Cinderella and the Beast?
- KC Collins
- Feb 3, 2017
- 3 min read
Book worms,
I'll share a secret about the authors I love most. They are dynamic. Whether they can write across multiple genres, or they stick to what they know with a unique approach, it is this skill that keeps me a fan girl for life. I often wonder if this ability comes from what inspires them. In the case of my latest series obsessions, Sarah J. Maas' Throne of Glass series and her equally captivating A Court of Thorns and Roses series, the muses were fairy tales.
When discussing what inspired her debut novel Throne of Glass and heroine Celaena Sardothien, Maas' tells fans that she was watching the Disney animated film Cinderella. At the end of the ballroom scene, the pauper-turned-princess is running away from a dream come true out of fear that her identity will be discovered. Maas' says that she thought to herself, "What if the girl didn't want to be a princess? What if she wasn't running because of a boy but because she stole something?" And thus, a heroine is born. Now, in the end, the thief became an assassin, and the pauper might actually be a princess, but the undertones of the fairy tale are present throughout the series. From grand ballroom scenes, elaborate dresses, and a backstory of enslavement, Cinderella continues to influence the the details that make up Celaena.
Is that what puts this series on the NY Times best seller's list? Arguably, no. Fairy tale influences certainly add appealing and familiar details, but unlike Cinderella, Celaena's penchant for expensive tastes, divine foods, and lavish lifestyles plays on a desire to be feminine and pampered. She is the exact opposite of the oppressed Cindy who spends her days cleaning, communing with adorable vermin, and dreaming of what could be. Instead of running away for one night, Celaena abandons her entire personal history for nearly a decade. Instead of claiming what is owed to her by birth right, she makes a life of luxury for herself (by less than honorable means). What I love about SJM's series, and most of all Celaena, is that this heroine gives permission for girls to be feminine and desirable as well as an unabashed bad ass. Maas' offers us a new female archetype. One where we can be the every woman-sexy and uproariously raunchy, a kitten and a killer. We don't have to choose only one identity.
"Maas' offers us a new female archetype. One where we can be the every woman-sexy and uproariously raunchy, a kitten and a killer. We don't have to choose only one identity."
Sarah J. Maas employs the same strategy of fairy tale influences again in her second series, A Court of Thorns and Roses. This time she is more overt in her retelling of Beauty and the Beast (merged with and heavily influenced by the myths of Cupid and Psyche).
ACOTAR begins with poverty stricken Feyre who is whisked away to a strange and scary world after she slays the beast's friend. Her sisters are selfish and her father is a town failure, but still, she goes willingly in order to spare them from a wrathful fae creature.
In the case of her second series, SJM uses the second novel to provide new male archetypes, primarily in the form of Rhysand. As high lord of the Night Court, Rhys is originally depicted as an overly sexual and flirtatious predator with his eyes set on Feyre. As the story develops, Maas shows the man behind the playboy exterior. From behind closed doors, we watch him demand and challenge the heroine to be more than a damsel. Rhys teaches Feyre to read, respects her boundaries, and does not force his love or romance. He is patient, understanding, and insists equality and respect from his partner. Breaking away from the tropes of insta-love, Maas allows for a slow-building relationship. With every turn of the page, I was swooning. Who doesn't love a man that does his own dishes? Stay tuned as the final installment of this trilogy, A Court of Wings and Ruin is released this May.
In spite of these unknowns in the plot, SJM continues to build on the unapologetic female archetype that she has created. It is this unique heroine that I believe launches SJM to the top of NY Times best sellers lists. Feyre is often uncouth, almost aggravatingly independent, and a gentle artist. She fights for what she loves, but she doesn't wait for a man to rescue her. She will not be side lined or sheltered in protection. This is everything, EVERYTHING, that we need in YA, in fantasy, in society. Women don't need permission to be unapologetically ourselves, and that is exactly what Maas shows us.
Carpe Librum.
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