Wish You Were Part of a Fairy Tale Couple? You May Want to Think Again...

by Annie Leibovitz

Today is Valentine's Day and that means many things to many people. Not growing up in the US, Valentine's was not a day for kids. It was really to give a little push to couples who could use it - whether in declaring their unspoken feelings to new beaus or their long time partners. Of course, once Hallmark got a hold of the 'holiday', the pressure was on and now just having dinner with someone of February 14th is loaded with meaning. It's become a day full of unreal expectations and not many people are secure enough in themselves and their relationships to enjoy the day without feeling any pressures. Of course, the idea of 'a fairy tale romance' comes up a lot around today's date but if you really stop and think about it, fairy tale love isn't always what you might think.

Artist unknown

I have an article on "True Love and Fairy Tales" coming up in the next week at Supernatural Fairy Tales (so look out for that one) but for today I wanted to share something I found while researching: a priceless old blog post of Sarah Beth Durst's from 2008 on "Fairy Tale Couples".

If you're not aware of Sarah, you should be. She's written three fairy tale based books so far with her latest being "Ice", a retelling of "East Of the Sun, West of the Moon" (you can read my post on "Ice" HERE). In addition to telling a good story she's wonderfully funny on her blog and often takes a good hard look at fairy tales with her tongue firmly planted in her cheek.

The Prince sees Snow White by Margaret Tarrant

Here's an excerpt from "Fairy Tale Couples" in which she looks at the cons of fairy tale couples or:

WHY I DON'T WANT A FAIRY-TALE RELATIONSHIP (or Reasons to Buy the Card with Love Birds on it Instead)
Snow White and Prince
HER: Leaves her loyal friends after just one kiss.
HIM: Falls in love with a dead girl. Ick.

After a few other dubious fairy tale couple examples she goes on to the pros or:

WHY I'M GIVING MY HUSBAND THE CARD ANYWAY (or Why I Still Think Fairy-Tale Love is Romantic)
Snow White and Prince
As a wedding present, he lets her murder the evil witch. Now that's true love.

Development art by Gustav A. Tenggren for Disney's Snow White

It's not a long post but it's very funny and very smart. You'll find yourself laughing and both being thankful for what you have (or don't have - ick!) and finish reading with your fairy tale romance dreams still somehow intact. Go read the whole thing HERE (then go support her by buying her books, so she'll be able to write more great stuff - we need writers like Sarah!).

Thank you Sarah, and Happy Valentine's day everyone.