Woman Hating: The Fairy Tales Starring Andrea Dworkin PT 2 of 2
A series on fairytales inspired by Andrea Dworkin’s “Woman Hating"
Click Here for Part I: Woman Hating: The Fairy Tales Starring Andrea Dworkin
CONTINUED:
Creative Process Notes:
This story is written for women to reimagine the shitty fairy tales we grew up with and continue to see recycled by the entertainment industry. The defiant part in me says, “fuck rewriting a shitty story.” Then the smart ass nerd side of me says, “let’s see how I can do a rewrite that proves the absurdity of the original story.”
Did you enjoy this rewrite?
had suggested I write fan fiction. Thanks for the push, sis! See how women inspire each other?!? I already write fantasy fiction through comics, romance, poetry, and I have loads of unfinished stories. But I’ve never tried to rewrite an existing story. It was a lot of fun and I get why so many love to write fan fiction. The other challenge I set was that I could only use the medium of digital collage (aka creating memes with no original drawings.) This constraint forced me to write the story differently. It’s intriguing to create challenges like this when you’re writing fiction. One thing I admire so much about show screenwriters is how they have to adapt the story based on real life circumstances for the actors. Someone breaks their leg and the entire story was going to be about them using that leg; well now you have to work around this new constraint while still creating a compelling and consistent story. The constraint of using existing art and not my own meant that I had to make sense of Cinderella’s clothing choices. It didn’t work out perfectly, and I had to remove ideas that I could only include if I did original drawings. But I’m still happy with how the story came out. In fact, it added new depths I didn’t imagine. I used to be a Marvel MCU fanatic, so I’m comfortable suspending reality and not getting overly caught up in small inconsistencies.The other constraint that changed how I approached this project is our economic systems. They make me look at my time through a cost-benefit analysis scope. Time = Hours to Earn Wages. I initially really did want to redraw many of the scenes to change the clothes. But that would mean a much larger time investment for a project that yields no earnings for my labor. I already know I’m doing free labor writing this story while utilizing digital collage; but adding the additional hours of drawing makes the free labor become impossible.
At this very moment I’m dealing with major life upheavals that have me looking for work, housing, and stable transportation all at the same time. Just a year ago, when my financial life was looking up, I could dedicate so much free labor to other endeavors. Now I’m technically jobless (independent contractor who lost their main client), so I don’t have the time to create without worrying about the hours to earn wages. I have to be more practical with my time. I’ve been trying to finish several other artistic projects between apartment and job hunting. Part of my motivation for female.liberation is to turn it into my income source, and without regular posts, I risk what I’m attempting to build. If I don’t post consistently, then I don’t meet my output goals for those who are interested enough to subscribe to my work. It can take several years to create a sustainable income from artistic labor, and consistency is key. That dedication is what helps us to get better at our craft, which is the other factor that motivates me as a creative: the love of doing the thing itself. I feel compelled to create art, just like I feel compelled to build a sustainable income to thrive.
How do you balance the constraints of writing a story or the constraints of trying to survive and thrive in life?
How would you rewrite fairy tales or the goals in your life, from a radical feminist perspective?
How do we create the dreams we envision as women fighting for liberation?
A series on fairytales inspired by Andrea Dworkin’s “Woman Hating"
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