The Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire is, as always, quite fun. We get season passes whenever we can and our daughter, Molly (8 years old now) loves it. This year the biggest change has been in reigning monarchs. King Henry VIII is the visiting monarch of the realm instead of Good Queen Bess (Elizabeth I) who has been the staple patron of the Faire for years prior. I understand the desire to shake things up and make things feel fresh. In that spirit, I think that the Faire missed a fun opportunity in having Henrys Queen change every couple of weeks to run through them all. He could even be visited by the ghosts of his former wives for the Halloween end event. But the real issue is in abandoning Elizabeth I. There are tons of featured male characters for young boys to identify with and see prominently throughout the day. These are strong characters--brave and accomplished and steadfast. They range from nobles, to lovers, to knights, to pirates. But... those iconic strong female characters are limited. The contrast between handling the strength of a monarch between Bess and Henry is most apparent by Henry VIII being and action hero King, drawing his sword to fight in chess, rushing down to accost the foes in the final joust while Queen Catherine literally cowers at the back of the stage. I am understandably biased as I have a daughter. But Queen Elizabeth has had such an impact on her in years past at the Faire. My daughter had Queen Elizabeth as an imaginary friend that she had tea parties with. One morning when she was four, I went into her bedroom to wake her up in the morning and found her laying on the floor with her blanket. When I woke her and asked her why she was on the floor, she said it was because Queen Elizabeth visited her during the night and asked to use her bed, so she had to sleep on the floor. Throughout our years, Molly has grown attached to female dancers, gypsies, and singers, as well as more than a few Sultry Sirens whose song lyrics fortunately went over her head. But no one ever made more impact with her than Queen Elizabeth. She was iconic and in the forefront and strong and bold, never cowering or backing down from a challenge. Molly has had a great time at the Faire this year, but when I asked her this morning who her favorite character was, she said, I dont know. The Queen, I guess.. But she doesnt really say much. For someone who was inspired by the strength of Bess well enough to give up her bed to an imaginary version of her, these are such disappointing words to hear. There were a number of monarchs through the Renaissance, so I understand the impulse to want to explore them. However, a Faire where you can take your picture with a mermaid and the King is an action hero, we are not looking at hard history at being the goal. I had a glimmer of hope during the final joust as Henry fought the villain at the end and Queen Catherine came out of cowering to the edge of the stage. I had thought, perhaps she would wield strength with command or pistol and hold the enemy about to defeat her husband. But no. She just moved to the forestage to watch a male knight save her husband as she mutely watched. The Renaissance Faire is a beautiful, fun experience and it remains that way. But it is disappointing to see how it is no longer that inspiration for young girls to see strong female roles that you can interact with. Sure, there are characters such as Magdelena, but she is not the forefront presence as the Queen where she has specific times to meet her and locales to follow her. Nor does she have much of a voice in the shows. This doesnt mean we will not attend the faire, but rather that I hope that this is a passing fad. Young girls should see strong female characters to inspire them. Instead we have an action hero for a King, a cowering quiet Queen, and a bunch of strong male leads. Sadly, there is no strong female with enough of a presence to eject my daughter from her bed. Shell sleep comfortably in her bed at night now. And thats a shame.
Posted on: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 12:41:22 +0000
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