{"id":1306,"date":"2022-02-01T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-01T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ghadaamer.com\/?p=1306"},"modified":"2022-02-02T12:09:39","modified_gmt":"2022-02-02T12:09:39","slug":"mirror-mirror-on-the-wall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ghadaamer.com\/drawings\/mirror-mirror-on-the-wall\/","title":{"rendered":"Mirror, Mirror on the Wall"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Barbie Trees <\/em>(2007) is a disenchanting fairy tale. It tells the story of how princesses become Barbie dolls and how princes are abandoned. In so doing, it holds up a mirror to its viewer, reflecting our assumptions straight back at us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Traditionally, fairy tales instill wonder in their audience. In narratives filled with talking animals and witches, spells abound to hook listeners or readers to the plot all while offering a moral or social commentary that reflects the social beliefs of the times in which they were written. If nineteenth century fairy tales are today rewritten in accordance with a more progressive and feminist society – one which considers a woman\u2019s place to have extended far beyond the confines of her prince\u2019s kingdom – Barbie Trees<\/em>, a collaborative monoprint by Ghada Amer and Reza Farkhondeh, <\/em>does more than simply reimagine an outdated tale. It questions the idea of the tale altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The wonder of fairy tales, according to literary critic Cristina Bacchilega, stems not from the magical narrative itself, but rather from the contradiction between the narrative\u2019s ability to uphold social beliefs and its subversive construction which undermines these (see Bacchilega, Postmodern Fairy Tales: Gender and Narrative Strategies<\/em>). This, she argues, is due to the fairy tales\u2019 artifice. \u201cTo break the magic spell, we must learn to recognize it as a spell that can be unmade.\u201d How then, does Barbie Trees <\/em>dispel fairy tale enchantment?<\/p>\n\n\n\nDrawing and Dismantling the Fairy Tale World<\/h2>\n\n\n\n