I blame Disney.
There is no wicked witch.
No fair, gentle princess.
No evil sorcerer.
No handsome, charming prince.
No small, conniving minion.
No cute, infallible furry friend.
No sage elder to give advice.
To tell a child so is pure falsification and over-simplification.
All of these traits, tropes, and characteristics lie in her or him.
She is kind to her grandmother, yet bullies her classmate.
He advises his brother, yet cannot decide what to eat.
She is proud with her boyfriend, yet shrinks with her father.
He loves his father, yet hates his teacher.
When life becomes:
My choice is good, yours is bad
My opinion is right, yours is wrong
My president is good, yours is evil,
We begin to expect
Maleficent’s stabbing,
Ursula’s impaling,
Gaston’s fall from the balcony,
Clayton’s fall and hanging,
Frollo’s fall into the fire.
We begin to expect retribution
For that inherent evilness.
(Even despite ‘Thou shalt not kill’.)
When we assume evil in a person, we can no longer see the person.
He is her prince and sage.
She is her furry friend and minion.
He is his sage elder and sorcerer.
She is his princess and torturer.
I blame Disney.
You have diminished me to one.
You have falsified my world.
You have made it black and white
When I want to see all the colors of the wind.
QuarterofNoon 