Posts Tagged "Disney"

Disney Princesses, Abusive Relationships, and the Young Adult Novel

Posted by on Aug 26, 2013 in Uncategorized | 1 comment

In most of the young adult novels I’ve read, a romantic man-woman relationship is central to the story. And in nearly every case, the man is dominant and the woman is submissive. This dynamic often plays out subtly—so subtly that it’s hard to identify it or determine where it comes from. In extreme cases of this, you get an abusive relationship. Unfortunately, young adult novels that deal overtly with abuse tend to fall into traps of cliché and archetype. In my experience, they all follow the same formula, which can be broken down thus: Setting: a typical public high school. Protagonist Jane meets Jack. Jack is older—most likely the new, cool kid at school—and...

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