I Dream of Being a Beautiful Princess but I Am a Socialist Girl: The Psychological and Ideological Aspects of the Illustrations for the Fairy Tale “Cinderella” in Bulgaria in the Second Half of the 20th Century

Abstract

Fairy tales are often accompanied by illustrations that extend and complicate the messages of the text, and adapt it to the specific characteristics of different political and cultural situations. This article focuses on the images of one of the best-known fairy tales recorded by Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm, “Cinderella,” and looks for an answer to the question of how, in the second half of the 20th century, when the world was divided by the Iron Curtain, the socialist ideology attempted to make a “visual translation” of the story, which had been known for centuries, thus sending new aesthetic and political messages to adolescents. The emphasis is placed not only on the opposition of the roles of woman in socialist and capitalist societies but also on making the differences in appearance, behavior, and upbringing stand out.

Keywords

• fairy tales
• books for children
• book illustration
• socialism
• feminism
• psychological education