Spinning Tales, Women's Productivity, and Rumpelstiltskin

Several months ago, L asked me what I thought the story of Rumpelstiltskin was really about.   If you're not familiar with the tale, this version by the Grimm Brothers (1810's) is the most well known.  There is a boasting miller, his daughter, a king, rooms filled of straw, a strange magical little man, some questionable contracts, and an ambiguous moral.  A quick Google search reveals just how baffling this strange little story is for most modern readers.

I too was baffled, but with some research skills and access to university library databases I found an amazing article:

Zipes, Jack. (1993). "Spinning with Fate: Rumpelstiltskin and the Decline of Female Productivity." Western Folklore. 52 (1) Perspectives on the Innocent Persecuted Heroine in Fairy Tales: 43-60

The author begins his discussion by noting the long and rich tradition of spinning-related folktales across many cultures, with the spindle symbolizing female productivity and a cultural or community center.  Mothers and grandmothers would tell these tales to their daughters and granddaughters as they spun, making essential products for sewing and weaving for their communities.  As the industrial revolution took hold in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries however, women's economic roles changed.  Essential spinning and weaving tasks that once happened at home were outsourced to the new mechanized economy.  Spinning tales once rooted in the community became un-moored.  Zipes argues that the Grimm Brothers folk tale collection coincides with this transformation.  As a result, their strange Rumpelstilkskin tale is a story caught between women's traditionally productive spinning roles and their more ambiguous roles in Europe's industrializing economy.

To support this theory, the author cites an earlier version of the tale where a hapless maiden can only spin flax into gold (no boasting miller).  In her world, gold thread is pretty but essentially useless.  In short, she's absurdly inept at an essential task.  A little man comes by and promises to help and in doing so, make her an appealing choice for a discerning gentleman.   In return, he demands her first child.  In other words, I have skills you desperately need/want, I'll teach you, but you'll have to pay me.   She says yes and a prince marries her (no more spinning anything into gold).  Once she has her first child, the little man comes back to test her by demanding his payment.  She resists and he offers his name-guessing test.  After two days of failure, she rallies her ladies community who go in search of the answer.  They find it and the little man flies out on a ladle (a women's implement).

Moral of this earlier story: learn to spin so you'll be a valuable asset to your husband and your community; use your ladies network and control your fate.

While this isn't a fantastic moral by modern standards, it's far better than the Grimm version.  In hindsight its easy to see why the version we know is so baffling: it does not reflect a stable, immutable oral tradition.  Instead, it reflects a man's interpretation of a woman's tale amidst women's changing economic roles.  As women lost their economic value, their role in stories also transformed: they became passive, helpless bystanders as men and magical spinning machines determined their destinies.

Makes so much more sense than most modern interpretations!

Thor: The Ms. Male Character Trope?

I'm sure you've heard by now that Thor is officially a woman, at least in the Marvel universe.  Here she is:

Having just watched the wonderful videos over at Feminist Frequency (see my previous post here), I immediately thought, "this just the Ms. Male Character trope!"  Media critic Anita Sarkeesian defines The Ms. Male Character trope as:

"A female version of an already established or default male character.  Ms. Male Characters are defined primarily by their relationship to their male counterparts via their visual properties, their narrative connection or occasionally through promotional materials."

Batgirl and Superwoman come to mind, and female Thor appears to join the list; another female character who only exists as an extension of her male counterpart.  The Marvel people disagree.  As the series writer emphasizes in the press release:

“This is not She-Thor. This is not Lady Thor. This is not Thorita. This is THOR. This is the THOR of the Marvel Universe. But it’s unlike any Thor we’ve ever seen before.” 

How is this possible? Well, the Marvel people are interpreting the Norse mythology creatively, claiming that Thor-ness isn't restricted to a single person but to the "mighty hammer, Mjölnir." As the press release explains:

"The inscription on Thor's hammer reads ‘Whosoever holds this hammer, if HE be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.’ Well it's time to update that inscription . . . this new Thor isn't a temporary female substitute - she's now the one and only Thor, and she is worthy!"

Does the hammer rationale save Thor from the Ms. Male Character trope?

The Positives: The female Thor can have a narrative separate from her male predecessor, connected (presumably) only by the hammer.  There is potential here, but we'll have to wait and see if the writers follow through.

The Negatives:  Thor is a very well established brand, extending from Chris Hemsworth all the way back to at least Roman times.  When someone says Thor, you think big Viking thunder god.  You don't think: a person who embodies the spirit of a magic hammer.  We can of course break this association, but it will take effort, especially with the visuals.  An autonomous female Thor needs a very different visual presence to establish her independence.  Imagine a Black, Hispanic, or Asian woman empowered by an ancient weapon to bring justice to the world.  Who'd remember the old bearded guy?

Did the artists do this?  No.  They gave the archetypal northern European Thor huge boobs, a curvy figure, and a small delicate chin.  (And the hammer seems to have very particular wardrobe preferences.)

Female Thor is a direct visual descendant of her male counterpart and this is what people notice.  My first reaction was: great . . . blonde and boobs.  This is where most of the news coverage stopped, for example: "the once strapping and bearded Thunder God now as a buxom blonde, clad in a caped costume."  I'm guessing everyone else stopped there as well.  No one read far enough to notice the bit about the hammer, not even me.

My conclusion: Missed Opportunity! I believe you're intentions are honorable Marvel people (if you back it up with an independent story arc), but the visuals don't transcend the male character.  All we see is She Thor.

The Danger of a Single Story

Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story

Ted Talk

Her talk is 20 minutes well spent.  Not only is she eloquent and funny, but her message is clear and powerful.  Below are a few excerpts from her discussion about the "danger of a single story" in case you find yourself without time to watch it.


She first details some of her experiences growing up in an average family in Nigeria and encountering those less fortunate than her.

All I had head about them was how poor they were, so it had become impossible for me to see them as anything else but poor.  That poverty was my one story about them.

Later when she came to the United States, her American roommate was confused that she spoke English so well and shared many of the same cultural traits. Her roommate had a "patronizing, well meaning pity... There was no possibility of feelings more complex than pity."

This one was too funny not to share: 

A student told me that it was such a shame that Nigerian men were physical abusers like the character in my novel.  I had told him that I had just read a novel called American Psycho and it was such a shame that young Americans were serial murderers.

She explains that as she had heard many stories about young Americans, it did not occur to her that this one story could encompass an entire group of  peoples.  She finishes by highlighting the dangers of having a single story (excerpts from various parts of the talk):

So that is how to create a single story, show a people as one thing, as only one thing, over and over again, and that is what they become...The consequence of the single story is this: it robs people of dignity... It emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar... When we reject the single story, when we realize that there is never a single story about any place, we regain a kind of paradise.

This concept is so simple that it is quite astounding to hear it said out loud.  An earlier post here by HC mentions stereotypes: 

 Ultimately, the stereotype allows someone to not spend time meeting another person, but instead makes them feel an immediate familiarity with everyone they encounter. In essence stereotyping allows for each individual to construct their own reality that does not truly mirror the actual world they inhabit. 

I think Adichie's talk brings more depth to this point . We enter new situations with an already preconceived notion of what to expect, automatically drawing upon the "one story" we have heard over and over again.  As she mentions about her family friends "it had become impossible for me to see them as anything else but poor."

Ultimately, recognizing this narrowing of focus can have huge applications on any walk of life.  Once children start hearing that mothers can be firefighters, scientists, or businesswomen, they will no longer have the expectation that all moms are homemakers.  One particular example comes to mind which appeared on the internet in January.  A picture surfaced showing a black male carrying a baby and doing the hair of his daughter, resulting in some racist and insulting backlash:

'He probably rented those kids. They don't even look like him,' 'Look at this Uncle Tom. No chance he would be doing this if his kids were black.' 'I would bet anything that you're a deadbeat,' and  'Cute picture. Now why don't you hand the children back to their mom so you can go back to selling drugs or your bootleg rap CDs?'

Clearly, these individuals have heard a singular story regarding male black fathers. If this hard working father (an Idris Elba-like man may I add?)  is already pigeonholed by a cultural "one story", what is the world like for equivalent, hard-working women?

I know I have definitely fallen victim to the dangers of the single story (from within and without).  What about you?