MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL, WHO IS THE FAIREST OF THEM ALL?

Abstract

Postmodern informed sociologists advocate the study of oppressed and disenfranchised groups. Yet, they never go beyond the boundaries of the commonly researched groups – women, deviant subcultures, homeless, minorities and the like. What about the wicked? Howard Becker wrote about individuals being labelled by society as deviant, but in postmodern society people are also labelled by mass media. Stepmothers have been labelled for a long time as wicked. Indeed, in many fairy tales they are lumped together with witches. Tom Stoppard re-wrote Hamlet from the viewpoint of two minor characters, Rosencranz and Guildersten. Here, in a more modest way, I look at the Snow-White caper from the viewpoint of the wicked stepmother.

Citation

Perrotta, R. (2004), "MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL, WHO IS THE FAIREST OF THEM ALL?", Studies in Symbolic Interaction (Studies in Symbolic Interaction, Vol. 27), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 297-301. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0163-2396(04)27020-X