I’m sure you all remember watching or reading the tales of Cinderella as a child. I know I do, I grew up wearing plastic heels and itchy princess dresses wishing for my dream prince. Through reading various versions of this magical tale, however, I have been struck by the different cultural values represented in the story and how that differed with the Disney version I grew up with. Two versions of the story that stood out to me were The Little Glass Slipper by Charles Perrault and perhaps one the earliest versions, Yeh Shen, an Asian fairy tale written by Duan Cheng Shi. But before we dive into these mystical tales, ask your fairy godmother for a sparkly gown and a pair of glass slippers, because we have a ball to attend.
The Little Glass Slipper, written by Charles Perrault in 1697 is commonly known to have laid the ground work for the Disney version of Cinderella. This folktale came about in 17th century Paris which is where it receives its original tile 'Cendrillon.' The tale encompasses many cultural values that evidently link back to the time in which it was written. The story represents French values of society, monarchy and the significance of beauty to men as well as women. This tale represents the social classes of the 17th century in the matter that it differentiates between the upper class and the lower class. Like the step-mother in the tale, upper class women often were selfish and took charge of the family. Cinderella on the other hand was not so
Have you ever wondered if there were other versions of Cinderella? Well there are, there isn’t just one version of Cinderella. Each version is a little bit different from each story because of the culture behind it. For example the “Cinderella” we know and love and the Ireland version the “Cinderlad”.The two cinderella stories, “Cinderlad” the Irish version and “Cinderella” the French version have both differences and similarities. Using the Motif “Damsel in distress” I can show that they are different & similar because of the culture they originated from and their social necessities.
The Disney version of the story, Cinderella, illustrates a different moral than that of the original story. This story believes an ideal child should do what they are told and follow directions and in the end they will reap the rewards. In this story, Cinderella’s mother dies and her father remarries to a woman who has two daughters. While the daughters are pampered, Cinderella must work to keep the house from falling into disrepair. She befriends the animals and they help her to get ready to go to the ball by finishing her chores and making her a dress. When the evil stepsisters discover the dress they become furious because the mice used trimming from their clothing when making the dress. In revenge, the stepsisters rip the dress, leaving Cinderella out of options and out of hope. Just as Cinderella is about to give up, her fairy godmother appears and with a wave of magic creates a dress and turns a pumpkin and the mice into a horse and carriage. The only problem is that everything will turn back to what it was beforehand at midnight. Cinderella and the Prince fall in love at the ball but she must quickly leave because the
Cinderella is a famous tale to all. Adults, children, and the elderly; but why? Its was told for many years even during ancient Egypt. They’re multiple stories about the same tale, one of the most famous has to be Disney’s Animated Film Version Cinderella. Comparing this famous tale to another one on the other side of the world, In China a Story called Yeh-shen.
Throughout the years there have been many versions of the classic tale, “Cinderella.” From European style all the way to Disney. However, they are all based on the same ancient story. Step mother, step sisters, Cinderella marries the love of her life, you get the idea. Yet, each individual story has its own unique touch to make it stand out just a little bit more than the previous story. The two Cinderella stories that I’m going to be comparing are two Disney films. The first one I am going to discuss was released in early spring of 1950, called “Cinderella”. The second story is a remake called, “Another Cinderella Story” released in 2008. Both films based on the same story line, yet completely different.
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.
The Grimm Brothers version of Cinderella is a written down oral story that people passed down from generation to generation, meant to teach a lesson about piety and good behavior. Before the Grimm Brothers ever wrote it down, the story had been told several times by memory. It is thus not surprising that the descriptions of certain events in the story, such as the way Cinderella went to the Ball, are lacking in details. It is obvious that these parts of the story are unimportant to the overall message of the story. Instead, it focuses on the piety of Cinderella and the wickedness of the step-sisters. Through the events of the story, it becomes obvious that the goodness of Cinderella is justly rewarded, and that
However, her true beauty lies within her skin, as Perrault’s interprets Cinderella as “a hundred times more handsome than her sisters”. He aims to focus more on female recognition and self-fulfillment, rather than provide a base for all readers to understand fully (Hühn). At an elementary level, this may not influence children to an extent, but other stories that reproduce this same structure of plot elements could possibly influence children in the future. For instance, she was not the hero of the story. The Prince isn’t the hero until he discovers her lost possession, a glass slipper, and searched for the person that fits. As told by Perrault, “he had done nothing but look at her all the time, and that most certainly he was very much in love with the beautiful owner of the glass slipper.” This enforces the fact that her beauty prevails over her actual personality but not behavior, and the appearance and mannerisms surely impressed the Prince.
Walt Disney’s Cinderella is adapted from the original fairy tale written in 1697 by Charles Perrault. There are some key differences between Walt Disney’s Cinderella and Charles Perrault’s Cinderella. In Charles Perrault’s tale, Cinderella’s father is not dead, but the father is controlled by the stepmother. Cinderella’s younger stepsister is much more polite than the older stepsister, who calls Cinderella Cinderwench. The king in Perrault’s tale hosts a two day Ball, which Cinderella attends with the help of the fairy godmother. During Cinderella’s preparation for the first night of the Ball, Cinderella helps the fairy godmother find a coachman when the fairy godmother could not find one. Cinderella’s glass slipper comes off on the second
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.
When Cinderella is saved by a beautiful ball gown and shoes, the reader is happy for her without realizing the absence in the situation. The story expects the reader to agree that a female’s value is derived from her appearance and that all worries can be washed away if one receives a makeover so grand that he or she is unrecognizable even to those they have lived with their whole life. Had Cinderella been in her normal clothes rather than the magnificent gown granted to her by her fairy godmother, she would not have been noticed, let alone fall in love with and marry the
Eventually, it was the two sisters turn to try on the slipper. Both had small feet, but not small enough to fit into the slipper, so they each cut off a piece of their foot in hopes of fitting into the slipper. They almost succeeded too, but the birds from Cinderella’s mother’s grave would tell the messenger the truth, and each sister was sent back home. When messenger returned to the house the prince went with him and he asked Cinderella's father if he had another daughter, Cinderella was called for, and she tried on the slipper which fit her foot perfectly. When the wedding day came the doves that had help Cinderella picked out the stepsisters eyes and blinded them as punishment for their wickedness (J. Grimm and W. Grimm 85-93).
The fairy tale Cinderella is a well known story about serving, kindness, true love, and a little bit of magic. It is one of the oldest fairy tales and has been interpreted many different ways. Even though the details have changed, the main storyline remains the same. Around 1697, a child-friendly version of Cinderella was created by Charles Perrault who had a major impact on modern history in France (Encyclopedia Americana, 2006). Charles Perrault was a french poet, prose writer, and storyteller in the mid to late 17th century.
In this depiction of Cinderella, every eligible maiden in the kingdom wanted to marry the Prince, so it is only logical to believe that all of the women without a husband should have wanted to marry the prince. That is the conclusion that can be drawn from Cinderella. It is this exact conclusion that drives the women of our society to be constantly looking for their prince from as early as they can remember. Through the use of colorful advertising and constant advertisements, Disney has created a world where masses of little girls want to grow up to become princesses. If a girl does not want to look for her prince, but instead wants to focus on her work or school or something totally different, she is seen as a social pariah and people will wonder what is wrong with her.
The men in “Cinderella” also value women for their beauty. The prince has a ball for all the maidens in the land to find his future wife, which “amounts to a beauty contest” (Lieberman 386) for a new trophy wife. While some argue that Cinderella’s rebellion of going against her stepmother’s instructions of staying home shows that the story has feminist qualities, the prince weakens her achievement when he chooses her only because of her beauty as “girls win the prize if they are the fairest of them all” (Lieberman 385). Her need for independence is transformed into the prince’s need for a pretty wife, making her again an object in her family. Once integrated into the prince’s family, Cinderella goes from the maid of her family to the smiling porcelain doll next to the prince as the “first job of a fairy tale princess is to be beautiful” (Röhrich 110). This gives the impression that the only way
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.