Inspiration

Dina Goldstein and the Darker Side of Fairy Tales

by . January 22nd, 2013

Princesses in general, with the help of Walt Disney, have always been described as damsels in distress and fair ladies that usually end up marrying a prince and living happily ever after in some far away land. Of course, most fairy tales these days depict these princesses as such in order to make their characters and their stories inspiring and entertaining for kids.

However, in the world of adults, we all know that these happy endings don’t always happen. In fact, there are times that what’s happening in real life is the reverse of these fairy tales. So it does make a lot of people wonder how the lives of these fairy tale princesses would end up if they live in the 21st century. Fortunately, a photographer from Canada has given these thoughts some life through ten interesting photo rendition of the famed Disney Princesses.

The series was created by Vancouver-based photographer – Dina Goldstein and is entitled Fallen Princesses. The collection places the fairy tale characters in modern day scenarios that show realistic as opposed to the usual happily ever after ending that most of us is accustomed to.

According to Goldstein, her observation on how young girls have developed a fascination and interest in Disney Princesses has led to her quest to find the real origins of such fairy tales. She then reviewed the original brothers Grimm’s stories and found out that most of these fairy tales have very dark and sometimes gruesome aspects. This was the time when Goldstein re-imagined these princesses and how they would have lived in the present.

 

 

Although Goldstein admits that she had very limited funds to create her photo series, she continued on with the project and decided to post the images online. Surprisingly, the photo series received a lot of positive feedback from bloggers and internet users all over the world.

Another project by Goldstein entitled “In the Dollhouse” focuses on Barbie and Ken. Just like the Disney Princesses featured in Fallen Princesses who seemingly live perfect lives, Goldstein once again injected a dose of darkness and reality into these characters. The photo series tells the story of Barbie who is placed in a pretentious and dysfunctional marriage with Ken. The end of the series shows an emotionally troubled Barbie who is unable to stay in the situation that she’s in causing her make a very difficult and deadly decision.

 

 

How do you find Dina Goldstein’s work? Do tell us by leaving a comment below.

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