter.com/foxyfolklorist Jeana Jorgensen

     True, there have been a number of Sleeping Beauty rewrites (Anne Rice’s among them). And I agree that, sadly, sex is still stigmatized in mainstream culture. It’s one of the reasons I don’t watch horror films; they so frequently punish and police the characters who have sex.

  • I_Am_Me

    The giant prehistoric crocodile that breaths fire is HUNGRY … but only for people who are having hot sex.  lol  Sexed up people are have more flavor. :D