We have all heard of Cinderella, the beautiful lady that’s gets abused by her step mother and sisters and with a little help from her fairy godmother gets a happily ever after with her prince. That is the most popular story of her but there are many more stories of that same girl with their own differences and similarities. The most popular one is the French story where Cinderella gets tortured by her stepmother and sisters and a fairly godmother helped her get prince charming. The Zimbabwe one is pretty different having only one sister and that there is no step-mother. Cinderella is a character archetype that changes throughout cultures like the Zimbabwe and French Cinderella, which have different trials, stepsisters, and fairy godmothers.
I argue that the movie, A Cinderella Story shows one of the kinds of stereotypes that many black women face in using the mammy figure that Melissa Harris-Perry discussed broadly in her book. A Cinderella story does this by having a black woman character named Rhonda who acts as the caretaker and worker under the main character, who is a wealthy white woman. Ultimately, A Cinderella Story creates this mammy figure by having Rhonda work underneath a rich white woman and her three daughters. Melissa Harris-Perry says, “Unlike the bad black woman who was aggressively sexual, Mammy had no personal needs or desires. She was a trusted adviser and confidante whose skills were used exclusively in the service of the white families to which she was
Cinderella is a story that is known to be the best fairy tale in the world. There are more than 700 different versions of Cinderella in the world. Throughout history, "Cinderella" is a story that is interpreted by different countries such as; Europe, North and South America, and Asia. Although the name, clothes, and other details alter in each story, the theme remains the same. In each story, there is an outward transformation of "Cinderbottom" to "Cinderella." In the French "Cinderella" by Charles Perrault, the Native American "Oochigeasw" by an unknown author, and "A Chinese "Cinderella" by Tuan Ch'eng-shih, all of them show the transformation of Cinderella from "rags to rich" because of her kind heart and dedication
Our culture is full of fairy tales. Girls are taught at a young age about Prince Charming and happy endings while boys are taught to be the girls’ heroes. They are taught these dreams and desires through fairytales and movies. These fairy tales started out as entertaining stories, but as they were handed down from one generation to the next, they slowly became more than that. They became bedtime stories for children, and as such, they have great importance because they teach children how to be in the world. One such fairy tale I want to focus on is Cinderella.
Have you ever had a dark and gloomy day? Imagine having that feeling every single day. The Grimm’s Cinderella was written in 1812. 1812 was one of the harshest years for America. An event that formed it was the war against Great Britain and the United States. Not only was there a war, but there was also a series of disastrous harvests. Taxes got higher, and more than twenty people who were involved with a Luddite Act were hung. In 1812, there was also the only assassination of a prime minister, who was shot dead in the House of Commons. The Grimm Brothers have put the dark times of 1812 into their stories. Some of their stories contain violence, child abuse, and wicked mothers. They came up with these types of stories after their father died, and when they struggled out of school. That gave them enough time to research and put together a collection of folk tales. Now you can see why the Grimm’s Cinderella was dark and gloomy. Although the plot stayed the same, over the years, the story did get lighter. Disney’s Cinderella came out in 1950. In 1950, learning information was not by fear, but by engaging happiness. Disney’s Cinderella transforms the Grimm’s Cinderella into a happier atmosphere. While some similarities between Disney’s Cinderella and Grimm’s Cinderella are noticeable, the differences are pronounced, especially when referring to the slippers, her father, and the ball.
When I started analyzing Cinderella I noticed some gender roles/stereotypes that are brought to light. One of them being how women are the ones who stay home and perform household chores. They are “housewives” who depend on a man. The father is briefly in the beginning and afterwards we do not hear of him, initiating that he is off working, or on a business trip while the mom and daughters are home. We also see through Cinderella (who is forced to do all the chores) how their are consequences if she (or women) don’t complete or do the chores that are expected of them (like not being able to go to a ball in Cinderella's case). Another theme that is consistent in Cinderella as it is in other princess stories is the value of being beautiful. We see this when the fairy godmother shows up and makes Cinderella beautiful. She transforms her house clothes into a gown and so forth showing us that beauty is in the way you look or your appearance. If we pursue this theme further we see that the prince falls in love with Cinderella based on how she looks (love at first
The story that most of us know as “Cinderella” actually has a lot of different versions. These different versions contain several elements that are similar, but yet even more elements that differ from one another. The three main difference between all the different versions of this story are the characters, how others treat the main character, and the setting in which these stories take place.
Disney makes over $3 billion on their Disney Princess products every year and now have over 25,000 items in their princess collection (Orenstein 2). Disney has played a big role in shaping not only societal viewpoints on what young girls should like, but also what little girls believe they should enjoy as well. Gender stereotypes have been around for a long time, but now with technology advancements, such as media in western society is able to play a bigger than ever role in influencing people’s perspectives. Not only do we see gender roles and stereotypes in television shows, but also in advertisements and in children’s toys. Although many readers of Peggy Orenstein’s “What’s wrong with Cinderella” have argued that the princess culture is corrupting today’s young girls and making them more dependent on men, a closer examination shows that many girls grow out of the princess phase with no negative repercussions and choose whatever passions they want.
Many people wonder where all the Cinderella stories originated from? They originated from the most popular version written in French by Charles Perrault written in 1607. The Little Golden book, the Grimm brothers version and the 2015 Disney Film version of Cinderella are all taken from the original story. All Cinderella stories have the same storyline, but there are differences and similarities between the archetypes and the characters and in the theme in the three versions.
Hi Nhung, I like that before you started analyzing which character archetypes are in the film, you gave a summary of the movie. This makes it so that whoever reads your response, have an understanding of the film. I agree with your point that, “Cinderella is the innocent archetype because she always get bullied by her stepmother and stepsisters.” This is true that she is innocent because most people would defend themselves when they get hurt, but Cinderella does nothing about it and continues to take the harassment. Also, it is interesting that she fits into the innocent character archetype because about every Disney Princess fits into the same category.
There are certain similarities in two variants of the story. Main characters are the same and basic plot is repeated in two versions with slight differences. Cinderella is a classical story, which exists, in many different cultures and countries. It reflects the story of poor girls who suffers different privations but finds the way out from different situations and becomes happy. The story about Cinderella is a story of hope and many people are fond of this story. It does not lose its popularity with the flow of time and light changes in the plot and depiction of the characters only reflect cultural and historical differences. The story of Cinderella passes
Each person in the world has heard of Cinderella, no matter what kind of version it may be. Cinderella is the one fairy tale story that has been popular and will always be the one tale that has to be told to children. Words and story lines might be twist and turn, but in the end the knowledge of the story will be learned in similar ways. As we all know when one story is told another is created, when one is at its best then another is at its worse. One version will always be better than another, but no matter what version it might be the story will be told.
Cinderella is a fairytale for children that displayed love, loss and miracles; however, when it is further analyzed, it has a deeper meaning. Cinderella is a story about a young girl who became a servant in her own home after her father remarried a malicious woman with two spoiled daughters. She was humiliated and abused yet she remained gentle and kind. She received help from her fairy godmother to go to the prince’s ball after her stepmother rejected her proposal. Cinderella and the Prince fell madly in love but she had to leave at twelve o’clock and forgot to tell him her name but she left her glass slipper behind. He sent his servants to find her and Cinderella was the only maiden in the kingdom to fit into the shoes. She
The two stories of “Cinderella” are “Tam and Cam”; and “The twelve Months: A Slav legend adapted by Alexander Chodzko. These stories have similar ways in portraying the hard working Cinderella including her suffering, but they are different in Cinderella’s motive of rescue one tale use violence if necessary; the other just more of a genuine resourceful approach. This means this character isn’t relying on a prince charming to be her rescue, so this makes the concept different from the other because “Tam and Cam” Cinderella lives forever happy with her lover, while “The twelve Months: A Slav legend adapted lives by herself and then a farmer she likes shows up. These tales went for a more sophisticated setting, each displaying the peasant overcoming the struggle; in which she is set free from all of her hurting. Throughout each story Cinderella is taking and caring she always seemed to get the short end of the stick. But, when the odds back fired on the step-sisters and step-mother the karma was naturally set upon to benefit Cinderella in her favor “Tam and Cam” or set in motion by her as payback to get even with her rival characters of a family in “The twelve Months: A Slav legend adapted lives.
With the power the step-mother has obtained, she utilizes it in order to oppress Cinderella as she is forced to become a maid within her own place of dwelling. For this reason, it causes Cinderella to become apart of an inferior level. Cinderella continues to stay passive and an inactive contributor within her life. Not resorting to the chance of rebelling or escaping the unfortunate situation. But even so, some may insist upon her attempting to break free as a form of escaping, yet she does not use it for instead she choses to wait in order to be saved. In view of that, Cinderella is presented as a goodhearted, but submissive character in need of rescuing. Above all, both the step-mother and Cinderella are seen as stereotypical characters. In fact the step-mother is showcased to hold great power, thus being a vision of dark evil ways. Much less, Cinderella and her character is not endowed with any power whatsoever, thus being looked upon as a good hearts and beautiful person inside and out. Accordingly this represents the message of female characters and power relationships between them. Being that those with power are seen as evil, while on the other hand those who have no power are meant to be good. Therefore a happy ending is give to those powerless, instead of female individuals with
In “Cinderella: Not So Morally Superior,” Elisabeth Panttaja makes a claim that the Grimms’ version of “Cinderella” provides reasons that Cinderella may not have been so fortunate due to her being “good and pious.” One main point that she discusses within the article is the mother/daughter relationship Cinderella shares with her deceased mother, in comparison to the mother/daughter relationship shared between the stepmother and stepsisters. Panttaja argues that the mothers in each relationship are both motivated by the same thing, “to ensure a future of power and prestige for their daughter” (Panttaja). Panttaja continues to identify how both mothers’ motives are similar, but her argument falters when she attempts to bring Cinderella’s