Andrew Jackson Collinsworth

Collinsworth 2

Andrew Jackson Collinsworth

Stephanie Rountree

English 1101

24 October 2014

A Sovereign Cry for Help

In western culture, Disney’s Cinderella is typically portrayed as the epitome of a princess. She gleams with beauty, she is married to the chivalrous Prince Charming, and she lives a life of perfection. This former view was purged by many when a pseudonymous Middle Eastern artist, who calls himself “Saint Hoax,” released a campaign against domestic violence. Saint Hoax runs a blog with posted images that combine pop culture with real world complications (Hoax 1). Hoax also sells campaign merchandise like t-shirts and posters, which are used to spread his influential artwork (Hoax 2).

In February 2014, Saint Hoax began working on a series of images called “Happy Never After.” These campaign posters feature a variety of Disney princesses (Cinderella included) with battered visages, and a tagline that reads: “When did he stop treating you like a princess? It’s never too late to put an end to it.” In an interview with ABC, Saint Hoax asserts that he was inspired to create these images because, “In the Middle East, whenever you open the news you watch a lot of cases of domestic violence that take place almost every day and that just upsets me so much,” (Ingles 1). The “Happy Never After” series was produced in an effort to awaken victims of their destructive reality, and to encourage these battered women to report their abuse (Hoax 3). Saint Hoax’s watermarked images are posted on his blog, then circulated around the web by other bloggers and interested parties.

The illustration of a battered Cinderella was reposted on various mediums of social media such as Twitter and Facebook. The animated Disney princess is placed in the center of the image in front of a dark blue backdrop. Her left eyelid is swollen halfway shut with a deep purple tint, her right eye is pink with an apparent laceration right below it, her nose and lips are bleeding, and her doleful face is abundant with bruises. The main text reads, “When did he stop treating you like a princess?” appears at the bottom of the image, it is white and written entirely in capital letters. Below the first text is a second text, also written in white, which reads, “It’s never too late to put an end to it.” The final touch on the poster is the white watermark of Saint Hoax.

The image of maltreated Cinderella was created to encourage abused women to end or report relationships of domestic violence. The princess is recognized by women of all age groups; instant familiarity strikes when an image of Cinderella is presented, which makes this campaign poster extremely effective in reaching out to women. The text of the image sheds light on the idea that some men are polite to their girlfriends in the beginning of a relationship, then they progressively develop more irritable and abusive tendencies over time. This image has credibility because it is created by Saint Hoax, who has been recognized for his work. He has even been contacted by prominent art museums wanting to display his work: “On February 2014, I received a promising email from a renowned art gallery in London informing me that they are interested in displaying my ‘War Drags You Out’ series” (Hoax 4).

The image engenders both fear and hope: fear for the current situation, which is expressed by the hopeless gaze of Cinderella, and hope for the future, which is expressed by the escape-prompting text. The author appears to include these two elements in an attempt to reach out to terrified women in abusive relationships, and to encourage these women to immediately take preventative action. Saint Hoax also appeals to logic by creatively expressing the actions these women need to take. Jacquiline Ingles, an activist against domestic violence, states that many women fail to realize that they are in an abusive relationship when the attacks are verbal: “the campaign comes off one-sided and may lead people to believe that domestic violence is only about physical harm and not mental harm” (Ingles 2). Saint Hoax most likely intends for women of this circumstance to see the campaign image and notice how some men transform from the initial gentlemen into spiteful, argumentative partners.

The rhetorical appeals of Saint Hoax’s campaign against domestic violence are sound, but he is forgetting about the other gender: “In a conflicting survey taken by the CDC in 2010, it was found that 40% of the victims of severe, physical domestic violence are men” (Ruth 1). Hoax uses the word “princess” to address a female audience of victims. The author also uses the pronoun “he,” when identifying an abuser, which exudes the idea that an abuser could be female. In order for this image to be completely against domestic violence, it should include text that avoids pronouns and gender roles. Once revised, the aforementioned image would cater to an audience bursting with all victims of domestic violence, not just a mere subgroup. Consequently, an audience member may perceive that the original image is designed to state that only women are victims of relationship abuse. Although this image specifically targets women, the author’s intention is most likely to end all domestic violence regardless of gender. Ingles further speaks to the point of acknowledging and appealing to every kind of reader by stating that “depicting just females as victims is also misleading, since domestic violence crosses all socioeconomic and racial lines” (Ingles 3). The reader of the image may have the perception that men are not in precarious relationships, and the view that only women are affected by these circumstances.

Through the effective use of rhetoric and the arrangement of his image, Saint Hoax effectively persuades women to report their abusive relationships and ultimately escape. He demonstrates his understanding of rhetoric by using an image that appeals to the emotional side of the reader. If readers are confused about their current relationship statuses, the image may open their eyes and create a new understanding of how awful their reality truly is. The fact that the “Happy Never After” series includes recognizable Disney princesses ensures an emotional response at some level. If the battered character was unknown, the reader may only glance at the image and miss the purposeful message. The image created by Saint Hoax in February 2014 features an abused Cinderella and a bold dialogue that ignites victimized women to depart from their situation to seek a new Prince Charming.

Works Cited

Hoax, Saint. Happy Never After - Cinderella. Digital image. Saint Hoax. Saint Hoax, Feb. 2014.

Web. 25 Oct. 2014.

Hoax, Saint. "Happy Never After" SaintHoax. Saint Hoax, n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2014.

Ingles, Jacqueline. "A Domestic Violence Campaign by Artist Saint Hoax Shows Bloodied,

Bruised Disney Princesses." ABC Action News. Scripps TV Station Group, 8 July 2014. Web. 25 Oct. 2014.

S., Ruth. "Men: The Overlooked Victims of Domestic Violence." Domestic Violence Statistics.

N.p., 16 May 2012. Web. 25 Oct. 2014.