Teaching Perspectives

Pandora's box is what we all say... But what was opened wasn't actually a box! There was a mistranslation in how it was actually a vase. In this version here in the book called "Pandora tells all," it was actually a cat that knocked the vase down.

This can lead to a discussion of the issue was not then directly her fault, but the vase was at least not kept away from the mischievous cat. Why these Gods keep giving people items and trees that can easily break or have a fruit fall off, such strange stories. Either way, it leads us to think about all circumstances that lead up to a moment.

Many people have started to complaint that there are more stories where the villain is rewritten into a different perspective to show their back story, choices, and actions that lead to them being called as such. Maybe these were just people not afraid of being called a villain while living their life, or maybe they are people who tried in life but many others sided for someone else's story for different reasons like money, fitting in, or feeling obligated to a particular person no matter what.

There are many times I am appalled to be created into a villain. There is a reason to me this mostly came from stories in the 1800s. We should all be moved on from the notion that everyone is either a hero or villain. People are a lot of things to a lot of others. I remember trying to bring an issue up I had with someone to a particular person and the only response they had was how well they treated other people. That is great they treat them in that manner, but I am speaking about how they have a problem specifically with me and treat me badly. Those two areas they can be good then bad.

People make choices every day like giving money to help someone out and then turning around and twisting a story a little to look like a better person. Everyone can be a bit of it all, which is why I don't try to fully villainize someone, just talk about their actions rooted in fairness and choices of the moment.

I enjoy books such as these and have ordered a few fairy tale versions that go into the perspective of the villains from stories like Hansel and Gretel, Goldilocks, etc. I believe it is great to get started teaching children all the different variations and perspectives of tales so they know how to be in other people's shoes and learn to pay attention to how a situation escalated.

Disney has even gone into this concept with the Descendants movies. They show the polarizing split between the villain and hero worlds is ridiculous especially when those people have children. Their children can make completely different choices and create a more combined life with one another moving forward. There doesn't have to be a beef issue for years to come between them just because of events that happened before their time and everyone can be a little bit of both.

There is situations where there may be a small group that is different from the rest with different tastes and that is okay. Neutodivergent people and others with disabilities or alternate tastes deal with this every day being villainized just because they don't constantly fit in with the majority. People group together to slam their opinions instead of realizing that having a different enjoyment is perfectly fine and doesn't mean you are a flawed person. I am glad this is becoming more implemented overall so people can understand one another better instead of becoming polarizing.