Topic > History of the Wicked Stepmother Show by Marina Warner

Never underestimate envy Before Jimmy Fallon became the hugely successful TV personality he is today, a comedian named Louis CK ruined Jimmy's chances of starring on the Dana Carvey Show in the 90s. In a 2015 interview between Jimmy and Louis, Louis revealed that he judged the auditions for Carvey's show. Louis saw Jimmy Fallon audition for that show. When the jury decided who would go on the show, all the women at the meeting said "he [Jimmy] has to be on the show!" However, Louis said “never; I'll leave the show if you hire that guy. In the 2015 interview, Louis revealed that, in hindsight, he was completely jealous of Jimmy's charisma, youth and thick hair; Louis didn't want to feel angry at himself watching Jimmy every day, so he "ruined Jimmy's chances of getting on the show" (The Tonight Show). Jimmy never made it to Carvey's show. This situation reveals that envy is insidious; if you are not careful, the envy of others will destroy you. The evil bogeyman stepmother who becomes jealous of her daughter's beauty is the perfect embodiment of this destructive force of envy. The details of the evil stepmother stories have changed throughout history, reflecting the current state of society; however, evil stepmother stories have remained immutable as they have always had envy at their core. The evil bogey stepmother reveals that when humans come into contact with someone who seems superior, they become envious and attempt to destroy that person; as a result, modern audiences learn that they must downplay exceptional qualities as a sacrifice to deflect the dangers of envy. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In Marina Warner's "Wicked Stepmothers" chapter on a story titled "Cupid and Psyche," Warner reveals that envy drives the stepmother figure to destroy her competitor in beauty, which proves that the wicked stepmother symbolizes jealousy . “Cupid and Psyche” is the first story in recorded history in which the evil stepmother makes an appearance. Cupid's mother, Venus, orders her son to kill Psyche, his beauty challenger. This story of jealousy represents the soul struggling to achieve inner peace. The word psyche means “soul” in Greek. Therefore, when Venus wants to kill Psyche because she is jealous of her beauty, this action represents Venus wanting to purify the part of her soul that brings her pain. This insight reveals that humans who destroy others out of envy do so not simply to destroy another person but with the ultimate goal of bringing peace to themselves. Furthermore, it is not necessarily beauty itself that causes envy; beauty, on the other hand, symbolizes any manifestation of superiority that causes envy. Finally, this story about envy was published in the 2nd century AD, which proves that envy is an emotion that has been present in humans for millennia. Envy is such a powerful emotion that it can even drive a person to murder, so people should downplay their own talent or image to protect themselves from another person's envy. Two thousand years later, the Brothers Grimm published the story of Cinderella's evil stepmother in the 19th century which is much more violent than today's Disney version of Cinderella; this shows that the portrayal of the evil bogey stepmother depends on the real-life circumstances surrounding the story's authors. The Brothers Grimm grew up in the German states in the early 1800s, which were the center ofmilitary conflicts such as the Napoleonic Wars and the French Revolutionary Wars. As a result, the violence in their version of Cinderella was in congruence with the authors' real-life environment. In the Grimm version of “Cinderella,” an evil stepmother torments her daughter because she is jealous of her beauty and charm. When the prince announces that anyone with a foot that fits the shoe can marry him, the evil stepmother tells her daughters “Cut off your toe. Once you become queen, you will never have to walk again” (Grimm, 83). When Cinderella rightly marries the prince, the sisters come to the wedding where "pigeons put out an eye out of each of them" (Grimm, 84). These depictions of graphic violence are absent in the American Disney releases, which reflect peacetime on American soil. Although the United States was involved in wars around the time Disney released Cinderella in 1950, there were no major military conflicts taking place on American soil as there was in the German states. Despite the changes in violent descriptions, envy was a common factor and remained at the heart of both stories. The comparison between Grimm's violent “Cinderella” and the toned down version of Disney's “Cinderella” shows that the environment surrounding the publishers affects the portrayal of the evil bogey stepmother, but does not affect the presence of envy. Along with the Grimm's Cinderella “Cinderella” Version, there are the Norwegian and Native American versions of “Cinderella” where envy is common in all three stories, which shows that envy is common in all cultures. In the Grimm version of Cinderella, when the prince marvels at Cinderella's beauty, the sisters “stood in a corner, pale with envy” (Pitt). Likewise, in the Norwegian version of “Cinderella,” the story is almost identical to the Grimm version; the Norwegian story also states that "the stepmother and her daughter were jealous of the princess, because she was so lovely". (Pitt). In the Native American version of “Cinderella,” instead of a king, there is an Indian warrior called Vento Forte who has the ability to make himself invisible. When he wants to find a woman to marry, he becomes invisible and tells his sister to ask the women if they can see him. If they falsely answer “yes,” then he rejects them. Finally, a young woman answers sincerely, but "her older sisters were very jealous of her charms and treated her very cruelly" (Pitt). This shows that envy is common in different cultures. Among different cultural versions, female hatred is a common theme in “Cinderella,” which reveals hatred and sabotage among women. Since women must outdo their competitors to obtain the symbolic prince, it is no wonder that “female friendships are so problematic, when this is how we are used to seeing our relationships with other women” (Baum). The element of envy gives us a deeper insight into female relationships. Since the destructive force of envy is common among these different cultural versions of “Cinderella,” this shows that the story of the evil stepmother at the center, which is about envy, is a part of the human emotional dynamic. The Brothers Grimm revised “Snow White” from having an evil mother to having an evil stepmother to make the story more believable, which shows how envy can also occur in families. “Snow White” is about the evil stepmother who orders the death of her stepdaughter because she is jealous of her beauty. In the first Grimm version published in 1812, “there is no stepmother” (Gidwitz). Instead, the evil queen is the daughter's mother. In the 1812 version, the mother orders the huntsman to “stab her [Snow White] to death” instead of simply killing her andbring back his organs. Later, the Brothers Grimm reworked it in the 1857 Stepmother version to make the story more believable and acceptable to children. Since jealousy and family violence are taboo topics, it is important to make the story believable; therefore, the revised story of the evil stepmother can educate people about the dangers of envy in the family. For example, Joe Orton was a famous playwright in the 1960s. She was in a relationship with Kenneth Halliwell, but their relationship deteriorated when Orton became successful. Orton tried to help Halliwell launch his career, but Halliwell failed, which only made him feel inferior. In 1967, Halliwell killed Orton with a hammer and Orton's diaries revealed that “Halliwell's illness came from envy” (Greene). This real-life example shows that envy can occur in intimate relationships such as family relationships. Furthermore, it is difficult to imagine an older mother jealous of her daughter, yet one essay analyzes “Snow White” through a Jungian perspective that “the older woman's envy of the younger woman's beauty, sex appeal, and desirability is obvious in our culture ”. , as evidenced by the boom in the cosmetics industry (Buchholtz).” “Snow White” portrays how envy can also lurk in the family. With the Brothers Grimm revisiting their story, this shows that it is important to make the story of the evil stepmother believable so that people can learn important lessons to apply in their own lives; for example, do not cause envy in relationships, even if they are family. The contemporary “Snow White” film titled Mirror Mirror was released in 2012; mocks the emotion of envy because it is a way to deal with the dangers of envy, which shows that envy is becoming particularly problematic in modern society. In Mirror Mirror, the film turns the story into a comedy with moments like the queen getting stung by bees, getting a manicure from wormy creatures, and having her skin freshened with parrot feces. The fact that we must deal with envy using humor reveals that envy is becoming more problematic in today's environment. Why? Today we live in an increasingly democratic world; the Polity IV scale shows that the number of democracies in the world multiplied by six in the period 1900-1998. In a democratic environment, the sense of envy is heightened because there is more equality among peers and “the power of display is despised” (Greene). In contrast, an aristocratic environment has clear ties of vertical communication and inequality between equals, such as servant and master, where there is a clear division between social ranks. Here displays of power are accepted according to belonging to a high social rank, so it is less likely that one is envious of someone of a higher rank. For example, Guy Kirsch writes in his essay on envy that "even though I don't feel envious of Bill Gates, I am envious of a colleague of mine who charges a higher tuition fee than I do," which is similar to the master-phenomena of servitude in an aristocratic environment. As Marina Warner wrote, we use humor to face our fears. As we use humor to portray the evil bogeyman stepmother in our contemporary society, this reveals that envy is becoming problematic in our democratic society. Another contemporary remix of "Snow White" is Snow White and the Huntsman in which the elites band together and exploit their own people, which reflects the atmosphere of modern times. Snow White and the Huntsman is a more serious film than Mirror Mirror, and its story is very similar to the Grimm version where the evil stepmother envies Snow White's beauty. In the film, the evil queen teams up with his.