Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall

Elizabeth Narvaez
What a Tangled Web We Weave
3 min readJan 16, 2015

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It always started with Once Upon a Time.

And it ended in Happily Ever After.

I fell in love with every single aspect of it.

The dresses, the princes, and even the evil stepmothers.

That all began to shift when I started to grow.

My brain was maturing and was able to see the truth behind most things.

The truth behind these happily ever afters.

See, I grew up thinking I was a princess, the only child to my father, King James, and my mother, Queen Rebecca, in the magical kingdom of Holly Stream (my old home). My room was completely pink — the carpet, the bed, the walls. Every evening, during the hot summers, the Queen and I strolled through our kingdom. We would stop at the magical fire hydrant, where I would await my prince. As hours (really minutes) went by, the Queen would become impatient and we continued with our stroll. As the years went on, the prince never came. My high hopes descended from the clouds.

Was there actually a prince out there for me? Was the home I lived in a kingdom? Was any of it real?

When I watched a movie —not a Disney movie— these questions were very popular in my head. A movie that didn’t have a happily ever after. The movie was called the Moulin Rouge. I was pretty young (possibly seven) when I watched it. The ending (I won’t spoil it for anyone) is not one where the princess marries the prince. Or one where the prince saves the damsel in distress. Or one where the princess gains something from the struggle she went through. It’s an ending, that was an eye opener for such a young one like me.

At that time, I had an older friend who was in middle school. I remember her saying, “you know it’s all make believe.”

I was so confused at that statement. “It’s all make believe”. My mind could not wrap itself around the idea: there may not be a fairytale lifestyle after all.

Why did they lie to me? Why did they make me believe that those stories were true? That one day that would happen?

In a way, looking back, I view it as “good” lying. The kind of lying that boosts people’s confidence and gives them something positive to look forward to- specifically young girls. When you are a young girl and people call you a princess. You just feel incredible. Those people are calling something that could be characterized with beauty and elegance. Similar to a white lie, the lies of believing that every girl is a princess and there is prince out there for them contributes to the happiness and well being of that person. But when does that type of lying affect the way you see yourself?

I recently read an article by Po Bronson, “Learning to Lie”, there are several sections discussing white lies and their effects. “Encouraged to tell so many white lies and hearing so many others, children gradually get comfortable with being disingenuous. Insecurity becomes, literally, a daily occurrence.” Insecurity is very common among young girls; self-image is everything. A role of a princess is a superior type of image. The princess must be generous, kind, brave, smart, and most importantly… beautiful. With every princess: they all have the perfect eyes, hair, body, etc. In order to be married to a prince or get a chance with someone as handsome as a prince; you must have all those types of characteristics (or so it seems in Disney movies). Insecurity revolves around this type of thinking. As the young princesses transition to young teens; those “white lies” are not as believable. The young princesses begin to grow up, meaning they are able to comprehend and question much more; they are able to ponder whether or not can assume the role of a princess.

Once girls find out the truth they aren’t princesses, will they ever look at themselves the same in the mirror? Or will they see one of the commoners that belonged to their “kingdom”?

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Elizabeth Narvaez
What a Tangled Web We Weave

We have nothing to lose, nothing to gain, nothing we desired anymore- except to make our lives into a work of art.