Swan Princess versus Jasmine
Political Correctness is factual incorrectness, or, in other words, falseness. Falseness is fatal to fiction. Even though fiction is fictional, in order to be dramatic, it must capture the real drama of the real human condition, including the central dramas of birth, growth, love, loss, death, and hope beyond death.
Even as basic a task as telling a fairy tale love story fails if an element of political correctness enters: as when, for example, critical gender theory demands the heroine can never be shown cooperating with the hero, and never be shown losing to him in any contest. This prevents the two from finding each other to be complements, each fulfilling what the other lacks.
In political correctness, the sexes are genderless. There can be no element of sweet, coy, gentle surrender of the feminine to the audacious and bold conquest of the masculine. There is no romance in the New World Order, and the only love is to love Big Brother.
Examples of how to use political correctness to ruin a fairy tale, science fiction story, or superhero franchise are myriad.
This is from the animated film SWAN PRINCESS (1994), loosely based on the ballet Swan Lake. It is a curt and clear example of how Political Correctness destroys drama, even though, here, the Political Correctness is very mild.
The idea in this montage scene is an old one, where children who dislike each other grow into mutually infatuated teens. Matchmakers arrange the marriage in youth; the children resist; and then are surprised by love. There was a similar schtick in Disney’s SLEEPING BEAUTY, which handled it well.
This version ruins the effect. Let me count the ways.
0:15 She makes a fist; he flinches. He’s a coward.
0:36 She trips him, tackles, and beats him while he is down. She’s an ignoble bully. He’s a weakling.
0:49 She stabs him in the back, and chases him. She wins, he loses.
1:50 She is splattered by a tomato, but it is the sidekick, not the boy, who makes the shot.
2:00 Finally, a realistic touch: the girl follows the boys, and, physically weaker, cannot keep pace.
2:13 She is able to destroy the entire treehouse in one kick. This one is not so bad as some of the others, because at least she ends up wounded herself, so both are humiliated, not just him.
3:13 She flirts with guards, talks the boy into playing dressup, and wins not most card games, but all of them, even with the sidekick standing behind giving him signals. So he is a cheat, and she is desirable in every way, and is in the leadership role.
3:37 He is splattered by her tomato. Because of her good pitching arm.
4:30 Suddenly, his smile makes her knees buckle.
5:30 Without any rhyme or reason, the two are dancing on clouds, a schtick Disney was wise enough to keep until the end of the film.
Good grief. This is vomit inducing.
This version it makes the boy the butt of an ongoing joke that the tomboy girl outperforms, outsmarts, and outdoes him consistently, instead of having each snub the other by turns.
So, in sum, he is neither good at swordfighting, cardplaying, or tomato throwing. He displays neither courage, nor wit, nor prudence, nor patience. He shows no leadership abilities, no charm, nothing. If these qualities are present, they are not displayed in the montage.
There is no way any girl in her right mind would be attracted to this boy. Girls want to marry a man of a higher status than themselves, stronger, braver, bolder, better able to protect her than she could do by herself.
In order to portray growing love, one needs two or three elements present, aside from mere physical attractiveness: first, the beloved must display a virtue the other admires, confidence, social grace, a sense of taste, compassion, chastity, bravery or something; second, the beloved must have something in common with the other, so they have something to talk about, or, if they have nothing in common, the mutual attraction of the unknown will provide mutual interest.
Let us compare and contrast. Let me list what this scene does right, and in half the time.
0:05 An inadvertent hug. Always a sweet.
0:10 She is grateful that he saved her. So, he has already displayed courage and resourcefulness on her behalf, and she feels the typical female desire to reward her rescuer. He is also humble and courteous in receiving thanks, neither boastful nor indifferent. All these qualities are appealing.
0:25 “You do kind of stand out” — a flirtatious yet nonchalant remark, but with enough double meaning to be witty without being unctuous. She smiles at the compliment demurely.
0:35 She becomes an accomplished pole vaulter instantaneously. This is absurd, but the point is to make her admirable enough in her own way, so that Aladdin’s street smarts and athletic ability does not leave her with no way to keep up with him. The point is that she impresses him without overshadowing him.
0:48 She sees he lives in squalor, but hears that he comes and goes as he pleases, and to her (confined by the strictures of royal life) it sounds fabulous. This is a light touch, expertly yet simply done, in one line, one tone of voice, showing what she admires about his life, and, by implication, about him.
1:00 He is amazed by the view of the palace; her reaction is the opposite. Their two lives are poles apart.
1:05 In three lines of dialog, the contrast between palace life and street life is laid bare.
1:25 And then, in another simple and brilliant masterstroke of dialog, both realize they feel trapped. And their two lives are no longer apart at all.
1:28 They exchange a glance and a smile. It is love. Neither will admit it yet.
2:00 Abu chatters. He does not let his sidekick’s jealousy trifle with the girl. Instead, he offers to help, and she says it is sweet. Again, merely by making this a little bit of indirect word play, pretending Abu is talking, both can flirt without being too direct. Compare the witty humor here versus the slapstick of tomato pelting or treefort toppling.
2:17 They are about to kiss, when the cruel world interrupts! Note the innate drama of the interrupted kiss: is it lost forever, or can it be, by some adventure or magic, be won again?
So: the boy in this version is courageous, resourceful, quick-witted, sweet, sincere, sympathetic, helpful, and shares the same sense of life as the girl. How could she not fall for him, despite their differences in rank? If only he were a prince….
This whole thing is brilliant, and shows how to depict real human emotion in a glamorized and artistic way.
The whole difference is that the Swan Princess is unrealistic, and Aladdin is not.
Utter no nonsense about how we can suspend disbelief about magic swans or magic genii. No matter in what fantastic world one puts one’s characters, in order to appeal to a human audience, the passions, emotions, and motives involved in the drama must be ones the human heart can understand.
The unreal people in the unreal situation are selected precisely because their virtues and vices, passions and emotions, are real. One can abbreviate the time and place, or arrange exaggerations and coincidences for artistic effect, but the core of fiction is reality. Poetry serves truth.
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
