Strong Snow White Requires Stronger Marriageable Huntsman
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.56105/cjsae.v29i2.5371Keywords:
Public Pedagogies, Gender, Popular Culture, Media Discussion GroupAbstract
In this article, we discuss a media discussion group for female students with disabilities, which we created and facilitated using fairy tales to discuss and critique gender norms. Disability was not the primary focus for our media sessions; however, participants occasionally extended dialogue to include intersections between disability and gender. In this article, we discuss literature related to gender, disability, popular culture, and fairy tales. We detail our case study methodology and explain our findings regarding participants’ views of gender representations in fairy tales, the character of Snow White as portrayed in the film Snow White and the Huntsman, and the concept of happily‑ever‑after endings. Finally, we discuss benefits experienced by the participants in the context of forming a community of learners and building relationships with each other.
References
Author. (in press).
Author. (2013).
Author et al. (2012).
Author et al. (2014).
Bacchilega, C. (1997). Postmodern fairy tales: Gender and narrative strategies. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Baker-Sperry, L., & Grauerholz, L. (2003). The pervasiveness and persistence of the feminine beauty ideal in children’s fairy tales. Gender & Society, 15(5), 711–726.
Baker-Sperry, L. (2007). The production of meaning through peer interaction: Children and Walt Disney's Cinderella. Sex Roles, 56(11-12), 717-727.
Bechtold, B.H. (2008). Theorizing gender for community college research and practice. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 32(10), 750-761.
Brookfield, S. (1987). Developing critical thinkers: Challenging adults to explore alternatives
ways of thinking and acting. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Brookfield, S. (2005). Discussion as way of teaching: Tools and techniques for democratic classrooms. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Brookfield, S. (2012). Teaching for critical thinking: Tools and techniques to help students question their assumptions. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Burdick, J. & Sandlin, J.A. (2013). Learning, becoming, and the unknowable:
Conceptualizations, mechanisms, and process in public pedagogy literature. Curriculum Inquiry, 43(1), 142-177.
Casey, H. K. (2008). Engaging the disengaged: Using learning clubs to motivate struggling
adolescent readers and writers. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 52(4), 284-294.
Certo, J., Moxley, K., Reffitt, K., & Miller, J. A. (2010). I learned how to talk about a book:
Children's perceptions of literature circles across grade and ability levels. Literacy Research and Instruction, 49(3), 243-263.
Connell, R.W. (1987). Gender and power. Sydney: Allen and Unwin.
Connell, R. W. (2005). Masculinities (2nd ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press.
Connell, R. (2012). Gender: In world perspective (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Polity Press.
DeVolder, B. (2013). Overcoming the overcoming story: A case of ‘compulsory heroism.’
Feminist Media Studies, 13(4), 746-754.
Dong, L. (2006). Writing Chinese American into words and images: Storytelling and retelling of the song of Mu Lan. The Lion and the Unicorn, 30(2), 218-33.
Fiske, J. (2011). Understanding popular culture. London: Routledge.
Forrest, L. (2011). College book clubs: Collaborating for success. Library Innovation, 2(2), 16-
Garland-Thompson, R. (2002). Integrating disability, transforming feminist theory. NWSA
Journal, 14(3), 1-32.
Gibson, B.E., Mistry, B., Smith, B., Yoshida, K.K. Abbot, D. Lindsay, S., Hamdani, Y. (2014).
Becoming men: Gender, disability, and transitioning to adulthood. Health, 18(1), 95-114.
Giroux, H. (2004). Cultural studies, public pedagogy, and the responsibility of intellectuals.
Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, 1(1), 59-79.
Giroux, H. (2011). Breaking into the movies: Public pedagogy and the politics of film. Policy
Futures in Education, 9(6), 686-695.
Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory. Chicago, IL: Aldine.
Haase, D. (Ed.). (2004). Fairy tales and feminism: New approaches. Detroit: Wayne State
University Press.
Harries, E. (2001). Twice upon a time: Women writers and the history of the fairy tale. Princeton:
Princeton University Press.
Hodkinson, P. (2011). Media, culture, and society: An introduction. Thousand Oaks: Sage
Publications Ltd.
hooks, b. (1994). Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom. New York: Routledge.
hooks, b. (1994/2008). Outlaw culture: Resisting representation. New York: Routledge Classics.
hooks, b. (1996/2009). Reel to real: race, sex, and class at the movies. New York: Routledge Classics.
hooks, b. (2003). Teaching community: A pedagogy of hope. New York: Routledge.
hooks, b. (2010). Teaching critical thinking: Practical wisdom. New York: Routledge.
hooks, b. (2012). Writing beyond race: Living theory and practice. New York: Routledge.
Jarvis, C. (1999). Love changes everything: The transformative potential of romantic fiction.
Studies in the Education of Adults, 31(2), 109-122.
Jarvis, C. & Burr, V. (2011). The transformative potential of popular television: The case of
Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Journal of Transformative Education, 9(3), 165-182.
Kearney, M.C. (2012). Introduction. In. M.C. Kearney (Ed.), The Gender and Media Reader.
New York: Routledge.
Liasidou, A. (2014). Critical disability studies and socially just change in higher education.
British Journal of Special Education, 41(2), 120-135.
Lindstrom, L. E., Benz, M. R., & Doren, B. (2004). Expanding career options for young women
with learning disabilities. Career Development for Exceptional Individuals, 27, 43-63.
Luke, C. (1996). Introduction. In C. Luke (Ed.), Feminisms and Pedagogies of Everyday Life
(pp. 1-27). Albany: State University of New York Press.
Marshall, E. (2004). Stripping for the wolf: Rethinking representations of gender in children's literature. Reading Research Quarterly, 39(3), 256-70.
Merriam, S. (1998). Qualitative research and case study applications in education. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
McLaughlin, M., & DeVoogd, G. (2011). Critical literacy as comprehension: Understanding at
deeper levels. In D. Lapp & D. Fisher (Eds.), Handbook of research on teaching the English language arts (3rd ed., pp. 278-282). New York, NY: Routledge.
Morley, L. (2006). Hidden transcripts: The micropolitics of gender in Commonwealth
universities. Women's Studies International Forum, 29, 543-551.
Parsons, L. T. (2004). Ella evolving: Cinderella stories and the construction of appropriate
behavior. Children's Literature in Education, 35(2), 135-154.
Preston, C. L. (2004). Disrupting the boundaries of genre and gender: Postmodernism and the
fairy tale. In D. Haase (Ed.), Fairy tales and feminism: New approaches (pp. 197-212). Detroit: Wayne State University Press.
Polleck, I.N. (2010). Creating transformational spaces: High school book clubs with inner-city
adolescent females. The High School Journal, 93(2), 50-68.
Puleo, R. (2009). Rebecca's revision: Expectations of the girl's novel and Kate Douglas Wiggin's
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and New Chronicles of Rebecca. Children's Literature Association Quarterly, 34(4), 353-378.
Rembis, M.A. (2010). Yes we can change: Disability studies enabling equality. Journal of
Postsecondary Education and Disability, 23(1), 19-27.
Roets, G., & Reinaart, R., Adams, M., & Hove, G.V. (2008). Looking at lived experiences of
self-advocacy through gendered eyes: becoming femme fatale with/out "learning difficulties." Gender and Education, 20(1) 15–29.
Roman, L. G. (2009). Go figure! Public pedagogies, invisible impairments and the
performativity paradoxes of visibility as veracity. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 13(7), 677-698.
Safrik, L., Wolgemuth, J.R., & Kees, N.L. (2003). A feminist critique of articles about women
published in the Community College Journal of Research and Practice: 1990-2000. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 27(9/10), 769-786.
Sanders, R. (2012). Snow White and the Huntsman. USA: Roth Films.
Seifert, L. (1996). Fairy tales, sexuality and gender in France 1690-1715: Nostalgic utopias.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Seifert, L. (2004). On fairy tales, subversion, and ambiguity: Feminist approaches to
seventeenth-century Contes de fees. In D. Haase (Ed.), Fairy tales and feminism: New approaches (pp. 53-71). Detroit: Wayne State University Press.
Strinati, D. (2004). An introduction to theories of popular culture (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.
Titchkosky, T. (2003). Disability, self, and society. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Tisdell, E.J. (Ed.). (2007). Popular culture and entertainment media. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 115.
Tisdell, E.J. (2008). Critical media literacy and transformative learning: Drawing on pop culture
and entertainment media in teaching for diversity in adult higher education. Journal of Transformative Education, 6(1), 48-67.
Twomey, S. (2007). Reading “women”: Book club pedagogies and the literary imagination.
Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 50(5), 398-407.
Tyler, J. (2010). Media clubs: Social class and the shared interpretations of media texts. Southern
Communication Journal, 75(4), 392-412.
Wagner, A., Acker, S., & Mayuzumi, K. (Eds.). (2008). Whose university is it anyway?: Power and privilege on gendered terrain. Toronto: Sumach Press.
Webber, K.L., Krylow, R.B., & Zhang, Q. (2013). Does involvement really matter? Indicators of
college student success and satisfaction. Journal of College Student Development, 54(6), 591-611.
Wright, R. R., & Sandlin, J.A. (2009a). Cult TV, hip hop, shape-shifters, and vampire slayers: A
review of the literature at the intersection of adult education and popular culture. Adult
Education Quarterly, 59(2), 118-141.
Wright, R.R., & Sandlin, J.A. (2009b). Popular culture, public pedagogy and perspective
transformation: The Avengers and adult learning in living rooms. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 28(4), 533-551.
Zipes, J. (1994). Fairy tale as myth/myth as fairy tale. Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky.
Zipes, J. (1997). Happily ever after: Fairy tales, children, and the culture industry. Routledge: New York.
Zipes, J. (2002a). Breaking the magic spell: Radical theories of folk & fairy tales (Revised and
expanded edition ed.). Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky.
Zipes, J. (2002b). Sticks and stones: The troublesome success of children's literature from
Slovenly Peter to Harry Potter. New York: Routledge.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors of manuscripts accepted for publication will be required to assign copyright to the Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education/L’Association canadienne pour l’étude de l’éducation des adultes (CJSAE). CJSAE requests that, as the creator(s)/author(s) of the manuscript your are submitting assign certain rights to the manuscript to the CJSAE in exchange for undertaking to publish the article in print and electronic form and, in general, to pursue its dissemination throughout the world. The rights the CJSAE requests are:
- The right to publish the article in print and electronic form or in any other form it may choose that is in keeping with its role as a scholarly journal with the goal of disseminating the work as widely as possible;
- The right to be the sole publisher of the article for a period of 12 months;
- The right to make the article available to the public within a period of not more than 24 months, as determined by relevant journal staff of the CJSAE;
- The right to grant republication rights to itself or others in print, electronic, or any other form, with any revenues accrued to be shared equally between the author(s) and the journal;
- The right to administer permission to use portions of the article as requested by others, seeking recompense when the CJSAE sees it as warrented;
- The right to seek or take advantage of opportunities to have the article included in a database aimed at increasing awareness of it;
- As the author(s), the CJSAE wishes you to retain the right to republish the article, with acknowledgement of the CJSAE as the original publisher, in whole or in part, in any other pbulication of your own, including any anthology that you might edit with up to three others;
- As the author(s), the CJSAE withes you to retain the right to place the article on your personal Web page or that of your university or institution. The CJSAE askes that you include this notice: A fully edited, peer-reviewed version of this article was first published by the Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education, <Year>, <Volume>, <Issue>, <Page Numbers>.
BY AGREEING TO THE FOREGOING, YOU CONFIRM THAT THE MANUSCRIPT YOU ARE SUBMITTING HAS NOT BEEN PUBLISHED ELSEWHERE IN WHOLE OR IN PART, AND THAT NO AGREEMENT TO PUBLISH IS OUTSTANDING.
SHOULD THE ARTICLE CONTAIN MATERIAL WHICH REQUIRES WRITTEN PERMISSION FOR INCLUSION, YOU AGREE THAT IT IS YOUR OBLIGATION IN LAW TO IDENTIFY SUCH MATERIAL TO THE EDITOR OF THE CJSAE AND TO OBTAIN SUCH PERMISSION. THE CJSAE WILL NOT PAY ANY PERMISSION FEES. SHOULD THE CJSAE BE OF THE OPINION THAT SUCH PERMISSION IS NECESSARY, IT WILL REQUIRE YOU TO PURSUE SHUCH PERMISSSION PRIOR TO PUBLICATION.
AS AUTHOR(S), YOU WARRANT THAT THE ARTICLE BEING SUBMITTED IS ORIGINAL TO YOU.
Provided the foregoing terms are satisfactory, and that you are in agreement with them, please indicate your acceptance by checking the appropriate box and proceed with your submission.
This copyright agreement was extracted with permission from the "Best practices guide to scholarly journal publishing" (2007), produced by the Canadian Association of Learned Journals (CALJ).
