Why The Cinderella Story Has Better Qualities Than The Poor Turkey Girl Story

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.

We all know Cinderella, the girl whose step- mother and sisters were horrendous to her. In the end she gets the prince, of course. These tales don’t follow that same story line. Their personalities, royal future, their father figure, and the magic in the stories all differ. These four Cinderella tales are Aschenputtel, The Twelve Months: A Slave Legend, The Algonquin Cinderella, and Tam and Cam. Each has different elements that can be compared, but they also have elements that can be contrasted. Breaking down the comparisons and contrasts, Aschenputtel and The Twelve Months: A Slave Legend will be compared and contrasted, whereas, the Algonquin Cinderella and Tam and Cam will be compared and contrasted.

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 central focus of this unit is to identify the elements of stories and how their themes may relate to each other in a variety of ways. Students will be guided in a variety of comparison and contrasting activities in order to gain understanding of main ideas, characters, and cultural themes across similar fairy tales from different cultures. This unit focuses on three different versions of Cinderella from different cultures. I chose to focus on the common elements of the fairy tales and the cultural differences because this was something the students were struggling with previously.

"Cinderella" is perhaps the most recognized fairy tale in history, one of the few that spans across generations and cultures. Every prominent culture in the world tells some similar version of this story of a poor girl going from rags to riches; over 700 versions have been accounted for worldwide. In America, numerous authors have penned their own version of the classic folktale. One of these is Tanith Lee, a prolific writer of stories for young adults. Lee cleverly found a way to include all of the traditional elements of the classic "Cinderella" tale, but added a new twist: Cinderella, or the character similar to her in this story, had malicious intentions for the prince, and her purpose throughout the tale was a malevolent one: revenge.

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

The first difference between the Perrault’s and the Lee’s version of Cinderella is that the mother was dead when the story begins but in the Lee version, the mother was alive at the beginning of the story. The story starts at once upon a time in the Perrault’s version, but the Lee’s version started the story off as 200 hundred years ago. Another difference is that the stepmother was friendly and nice in the lee version of Cinderella but in the Perrault version, the stepmother was cruel and wicked. In the Perrault version, the step sisters had a strong temper like their mother’s and wasn’t as beautiful as Cinderella but in the Lee’s Cinderella story, the stepsisters were extremely nice and sweet. The Protagonist Disposition in the Perrault version was very kind and sweet, and even to her stepsisters but in the lee’s version, the Protagonist Disposition is evil and rude. While getting ready for the ball in the Perrault version, the Cinderella is helped by a fairy godmother that was sent to her and in the Lee’s version, Cinderella was helped by the Satanas. Cinderella forgives her stepsisters and marries them off to wealthy noblemen in the Perrault version but in the Lee’s version, Cinderella sent them to get attacked by the villains who eventually took over the city. The last difference between Perrault’s and Lee’s version of Cinderella, is that the Cinderella shoes were glass in Perrault’s story but in Lee’s story, Cinderella shoes were glass slippers, but they could change shape and size, but the shoes could only fit on her.

Cinderella’s story is undoubtedly the most popular fairy tale all over the world. Her fairy tale is one of the best read and emotion filled story that we all enjoyed as young and adults. In Elizabeth Pantajja’s analysis, Cinderella’s story still continues to evoke emotions but not as a love story but a contradiction of what we some of us believe. Pantajja chose Cinderella’s story to enlighten the readers that being good and piety are not the reason for Cinderella’s envious fairy tale. The author’s criticism and forthright analysis through her use of pathos, ethos, and logos made the readers doubt Cinderella’s character and question the real reason behind her marrying the prince. Pantajja claims that

The story of Cinderella has become a classic fairy tale, known around the world, and past down from generation to generation. Yet, over the years, the story has been rewritten to better relate to different cultures. While some things never change, authors still manage to convey different messages by making the story their own. This can be clearly seen when the Grimm brothers version of Cinderella is compared to Charles Perrault’s version of Cinderella. While the core of the story does not change, the moral, tone, and “magical” aspects of the two stories are clearly shaped by the different cultures in which they were written in.

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

In examining each story, we can confirm that this theme is reflected in the story of Cinderella and most often is the central theme in the story. It can also be concluded that this same ideology can be found in different cultures and multiple versions of the story. While none of the stories we analyzed suggest “that they lived happily ever after”, the reader is led to believe that the primary character will live a life of happiness and bliss as a result of obtaining love, prominence, and

Cinderella in this film is portrayed as a sweet and innocent child who years to be loved after her father passes on leaving her in the care of a very evil stepmother. The character of the prince was very different then in the first film. In the other film we find that the prince has feelings and emotions, whereas in this film, he is portrayed as a very dedicated man who falls in love and becomes obsessed. The odd thing about his character is that he is not seen very much in the film, it focuses more on Cinderella, and her family and her attempts to go to the "ball". Also it focuses on the fact that the king is forcing his son to marry.