Portrayal of Stepmothers in Popular Culture

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noticed that in a number of films the father is dead thus it is impossible to protect his children, such as in Cinderella. Also stepfathers seem to not be portrayed in pop culture as evil thus stepmothers are the only ones that receive such hideous flack. Because stepfathers are not portrayed in a negative way, when it comes to real life they have less difficultly finding their place in their new family. (Church 1994) (Hall and Bishop 2009) Stepmothers in Popular Culture The evil stepmother was first seen in the original story of Cinderella which was written in 1697 by XXX. Many years later the evil stepmother was seen again in 1812 when the Grimm Brothers created Hansel and Gretal, Snow White, and made their own version of Cinderella. …show more content…

This positive portrayed may be believed by some to be a changing trend but others argue that perhaps the good stepmother did not have time in the story to turn evil. (Church 1994) Another exception to the evils stepmother image is when stepmothers are portrayed as the “cool mom”. The “cool mom” does not act as a motherly figure, this woman is more defined as a big sister than a disciplinary figure. Although she is not a stepmother a good example of a “cool mom” is Regina George’s mother in the movie Mean Girls, this mother acts like a teenager and wants in on her daughter’s drama. Mrs. George even refers to herself as the “cool mom” and later in the movie offers her daughter condoms. Another type of “cool mom” is the trophy wife which is usually portrayed as young, beautiful and ditsy. This trophy wife is usually a stepmother and is sometime referred to as a “child bride” or the father is told he “robbed the cradle” because there is usually a large age gap. An example of this stepmother is Kate from the TV show Trophy Wife. The series follows Kate’s new life of being a stepmother and how she must deal with not one but two birth mothers of her three step children. Kate follows the stereotype of the ditsy, young new wife who attempts to juggle motherhood. Strapagiel asks the question of the types of “cool moms”, is this type of mother even

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