Angela_Carter

How does Angela Carter’s appropriation demonstrate the impact of popular culture on the genre of fairy tales' In your response, discuss how the moral or “message” of the original fairy tale is altered. * The cultural paradigms of present day genre; genre being a way to categorise literature that can naturalise representations, have undeniably altered from that of the 17th Century. * Subsequently, the mores most relevant to the time, otherwise known as the popular culture, has diffused into the fairy tales of that age. * “The Bloody Chamber” (1979), Angela Carter’s appropriation of Charles Perrault’s original fairy tale, “Bluebeard” (1695), follows a feminist discourse of sadistic heterosexuality and gender power plays. * These two polysemic texts convey fundamental morals that are translated through the categorising genre conventions of each composition; assisted through the codes of signs and signifiers. * The nature of curiosity and the ambiguity of true innocence are morals whose meanings rest upon the popular culture of their context. * The worth of physical appearances is a message discussed in varying slants across both texts. * Because of the freedoms Carter enjoys in her writing, her ability to cross social boundaries differentiates her concept of the genre of fairy tales from the rigid confines of “Bluebeard’s” birth ground, French middle class society. * Thus, this has caused the moral or “message” of the original fairy tale to alter. * ------------------------------------------------------------------ * Both fairy tales follow the story of the marriage of a young wife to a secretive older man, who is really a sadistic bride-murderer. * “The Bloody Chamber” attempts to provide reason for the masochistic tendencies of the heroine’s husband, despite Perrault’s choice to avert from this discussion. * Hailed as the most important fantasist of her time, Carter has the benefit of manipulating the fairy tale in a society that appreciates the study of the mind, in the light of the recent work of psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud. * `There is a striking resemblance between the act of love and the ministrations of a torturer’ claims the Marquis in Carter’s composition. * This allusion to the poetic works of the sexual libertine, Marquis de Sade, provides logical motivation behind the husband’s horrific actions. * Perrault however, provides little if any reasoning, thus his fairy tale lacks in the descriptiveness that captivates Carter’s audience. He denotes how, “Blue Beard had a heart harder than any stone”. This metaphor is lacks in the vibrancy of Carter’s delineative narration. * The genre of fairy tales was confined by the mores of the 17th Century Catholic Church, which denounced sadistic sexuality in literature. This is according to academic Shuli Barzilai, who writes about cultural influences on texts in his essay “The Infernal Desire”. * Perrault summarizes the male-dominated sexual relationship between husband and wife using minimalistic language, describing it as a “sorry time”. * Contrastingly, Carter entertains the audience with a sensual simile, “He stripped me… as if he were stripping the leaves off an artichoke”. * The artichoke is referenced here to demonstrate how the heroine is objectified to satisfy the sexual desires of the Marquis. Carter also construes how “a dozen husbands impaled a dozen brides”. The connotations of the word “impaled” suggest violence, creating a vivid caricature of male subjugation. * Due to the progressive and liberal philosophies of the late 20th Century in which Carter constructs her fairy tales, she is given the freedom to delve into the essence of phallic, sadistic heterosexuality in this genre. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- * Gender roles are pivotal in Carter and Perrault’s texts. * This is because in each fairy tale, either a female or a male is the hero. * In Carter’s 1970s appropriation, the genre of fairy tales has been characterised by the feminist movement of the decade. For example, 1975 was declared International Women’s Year by the United Nations, four years before “The Bloody Chamber” was published. * It is the “maternal telepathy”, which saves the victim. * This complies with the features of the era, a time when Margaret Thatcher had just been elected as the first female Prime Minister of Britain. * Carter details how the heroines “mother...put a single, irreproachable bullet through my husband’s head.” Carter’s diction here is succinct, and her tone is one of admiration for the feminine strength of the mother. * Defying gender stereotypes was a widespread practise in the 1970s, when the popular culture supported the transmission of this moral. This has changed the genre of fairy tales. Academic Mary Kaiser in her essay “Fairy tales as Sexual Allegory” argues this. * This is a major variation of Perrault’s textual discourse, in which the heroine depends on her brothers for salvation: “My brothers; I will make them a sign”. * This lack of independence is emphasised through the female inaction that Perrault communicates, representing the morally entrenched popular culture of his society. * This is a society that regards males as responsible for female protection, and Perrault is fulfilling the requirements of his chosen genre by portraying this. Gender roles in texts reflect the nature of their popular culture, as shown by the messages in Perrault and Carter’s fairy tales. * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- * The attributes of curiosity are presented contrastingly throughout both compositions. Perrault wrote in a prelude to his version of “Bluebeard” that one of the major influences for his story was the Biblical parable of Adam and Eve. * In a society fiercely influenced by the Catholic Church, Perrault’s allusions aligned the fairy tale with the conventions of 17th Century popular culture. * The heroine’s Eve-like curiosity precedes the destruction of the marital relationship. Her “true repentance for her disobedience” is a result of her inability to do as instructed. * This analogy conveys the quintessential moral in Perrault’s writing; that if women are too curious then there will be negative consequences. * In contrast, Carter attributes the blame towards the Marquis, arguing that it is his unreasonable expectations that foreshadow the near-tragic conclusion. “I shall grow hungrier…more cruel” cries the Marquis. * Carter integrates the recurring sign or motif of hunger, to express the Marquis’s animalistic characteristics. * This is a product of the author’s feverish feminist persuasion, a theme that increases the dynamics of the modern fairy tale. Rather than adopting the timeless pattern of blaming the victim, Carter accuses the perpetrator. Subsequently, it is the popular culture that has transformed the fairy tale genre, presenting the feminist moral through the emphasis upon male culpability. * --------------------------------------------------------------------- * The nature of innocence in the nameless heroine is a paralleling issue that is displayed differently in both fairy tales. * The choice to describe the heroine without a name has been made to enable all women to identify with the “everywoman” protagonist, which is an adaptation of the historically prolific “everyman” personality. * Carter has utilised intertextuality, manipulating the ambiguity of the heroine’s identity, and subverting genre expectations so that the audience sees the heroine as less naive. * In Carter’s adaptation, the heroine conveys the message, “I was not afraid of him, but of myself... a rare talent for corruption.” * The heroine’s first person narration is a literary convention that allows Carter to delve into the protagonists understanding of sexuality and torture. In the explorative 1970s Carter presses the audience to consider the opportunity for a young girl to corrupt herself. * In Perrault’s “Bluebeard” conclusion, the heroine forgets the “time she had passed with Blue Beard”, as proof of her naivety concerning the horrific images in the torture chamber. Perrault’s integration of third person narrating diverts the audience away from the psychological journey of the heroine. This consolidates Perrault’s prevailing argument in his fairy tale genre, that the ideal woman in 17th Century France was ignorant to the sadistic sexuality that surrounded her. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Despite the heroine’s presentation as an innocently naive woman from a dominant reading perspective in Carter’s text, an alternative reading may conclude that the heroine knows more about sadomasochism than the audience may first assume. “I seemed reborn...in unfamiliar shapes,” says the contemplates the protagonist, implying with metaphors that she has fragments of corruption within herself. However, this is not a cue to assume that the heroine is responsible for the cruelty of the Marquis, according to academic Diana Bianchi in her essay on Carter’s reworking, titled “Back to the Future”. * Contrastingly, it is fitting in the popular culture of Perrault for the idealised heroine to be entirely innocent. This would be apparent in a society that emphasises the message that women should not be burdened with issues like male sadism. * Carter subverts genre expectations, and details to the audience the breadth of female conceptualisation of sadistic male sexuality. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- * The way in which genres are positioned influences the connotations of physical appearance they deliver. * A dominant reading of Perrault’s “Bluebeard” would provide the audience with an understanding of the esteemed social regard for physical appearance, whilst a dominant reading of Carter’s conversion emphasise the opposite message. * In the feminist movement of the 1970s, appearances were becoming decreasingly important. Feminist Germaine Greer in her book, The Female Enuch, later argued this. In Carter’s conclusion, the heroine weds a blind piano tuner, Jean-Yves, who is attracted to the protagonist on the balance of her personality. * “He sees me clearly with his heart”, observes his partner. This metaphor shows the core values that shine through the transposed fairy tale genre; the inner worth of an individual. * However, the Marquis does not value this; and by way of juxtaposition, Carter shows how unworthy he is. It is the “white face Cherie”, that transfixes the Marquis. The patronising tone of the Marquis’ description undermines the worth of the heroine. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- * Importantly, it is the physical assets that comfort the heroine in “Bluebeard”. That “the daughters... were perfect beauties”, created a sense of pride in the women. This simplistic diction makes Perrault’s “Bluebeard” a “readerly” text, as opposed to Carter’s “writerly” composition. * This is due to the contrasting popular culture of both texts, and the change in genre expectations. “Readerly” texts are seen as very accessible for the reader, whilst “writerly” texts require the audience to gain a deeper understanding of the compositions context and allusions. * “Bluebeard” was originally targeted at young, middle class children, whilst “The Bloody Chamber” was aimed at a more mature audience, and thus can employ more a more complex code with innuendos that refer to physical appearance. The Marquis refers to the protagonist as “My little nun”. * Irony is used here, as this confrontation precedes the loss of the protagonist’s virginity. * Carter can contentiously probe into this discourse because of the liberal freedoms of progressive 20th Century literature, and the widening ambit applied to the fairy tale genre. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- * In consummation, Angela Carter’s “The Bloody Chamber” and Charles Perrault’s “Bluebeard” are texts that illustrate the social parameters of their genre and popular cultures. * The tales investigate the morals and messages embedded in discourses of sadistic heterosexuality, gender roles, curiosity, innocence and physical appearance. * Conclusively, Carter’s appropriation does maintain some of Perrault’s conventions, but it overwhelmingly breathes with the themes of the author herself. * It is the popular culture of the 1970s that enables her to discuss the issue of the feminist author’s agenda, and let them flourish in the framework of the fairy tale. * Angela Carter and her expansion of the breadth of the fairy tale genre, is the vehicle through which these concerns are aroused.