Cinderella: A closer look

The baseball film, titled The Natural, satisfies Steven Jones’ standards for fairy tales with a male protagonist. Moreover, the film reinforces traditional gender roles through elements, gender portrayals, and themes of the story.
Jones has various elements that, he states, make a story a fairy tale. First of all, he says that all fairy tales have some type of magic or fantasy. In The Natural, This can be evidenced throughout the film. Near the beginning, lightning strikes a tree and splits it in two. From that tree, Roy Hobbs( male protagonist) makes a bat and names it Wonderboy. This is important because it symbolizes the power that Hobbs posses, both literally( the power he has to hit tape measure home runs and literally hit the cover off the ball, before he meets Memo Parris) and figuratively( he has the power to change his life and the potential to influence others, whether they be young baseball fans or his son at the end of the movie). This power is traditional for male protagonists in fairy tales: many times, they’re portrayed to have some sort of power( or something magical that gives them such power). Another element is that fairy tales have quests, adventures, or problems that deal with the “unknown or magical realm”. In the film, Hobbs deals with the quest of making it to the Majors, an unknown realm(could be considered magical because playing in the Majors is a magical, once in-a-lifetime experience similar to Cinderella’s ball) that he never gets to experience until he’s a 36-year-old rookie. His main problem is about what he’ll do after he’s played baseball. An additional element, is the successful resolution of the quest/problem. This is significant because it’s a part of the film that tells us how to act and ...

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...utiful but shallow and greedy while Iris was the pure, loving mother who was meant for Hobbs. In this, lies a theme significant in male-oriented fairy tales: it’s what’s on the inside that counts, not what’s on the outside. This has been a theme many times reinforced in male-oriented fairy tales. Another theme, is establishing a home. After the big game, Hobbs marries Iris, establishes a home in a farm, and is seen playing catch with his son. The importance to male-oriented fairy tales is the social institution of marriage which is emphasized as a key element for a happy ending. Also family time is highlighted as an ideal value in American culture, shown by the familiar/iconic sight of father and son playing catch.
As shown, standard gender role stereotypes are exemplified in the film The Natural. Also standards for male-oriented fairy tales are met in this film.