I made it to season 2 episode 3. And I could not go on. I only just posted about the first season, I know, but I felt I had already given too much of my time to a misogynistic, out of touch, almost awful TV show.

And here’s why.

Once Upon a Time focuses mainly on fairytales, of course, but looking into these fairytales in the 21st century a lot of them are outdated. That is fine. They were written possibly hundreds of years ago when times were different and that’s OK. That doesn’t mean we should then take those fairytales and change them as we wish, but keep the same ideas and morals that they once had.

Let’s look into the characters shall we. I apologise if you haven’t seen this show this may be a rant you wish to skip.

Snow White. Snow is often portrayed in this show as a strong independent woman who can fight and hold her own. Yet she is still cursed with the whole silly ‘true love’ rubbish they shove down our throats.

1. She goes after a married man but of course he can’t really want to be with his wife because he loves Snow too.

2. All she cares about is marriage and children and being a lowly housewife to her darling prince.

3. In a scene in the third episode of season two the King curses her with infertility to punish his son. Why couldn’t the King have just put this curse on his son instead of a random woman he ‘loves’. Why does she have to be punished for his wrong doings?

I have said before and will say again, the women in this show are always punished for a thing that a man has done while it seems he gets away free. It also annoys me how she hates charming in the real world while they’re cursed but the second the curse is lifted they’re all good again? No girl, you deserve better.

Little Red Riding Hood. It is clear her story, about how she actually is the wolf and changes every full moon, is about a woman’s period. How else would you explain the red cloak, the once a month curse and the fact that her grandma was also cursed with this change up until her menopause? From what I remember there were stories in The Bloody Chamber that mimicked this tale too so it isn’t something new the creators came up with but is also something that doesn’t really need to be out there in this century. Then in the real world Red is portrayed as some what of a ‘slut’ with her short outfits and how she’s accused on plenty of occasions of flirting with her customers. Red is not seen in a good light and it is horrible for her to be put down to such simple stereotypes. They try to give her development by showing she doesn’t believe in herself until Emma helps her find her true calling but even this is overshadowed by the amount of bad things Red has to go through and is portrayed as.

Cinderella. In the fairytale world, eh, not much to her. In the real world a single teenage mother who’s boyfriend is too scared to stand up to his father. Until he does, somehow, and they come together once the baby is born. Only to see later on in the season that he often works and she is left alone and is not happy with this existence. But then all that trickles away when he proposes to her and brings her flowers. That does not make up for it girl! If you are not happy tell the boy don’t keep it to yourself! How else are you going to work things out? Again it’s the man that saves the day and keeps her happy, not herself finding something better that she really deserves.

And finally in this long winded rant, Belle. Beauty and the Beast. Apparently Rumple is the Beast in this tale and she falls in love with him after realising he’s not really much of a Beast after all.

Whatever.

What I found horrific is this girl looks to be about 19 (ish) and he is easily pushing 40! He has a son who is about 10 and is falling in love with a girl not much older than him! It’s downright creepy and wrong and should not be shown in my opinion. No it’s not ‘true love’ that keeps them together it’s the fact that she is too young and naive to realise how wrong this all is. Belle is a smart, beautiful, kind young woman and she has settled for the first guy, an old guy at that, that has given her attention. Yes she doesn’t want to be forced to marry Gaston but that doesn’t mean the next thing that comes along is perfect for you!

The main problem here is that these women are set up for the same dead end storylines as each other just in different ways. All to be with a man who really doesn’t deserve their brilliance and will only drag them down.

Prince Charming is a liar and a cheat.

Red does not deserve to be slut shamed.

Prince Thomas is a flake who is far too selfish.

The Beast is a creep.

Is this really what we want people to watch and enjoy and think ‘yeah this is OK’ because no, it is not OK and I will not waste another moment of my time on it.

Rant over.

Published by shonaharding

Media graduate with a passion for reviewing film and TV. View all posts by shonaharding