Little girls grow up dreaming of their Prince Charming.. Or Prince Eric, or Aladdin, or Prince Phillip, or heck maybe even their own Beast. It doesn't stop with little girls though, it is a dream that is with us even as we enter middle and high school, when we graduate, go off to college.
In this day and age it is easy to hold the classical standards of a "fairytale romance" in a world where that honestly isn't feasible anymore. With the technology we have nowadays, it would be likely that Prince Charming would post on Facebook rather than searching the kingdom, and that someone would have used Find My Friends to find Belle and save her from Beast. Now, with that being said - that doesn't mean you have to take the Taylor Swift outlook on love and relationships (she's a little bit too jaded and melancholy for a beautiful woman her age, if you ask me).
T-Swifty tells us, "When I was a little girl I used to read fairy tales. In fairy tales you meet Prince Charming and he's everything you ever wanted. In fairy tales the bad guy is very easy to spot. The bad guy is always wearing a black cape so you always know who he is. Then you grow up and you realize that Prince Charming is not as easy to find as you thought. You realize the bad guy is not wearing a black cape and he's not easy to spot; he's really funny, and he makes you laugh, and he has perfect hair.”
I'm calling bullshit on this one, y'all. Just because the modern-day fairytale isn't the storybook fable of a knight in shining armor riding in on a noble white steed sweeping you off your feet, it does not mean that the Prince Charming is any less easy to spot. It doesn't mean that the fairytale to be told is any less romantic, or necessary, or important, or fulfilling.I am by no means a feminist. But that doesn't mean I believe that a woman's place is in the kitchen, or anything sexist like that. I don't believe that a woman needs a man to save her, to take care of her, provide for her. And that, right there, is the beauty of the modern fairytale.
A woman doesn't need a man to do any of these things for her, but she has the choice to let him. And she has the prerogative to be okay with it.
The modern Prince doesn't come riding in on a white horse or rescue you from your ivory tower - he drives a gunmetal gray Honda Civic and carries you to bed when you fall asleep on the couch.
The modern Prince doesn't have to search across the entire kingdom to bring you back your shoe - he will search across the entire kingdom to find the perfect bottle of champagne to ring in New Years with you.
The modern Prince won't indulge your every need and be at your every beck and call to save you from yourself - he won't be afraid to tell you no when you need to hear it, but will never let the outside world bring you down while you find yourself.
The modern Prince won't lock you away from the world to keep you to himself - he will encourage you to see the world, meet new people, and live your lives both together and apart because he values your independence as much as you do.
The modern Prince will tease you, tickle you, maybe he'll even yell at you or make you cry. He will question and help strengthen your beliefs, he will build you up, he will teach you lessons you didn't know you needed to learn.
Maybe the modern day Prince isn't the man you imagined as a little girl. Maybe he didn't have to fight down a thorn bush forest, or rescue you from your ivory tower or evil stepmother and stepsisters, or give you true love's kiss to save you from your eternal sleep. But isn't that the point? The traditional fairytale is about magical and imaginary beings and lands. Key words here: magical and imaginary.
The modern-day fairytale is a reality, but one many of us lacking Y-chromosomes are so quick to ignore. My question is, "Why?" Why turn away the possibility of being treated like a princess by a not-so-conventional Prince Charming in favor of a completely conventional Beast?
Don't be afraid to let someone in, you never know what is hiding behind the suit of armor.
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