Cinderella


 * History of Tale ||   ||   || Literary Interpretation ||   || Psychological Interpretation ||
 * Sociological Interpretation ||  ||   || Feminist Interpretation ||   || Modern Adaptations ||
 * Allusions to Tale ||  ||   || Original Tale Modeled After Cinderella ||   ||   ||
 * Plot Summary**

Cinderella is the tale of a young girl who is left orphaned with only a stepmother and stepsisters to care for her. She is treated wickedly and is reduced to being a servant in her own home, sleeping among the ashes and cinders of the hearth. A chance arises for her to attend a royal ball, where she might find happiness and escape from her servitude. Through magical circumstances (a fairy godmother or a magical tree with birds), Cinderella is able to clothe herself appropriately and attend the ball. There, she catches the attention of the prince, who does not know who she is. Leaving behind one glass slipper, Cinderella flees the ball and returns home to her ordinary life. Later, the prince seeks the girl who left the slipper and tries to match it to its owner across the country. Eventually, Cinderella is able to prove her identity as the mysterious and beautiful maiden at the ball. She and the prince marry. In some versions of the tale, the wicked stepsisters are punished harshly for their treatment of Cinderella. In other versions, the stepsisters are forgiven and given places to live in the castle.


 * A Brief History of** //**Cinderella**//

//Cinderella// is one of the oldest known fairy tales. The earliest version we know of with the most familiar elements (slipper that only fits one girl, dead mother, wicked stepmother, recognized as worthy at end and saved from life of work) comes from the Far East. After that, the first literary, or printed, version of Cinderella we find is in Charles Perrault's 1697 collection. Perrault adds many of the motifs we recognize from the Disney version of the tale: a fairy godmother, a pumpkin turned into a carriage, mice and rats turned into coachmen, the glass slipper/hunt for the girl it fits.

In the 19th C, the Grimms Brothers presented //Aschenputtel//, a darker version of the tale. There is no fairy godmother here. Instead, Cinderella's wishes are granted by a magical tree with the help of birds. The stepsisters are not just silly; they cut off pieces of their feet in attempts to fit into the slipper and usurp C's rightful place. Another major difference between the two versions of the tale is the punishment of the stepfamily. Perrault has them forgiven by Cinderella and even matched with wealthy husbands. In the more grim Grimms version, the stepsisters are blinded by birds for their mistreatment of Cinderella.

Since the Grimms version, there have been many updated versions and adaptations of Cinderella. Some of them are listed below.


 * Literary Interpretation**

The tale of Cinderella is one of the best-known stories world-wide. A young girl, forced to work hard and suffer, is redeemed and brought to happiness through marriage to a handsome, wealthy prince. Adaptations of this central theme abound. Allusions can be found every day in advertising, literature, and visual media.

As a fairy tale, Cinderella contains all of the typical elements of this genre. It is not a tale with much depth, relying on stock figures and situations. Its importance is in its message (right or wrong) that young women can be saved by wealthy men.


 * Psychological Interpretation**

There are many possible psychological interpretations of Cinderella. Some fall into the Freudian camp, while others are more based on Jungian principles.

Freudian interpretations concentrate on the symbols of the slipper and the foot. The slipper represents the vagina, the foot, the penis. The tale, then, becomes a woman's search for sexual fulfillment. Interpreting the Grimms version, Freudians argue that the blood from the stepsisters' mutilated feet would represent menstruation. The prince is horrified to discover that he might have sex with a woman having a period and returns them until he finds a woman not bleeding, the virgin Cinderella.

Jungian scholars look at the stepsisters and the fairy helpers as parts of one psyche. The characters are archetypes and do not possess any more depth than their traditional stock types.

//Cinderella// can be seen as a metaphor for recovering from an early wound such as loss of a mother or abandonment by a mother. It is about a person's search for identity and self-esteem. One Jungian analyst has even produced a documentary arguing for this interpretation of the tale. (www.onceuponaloss.com)


 * Sociological Interpretation**

The tale of //Cinderella// is that of a lowly servant girl rising to a position of power and wealth in a hierarchical society. How does she do this? Through hard work and a little magic. It's interesting to note that the wicked step family is punished in various ways for their mistreatment of the servant girl, but only after she rises to power over them.

It's also interesting to note that the prince will only wed the woman whose tiny foot will fit into the slipper. This precludes most women who work hard and whose feet would most likely be wider as a result. In the tale, Cinderella is born into a wealthy family and then falls to her position of servitude. Such a situation would make her ripe for redemption and return to her high status.


 * Feminist Interpretation**

Cinderella has been vilified for generations by feminists who regard her character as a model for how young girls and women should NOT be. Cinderella is kind and persevering, but passive (more so in the Perrault version). She endures abuse without standing up for herself and waits to be rescued from her hardship by a charming prince, who only recognizes her when the magical glass slipper fits her tiny foot. In the earliest versions of this tale, the tiny slipper is a symbol for the art of footbinding, a tortuous practice that handicapped young women in the name of beauty. Cinderella's tiny feet thus symbolize her womanhood.

Note that the wicked characters are all women—C's evil stepmother and ugly stepsisters. Ugliness is equated with being bad, another blow to a more modern feminist philosophy. Cinderella is not only good and patient, but more beautiful than any other. If she's beautiful, she must be good, too!

Modern women are expected to be more assertive and to make their own way in the world, rather than wait for a man to recognize their beauty and promise to take care of them for the rest of their lives. Consequently, most modern adaptations of this tale have heroines who take action for themselves, rather than simply endure passively until they are rescued.


 * Modern Adaptations**

The question is whether any movie or novel that has a "fairy tale ending" can be said to be a Cinderella Story. The answer is no, but there are still many works that include enough of the elements and sensibility of the original tales to be included here. This list does not include non-English speaking works, though there are surely many that would qualify.

For the purposes of this wiki, I will consider stories (films and novels) that include at least several of the following elements from the original tale: orphaned girl, cruel stepfamily, used as servant, helped by magical "friend," recognition through token (fitting into some object, such as slipper or ring), rise to personal glory (fame, wealth, royalty, happiness).

//Jane Eyre// by Charlotte Bronte Bronte surely drew on the Cinderella tale when creating her long-suffering heroine, Jane Eyre. Jane, an orphan, is left in the care of a hateful aunt and wicked cousin, both of whom abuse her mightily. Jane's prince comes in the form of the brooding Mr. Rochester, who recognizes her true worth, in spite of her plain appearance and proper demeanor. Jane's transformation comes about as a result of an absent fairy godfather, an uncle who dies and leaves her a fortune. She is transmuted from a friendless, penniless governess to an independent woman of means. Finally, Jane is reunited with her prince when, blinded by an accident, he recognize her voice and knows that his princess has returned to him. And, reader, they were married.

//Cinderella (1959)// //Cinderella// was Disney's second feature-length animated fairy tale. It followed Snow White (1937). Highly acclaimed, this version is based primarily on Perrault's tale, with little notes of Grimms thrown in. There is certainly (and famously) a fairy godmother, pumpkin, mice, and beautiful gown. There are also, though, helpful birds and mice (like we find in Ashenputtel). The music from this movie is still known and loved today. Most likely, this particular movie is the version most people think of when //Cinderella// is mentioned.

//Cinderella// (Rogers and Hammerstein, 1965) This is a live version of the animated Disney tale, though with its own R and H music and lyrics. It was remade in 2003 with Brandy Norwood as the main character, a very PC version.

//The Sound of Music// (1965) Everyone knows //The Sound of Music// as the story of Maria, a potential nun, who becomes the governess of the seven vonTrapp children and eventually marries their father to become their mother. Certainly, some of the Cinderella elements are at play here. Maria is an orphan (we assume) being raised by nuns. She is made to take a service position (governess to many children) where she is the butt of wicked children until they are tamed by her kindness. Maria is finally recognized as deserving of the Admiral vonTrapp when she dons a pretty dress and dances with him at a party. Like Cinderella, she runs away rather than face her feelings for this man. Her "fairy godmother" might be the Abbess, who sends her back to the Admiral after recognizing Maria's feelings.

Flashdance (1983) Pretty in Pink (1986) Maid to Order (1987) Some Kind of Wonderful (1987) Coming to America (1988) Working Girl (1988)

//Ashpet// (1989) //Ashpet// is an Appalachian version of Cinderella. All of the usual elements are here, though all with an Appalachian twist. For instance, instead of a fairy godmother, Ashpet visits her former nanny, a local "witchwoman" or seer. Instead of a "prince," the object of Ashpet's affection is a soldier. There is a VHS version of Ashpet available through Amazon; it is also sometimes performed as a play by community theatres and schools.

//Pretty Woman// (1990) This time around, Cinderella is Vivian, a Hollywood hooker! Her prince is Edward, a rich businessman who hires her for a night but ends up keeping her for longer. Lots of twists in the tale here, but we still have the "working" girl rescued by the powerful prince, the transformation (the magic here is credit cards) from whorish to princess in style, and the ultimate recognition of Vivian's heart of gold and worthiness to be princess. One of the movie's tag lines was actually "A Cinderella for the 90s."

//Politically Correct Bedtime Stories// (1994) //Cinderella// is just one of several fairy tales retold from a modern, PC viewpoint. The language is changed to reflect "non-gender specific" language, and the story is radically and amusingly changed. For instance, Cinderella does not "win" the prince at the end of this tale; she demonstrates her new-found independence by stipping off the corset, shoes, and bodice that were keeping her confined. Following her example, all of the women of the court do likewise, celebrating in a huge dance of females. The men fight each other to the death because of their unrestrained testosterone, and the women reign. Very funny.

//The Princess Diaries// (2001) Mia Thermopolis is a typical high school student living with her single mother in San Francisco. When her grandmother arrives, she reveals that Mia is actually the crown princess of Genovia. This ash-girl to princess story includes the usual transformation (this time from slightly nerdy, fashion backward Mia to a stunning beautiful and confident Mia). The main difference here is that it's Mia who has to figure out who she is before she loses the "prince," rather than the other way around.

//Ever After: A Cinderella Story// (2002) This movie, starring Drew Barrymore, juxtaposes a Renaissance version of the tale with a modern, feminist mindset. Instead of a magical fairy godmother, Danielle (the Cinderella figure) has Leonardo daVinci for a mentor. Instead of being recognized for her true self and rescued by the prince, Danielle saves herself while the prince comes around to the idea of marrying a commoner. Interestingly, instead of hiding inside all day, Danielle spends her time out in the woods, even saving the prince when he is threatened by gypsies. She pretends to be nobility until she is outed to the prince at the ball. Quite a twist from the original.Highly entertaining.

Maid in Manhattan (2002)

//A Cinderella Story// (2004) Starring Hilary Duff, this movie locates the tale to southern California, and turns Cinderella into a downtrodden teenager longing to go to college in the east. After her father dies, leaving his diner to her selfish and stupid stepmother, Sam is forced to work at the restaurant scrubbing floors and taking abuse from customers. She has a crush on Austin, quarterback on the football team, and finds herself in an anonymous e-mail relationship with him. Austin is, of course, revealed to be a sensitive, intelligent reader who eventually sees Sam for the princess she is. Their happily ever after sends them to Princeton.

//Bound// by Donna Jo Napoli (2006) This young-adult version of Cinderella is a retelling of the ancient Chinese version.

//Ash// by Malinda Lo (2009) This recent work takes the traditional Cinderella tale and gives it a very modern twist. Orphaned after the deaths of her mother and father, Ash is put to work as a servant in her stepmother's household. Unlike Cinderella, though, Ash has to choose between the love of Sidhean, a fairy prince (who is the one helping her attend a ball, etc) and Kaisa, the court huntress.


 * Allusions to Tale**

Cinderella Story: this generally refers to a happy ending that was not expected. It could be the story of a sports team, that of an actor, a student who rises to the top, etc. There is no limit. Many tales of personal transformation are said to be Cinderella Stories.

Fairy Godmother: Now, this refers to anyone who helps someone to achieve something important.

Glass slipper: References abound to the use of shoes as a metaphor for the "perfect fit" or a perfect life. Also, we find many references to an object that will only "fit" one person--could be a ring, anything.

Midnight deadline: Enchantment that runs out at a definite deadline. Not just midnight. The coach turns back into a pumpkin and the magic is over.

//Cosmetic firms especially make use of such fairy‐tale allusions. Revlon came up with the slogan ‘Cinderella—nails and the Magic Wand’, thereby claiming that its cosmetics will make the difference between homeliness and beauty. Of course, this beautiful person would need a gorgeous automobile, and so the Fisher Body company used the slogan ‘A Coach for Cinderella’ in the 1930s to help advertise such a car for General Motors. But for this the consumer would need money, and as luck would have it the Bank of America, according to an advertisement from the year 1947, is the ‘Godmother to a Million Cinderellas’. There is one wish fulfilment after another, and such slogans with their coercive texts and inviting pictures make all of this look as easy as the waving of a magic wand—until the reality check sets in, of course.// [From http://www.answers.com/topic/advertising-and-fairy-tales 1 February 2010]

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