Abstract
As with other twenty-first-century rewritings of fairytales, Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron complicates the classic ‘Cinderella’ fairytale narrative popularized by Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm for new audiences, queering and race-bending the tale in its decidedly feminist revision of the story. However, as we argue here, the novel also provides an interesting intervention in the construction of age as related to gender for its female protagonists. Drawing on Sylvia Henneberg’s examination of ageist stereotypes in fairytale classics and Susan Pickard’s construction of the figure of the hag, we explore the dialogic between the fairytale revision, traditional fairytale age ideology and the intersection of age and gender in this reinvention of the classic narrative. By focusing on constructions of age, particularly senescence, we demonstrate how complex constructions of older characters might aid in overall depictions of intergenerational relationships, and how these intergenerational relationships in turn reflect historical and cultural impetuses of retelling fairytale narratives.
Highlights
While fairytales have historically given voice to concerns that occupied their tellers in the past (Zipes 2006; Tatar 1999; Warner 1995), fairytale rewritings continue this tradition of confronting the real through stories of magic and wonder
Bayron’s 2020 young adult novel Cinderella is Dead has been lauded for its race-bending, queering and feminist revision of the fairytale made famous by Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm
We offer a close reading of passages from the novel to explore the age ideology that Cinderella is Dead creates
Summary
While fairytales have historically given voice to concerns that occupied their tellers in the past (Zipes 2006; Tatar 1999; Warner 1995), fairytale rewritings continue this tradition of confronting the real through stories of magic and wonder. Sylvia Henneberg’s categorization of ageist stereotypes in particular provides a useful starting point to examine how Cinderella is Dead engages with the traditional fairytale’s age ideology This discussion of fictional age constructions has wider relevance, given that fairytales’ depiction of old age has become a template for viewing older women in reality more broadly. In the kingdom of Mersailles and the town of Lille, where Bayron’s story is set, young girls have to live by a set of rules that is derived from the ‘Cinderella’ fairytale Once they turn sixteen, they are obliged to attend a ball organized by the king, so that they can be chosen by the men who visit the ball to pick a wife. Stephens and Rutherford’s observation begs the question if and how Cinderella is Dead rewrites the roles of the fairytale godmother and other adult figures in ‘Cinderella’ and what the effect is on the novel’s age ideology and potential contribution to intergenerational understanding. If Pickard argues that “some members of this category are more ‘adult’ than others” (p. 3), Cinderella was constituted as ‘less’ adult, as are the women who are expected to tread in her footsteps
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