by
Les May
IN
the mid-nineteen seventies
a lady I know well set up home with a man who was divorced. The
couple were happy and their relationship prospered. A few years
later one of the man’s daughters, by now a defensive seventeen
years old, arrived on their doorstep. The lady suddenly found
herself with a bit of on the job training in how to be a stepmother.
After a couple of blips a mutual respect and then affection developed
between the the two.
Time
moved on, the daughter married and soon stepmother became ‘grandma’.
The
young couple decided that their prospects were better abroad and left
for the antipodes. Back in the UK the lady’s on the job training
in how to be a stepmother continued as his other two children also
appeared, soon
to be followed by four more small voices saying ‘grandma’.
She
obviously did rather well in her new role. After
nearly forty years Birthdays
and Mothers’ Day
bring cards and gifts; there’s a sympathetic ear when it’s
needed; hour long phone chats are not unusual.
But
it shouldn’t be like that! Everyone
knows that stepmothers are wicked.
It
must
be true. Every Christmas don’t we spend time and money and effort
brainwashing small children into believing it with pantomime versions
of the Grimm’s
fairy
tale Cinderella?
I’ve
never thought to ask the lady if she’s
disturbed by
the universal
portrayal
of stepmothers as wicked. I rather
doubt
it as she seem to lack the narcissism and self absorption necessary
for someone to voice such a clam.
But of
course I
don’t
really know.
Should I discover my ‘wokeness’
and write to the actors’ union Equity
asking them to advise their members not to take part in pantomimes
which portray stepmothers as wicked?
The
downside to that of course is that the lady might tell me not to make
such a fool of myself; that my interference because she might
feel uncomfortable is paternalistic and treats
her like a child, not an
adult,
and would I please mind my own business.
Perhaps
it wouldn’t be such a good idea to try to get Cinderella banned
after all; people
might think I’m a Nutter!
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