Genies, wolves and noses that grow: A recipe for deception

Deception is a major theme in fairytales. It's a major theme in life. We come across lies every day, white ones that we dish out, or are offered up by others, to save hurt feelings. But then there are the big ones that lead us into a danger zone. And in life there are some people who will try to delude us with disguises, hiding who they really are. It's also in the media, politics, religion...sorry to be morbid but deception is everwhere. And it features in the likes of 'Little Red Riding Hood', 'Aladdin' and 'The Adventures of Pinocchio'. Although each of these have happy endings, the downfall of the protagonists in the first place is partly due to their deceiving others or being deceived themselves. Lies, disguises and misleadings can be found in these famous stories, and they can teach us a few things about our own lives.
'Little Red Riding Hood' is one of the most famous fairytales featuring deception. The most obvious moral that jumps out from it, if a little patronizing, is to beware of strangers that are seemingly nice to you.
In the Grimm Brothers' version Red Riding Hood is portrayed as a naive young girl who meets a wolf on her way to her grandmother's cottage and makes the mistake of telling him where she lives. He rushes to the cottage, pretending to be Red Riding Hood. Grandmother gets eaten, then Little Red comes along and the wolf pretends to be the grandmother. Even after seeing 'what big eyes' and 'what a big mouth' the wolf has, she still doesn't catch on to the fact that it isn't her grandmother. Then it's too late and she get's herself eaten up. I think this does have relevance in our world. Any time we do trust someone we are putting ourselves in a position with the possibility of getting hurt. And often the people we need to be careful of don't look dangerous. They first appear kind and safe. It's true in all walks of life; friends who turn out to be using you, the boyfriend/girlfriend who disguises their real intentions until you've let them get too close, people who promise one thing only to do the complete opposite. We've all experienced it. Maybe we've done it ourselves. I know it's a cliche but if your best friend asks you whether a dress looks good on her, and you think it's awful, you're probably going to lie. And if someone you're not really interested in asks you out, you may feel the need to protect their feelings by saying something other than 'I just don't fancy you'.
But deception can become dangerous ground, a minefield where your next movement may end explosively. The wolf's fate in 'Little Red Riding Hood' proves this. If he hadn't deceived the grandmother to get into her house, or deceived Red Riding Hood to make her his meal, he would not have ended up getting his stomach cut open and being hung up as a trophy on the huntsman's wall. Yet some might see Little Red as the one to blame. Surely you could tell a big bad wolf from your sweet old grandmother! In reality it's not that obvious. Smiles and kind words conceal the dangerous plans some people hold for us. The girl you thought was your best friend may have ended up spreading cruel rumours behind your back; the guy you thought was so sweet and different to all the others may turn out to be a bad boy who breaks your heart. Disguises are all around us. Perhaps the world is a stage and we're all just actors. Maybe, like the wolf, we are all simply playing a part to get to where we want to be. But what happens when the curtain goes down at the end? Will we know who we actually are, who those around us are, behind the costumes, behind the masks? I think, though, most of us do show the world the real us. We might pretend to be someone else at times, maybe when we first meet someone new we'll convince them we like the same things they do so we have something in common. But eventually the truth comes out. Aladdin learned this lesson. Both the original Middle-Eastern fairytale and the well-known Disney version feature a young man suffering poverty who finds a magical lamp in a cave with a genie in it. But, because the Disney version has a much more likeable Aladdin in it, I'm going to stick to this one. In the film he wishes Genie to make him a Prince, complete with all the riches that come with it. Disguise; deception in its rawest state. Even Abu, his pet monkey, is turned into an elephant; yet another disguise. So it's a big part of the movie, the idea of changing yourself to gain something. Although I do love this story, and it's actually one of my favourite Disney films, Aladdin is like one of those guys I mentioned earlier, exploiting a girl with a false pretence. But we can sympathise with him. He only does it because he sees his true self as unworthy of the princess. Some of us are likely to know how that feels, in one way or another.
In the end of the film Aladdin's true roots are revealed to Jasmine, and for a while chaos ensues. But things don't completely fall apart as they might in real life. He still gets the girl and ends up living the lifestyle of a prince anyway. So perhaps there is no moral associated with the dangers of deception to be gained from this tale, except that the truth will out. It often does; if you tell one lie, you have to tell another, and so on until you end up catching yourself out. Half-way through the film Aladdin himself accidently reveals that he is in fact the same boy Jasmine met in the market earlier on, and this shows how lies and disguises can end up getting you into trouble.
However, anyone who has seen the film 'The Invention of Lying' starring Ricky Gervaise would have realised that a world without lying would be incredibly depressing. Brutal honesty is not something we all want to hear. And perhaps sometimes the only way to get to your dream job is to tell a few fibs on your application, and the only way to get close to the guy you really like is to pretend you absolutely love his favourite band. And sometimes it works. Sometimes it leads to a mini happily-ever-after. But not always. Pinocchio comes to mind whenever we think of lying. He is the wooden puppet who wanted to be a real boy, but every time he lied his nose grew. 'The Adventures of Pinocchio' was written by Carlo Collodi, and this original is fairly different to the Disney classic. In the story, a lot of bad things happen to Pinocchio, most of which are fairly violent; he get's his feet burnt off, he's hanged, ends up in prison, changes into a donkey, suffers an attempted drowning, and is swallowed by a shark in contrast to Disney's whale. So, poor Pinocchio! However, this version does not feature the conscience-like character Jiminy Cricket. The addition of him to the Disney version makes it all the more effective as a template for our own lives. Often our conscience will let us know if we're doing something wrong, and the fact that he accompanies Disney's Pinocchio on his adventure shows that we can't escape our own awareness of wrong and right, no matter where we go. I think the concept of Pinocchio's nose growing when he lies, a nose being something that is completely visible to everyone, relates to the fact that lying becomes transparent and you can easily be caught out. Unless you're an award-winning actor, pretending to be someone different or lying to the people closest to you will show. Nobody can act a part forever. And disguises and deception, if used with bad intention, will probably be unveiled due to our own mistakes, our own subconcious guilt.
Well, in the end Pinocchio changes his ways, and is rewarded by the Blue Fairy who turns him into a real boy. So, in the end, the moment he stopped lying was the moment he got what he desired. Patience and self-acceptance are perhaps the virtue we need in these situations. If someone makes you feel the need to put on a different personality, pretend you have different hobbies, then are they really worth your time? Why not wait for someone better to come along who will actually like the real you, no deceptions necessary? Because, in the end, the people we think appear to be perfect, flawless, the ones we're trying to be like, are probably disguised themselves. They hide behind the popular kids, their parents' money, a mask of make-up, trying to live up to who THEY wish THEY were; someone who has a right to feel good about themselves; someone like you.