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WORD is pleased to welcome Jo Karaplis, author of Fractured: Happily Never After?. In her book, she ponders the questions: What would happen if Snow White were around today? Would Cinderella still need a fairy godmother? Would the Little Mermaid show up on YouTube? She agreed to answer a burning question of ours…
WORD: Which fairytale characters would fare best in today’s world?
JO KARAPLIS: If the heroines from popular fairytales were suddenly dumped into today’s world, I think they’d have a pretty tough time. Cinderella would be called a gold-digger, and the prince would probably make her sign a pre-nup. (The odds that she’d end up with a prince in the first place are pretty slim, of course.) Beauty would be pressing assault charges against the Beast (and she’d probably be suing her father, too, for selling her!). And poor Sleeping Beauty: left in a coma, she’d probably end up in a nursing home somewhere. Snow White would be busy cleaning up after a house full of messy fraternity brothers, waiting for her prince to come yet dating jerks in the meantime.
However, I have a lot of faith in Rapunzel. She was locked up by a bitter old woman, but she managed to plan and execute a successful escape. In today’s world, she’d probably have been kidnapped as a child and kept in captivity for years, only to finally escape and then write a bestselling memoir about her experiences. After all that time spent growing out her hair, I’d also love to see what she’d end up doing with it: hack it all off into a funky bob? Keep it long and wear a different elaborate style every day? After the success of her memoir, I bet she’d go to university and become a criminal justice lawyer or a political activist or something. Or maybe she’d study fashion and become a designer. One thing’s for sure: she wouldn’t let her past hardships define her, and she’d achieve whatever goals she set for herself. She’d be a fun woman to hang out with: the kind that always has a good book to recommend, and will kick you in the butt if you need a little motivation. If she wrote a blog, it would be outspoken and hilarious.
Jo is on a blog tour! You can catch her at the following locations:
Nov. 15:
Steph Su Reads
Nov. 16:
Word of Mouse Book Reviews
Bella’s Bookshelves
Nov. 17
The Reading Girl
Between the Pages
Nov. 18
Page Turners
Tahleen’s Mixed-Up Files
Nov. 19
YA Addict
YA Book Shelf
2 Comments on Jo Karaplis on Fairytale Heroines, last added: 11/15/2010
Excellent question! And there you go, Jo, at least three new ideas for more stories!! Yippee!
Great answer, Jo, but it makes me wonder…what about the miller’s daughter in Rumpelstiltskin. I mean she was an enterprising girl, who not only got rooms full of golden straw, but also was intelligent enough to get someone to spy on him in the hopes of learning his name. When she did, he lost his payment in the bargain. I guess it’s on my mind because that was my favorite fairytale growing up, and I read a novel earlier this year based on this story. It wasn’t modernized, but hey…it’ could be.