‘Gretel and Hansel’ and Modern Feminism
Spoilers for ‘Gretel and Hansel’
‘Gretel and Hansel’ is a 2020 horror fantasy directed by Oz Perkins. The movie, much like the reversed names in the title would suggest, focuses on the eponymous Gretel more than her younger brother of Grimm’s fame. Putting young Hansel in the backseat in the role of annoying younger brother. The movie opens with Gretel in the midst of blossoming into a woman (played by scream queen Sophia Lillis- who was the standout as Bev in the new It series). Gretel is tasked with going out to find work to earn money for her family who is struggling after the death of her father, a farmer. She goes to the house of a well-to-do lord and offers her services in cooking and cleaning. When the lord has more lusty lecherous ideas, Gretel takes offense and leaves. Her mother, upon hearing of the fact that her child has denied work due to a man’s advances- becomes enraged and kicks both of her mouths to feed to the curb.
Gretel leads whiny young Hansel through the woods where they quickly grow hungry. They do find some mushrooms that have a delightful psychedelic effect. After wandering longer and meeting a helpful hunter, they journey to find a village that may take them in. On the way, they find a kindly old woman who offers them a bounty of rich and delightful foods. Gretel is wary of gifts because of a fairytale she has been told as a child. She offers to pay for the sustenance with chores, promising her ability to clean. Hansel says he can use an axe and Gretel corrects that he can learn to.
Time passes as the children toil at the house, continue to eat a bounty of foods, take turns being suspicious of their new host, and hang out with an adorable sphynx cat. Eventually the old woman notices that Gretel has a talent for magic and begins to train her on lifting objects with her mind and brewing potions. Gretel sneaks around at night and finally finds out where the abundance of food is coming from since she has seen no beasts nor fruit bearing trees in the area and the food never seems to spoil. The truth greatly disturbs her and she begins to plan her escape in a battle of wits with the hag. As the fairytale goes, the children are able to best the hag and escape, but this story deviates with Gretel parting ways with her brother- who goes on to become the next hunter- while Gretel wonders what she will be. She has used her magic for good, but she is a witch and is pulled towards evil. She knows she will live her life battling that urge and trying to become the woman that she wants to be.
Putting Gretel first in this tale and making her the focus is of course intentional and the movie seems to ask the question what is a woman? Is a woman a mother like Gretel’s who struggles to feed her children, crumbling without the support of a husband- and wanting her daughter to be as domestic and submissive as she is? Is a woman a kindly old matron who gives to children? Is a woman a tattooed rebel who eschews society to live on the fringes and go against the norm (the hag’s alter ego)? Is a woman a sweet little girl who listens to her elders and shapes herself to their examples? Or is a woman whatever she wants to be? Gretel walking through the woods on her own in the end is her searching for her answer. What will she be? How will she shape herself? Will she be something completely new?
Modern feminism is much the same. We have gotten rid of the ideal of what a woman should be. Feminists can proudly embrace lingerie and makeup. We can love full skirts, cooking and cross stitching as much as we adore our jeans and dirty fingers. We don’t need to be feminine. But we won’t be scorned for it either. We don’t need to be masculine, but we can be if we want to. We are all like Gretel, walking alone in the woods- with the world open to us- deciding who and what we want to be.
