Cinderella
Tags: fantasy

Plot synopsis:
Villains: In some versions, her father plays an active role in the humiliation of his daughter; in others, he is secondary to his new wife, Cinderella's stepmother; in some versions, especially the popular Disney film, Cinderella's father has died and Cinderella's mother has died also.
Although many variants of Cinderella feature the wicked stepmother, the defining trait of type 510A is a female persecutor: in Fair, Brown and Trembling and Finette Cendron, the stepmother does not appear at all, and it is the older sisters who confine her to the kitchen. In other fairy tales featuring the ball, she was driven from home by the persecutions of her father, usually because he wished to marry her. Of this type (510B) are Cap O' Rushes, Catskin, All-Kinds-of-Fur, and Allerleirauh, and she slaves in the kitchen because she found a job there. In Katie Woodencloak, the stepmother drives her from home, and she likewise finds such a job.
In La Cenerentola, Gioachino Rossini inverted the sex roles: Cenerentola is oppressed by her stepfather. (This makes the opera Aarne-Thompson type 510B.) He also made the economic basis for such hostility unusually clear, in that Don Magnifico wishes to make his own daughters' dowries larger, to attract a grander match, which is impossible if he must provide a third dowry. Folklorists often interpret the hostility between the stepmother and stepdaughter as just such a competition for resources, but seldom does the tale make it clear.
Ball, Ballgown, and Curfew: The number of balls varies, sometimes one, sometimes two, and sometimes three. The fairy godmother is Perrault's own addition to the tale. The person who aided Cinderella (Aschenputtel) in the Grimms's version is her dead mother. Aschenputtel requests her aid by praying at her grave, on which a tree is growing. Helpful doves roosting in the tree shake down the clothing she needs for the ball. This motif is found in other variants of the tale as well, such as The Cinder Maid, collected by Joseph Jacobs, and the Finnish The Wonderful Birch. Playwright James Lapine incorporated this motif into the Cinderella plotline of the musical Into the Woods. Giambattista Basile's Cenerentola combined them; the Cinderella figure, Zezolla, asks her father to commend her to the Dove of Fairies and ask her to send her something, and she receives a tree that will provide her clothing. Other variants have her helped by talking animals, as in Katie Woodencloak, Rushen Coatie, Bawang Putih Bawang Merah, The Story of Tam and Cam, or The Sharp Grey Sheep—these animals often having some connection with her dead mother; in The Golden Slipper, a fish aids her after she puts it in water. In "The Anklet", it's a magical alabaster pot the girl purchased with her own money that brings her the gowns and the anklets she wears to the ball. Gioachino Rossini, having agreed to do an opera based on Cinderella if he could omit all magical elements, wrote La Cenerentola, in which she was aided by Alidoro, a philosopher and formerly the Prince's tutor.
The midnight curfew is also absent in many versions; Cinderella leaves the ball to get home before her stepmother and stepsisters, or she is simply tired. In the Grimms' version, Aschenputtel slips away when she is tired, hiding on her father's estate in a tree, and then the pigeon coop, to elude her pursuers; her father tries to catch her by chopping them down, but she escapes.
Furthermore, the gathering need not be a ball; several variants on Cinderella, such as Katie Woodencloak and The Golden Slipper have her attend church.
In the three-ball version, Cinderella keeps a close watch on the time the first two nights and is able to leave without difficulty. However, on the third (or only) night, she loses track of the time and must flee the castle before her disguise vanishes. In her haste, she loses a glass slipper which the prince finds—or else the prince has carefully had her exit tarred, so as to catch her, and the slipper is caught in it.
The identifying item: The glass slipper is unique to Charles Perrault's version and its derivatives; in other versions of the tale it may be made of other materials (in the version recorded by the Brothers Grimm, German: Aschenbroedel and Aschenputtel, for instance, it is gold) and in still other tellings, it is not a slipper but an anklet, a ring, or a bracelet that gives the prince the key to Cinderella's identity. In Rossini's opera "La Cenerentola" ("Cinderella"), the slipper is replaced by twin bracelets to prove her identity. In the Finnish variant The Wonderful Birch the prince uses tar to gain something every ball, and so has a ring, a circlet, and a pair of slippers. Interpreters unaware of the value attached to glass in 17th century France and perhaps troubled by sartorial impracticalities, have suggested that Perrault's "glass slipper" (pantoufle de verre) had been a "squirrel fur slipper" (pantoufle de vair) in some unidentified earlier version of the tale, and that Perrault or one of his sources confused the words; however, most scholars believe the glass slipper was a deliberate piece of poetic invention on Perrault's part. The 1950 Disney adaptation takes advantage of the slipper being made of glass to add a twist whereby the slipper is shattered just before Cinderella has the chance to try it on, leaving her with only the matching slipper with which to prove her identity.
Another interpretation of verre/vair (glass/fur) suggested a sexual element—the Prince was 'trying on' the 'fur slipper' (vagina) of the maidens in the kingdom, as a 'Droit du seigneur' right of sexual possession of his subjects. The disguised Cinderella's 'fur slipper' was of unique appeal to the Prince who sought her thereafter through sexual congress (a variety of sources including Joan Gould).
The translation of the story into cultures with different standards of beauty has left the significance of Cinderella's shoe size unclear, and resulted in the implausibility of Cinderella's feet being of a unique size for no particular reason. Humorous retellings of the story sometimes use the twist of having the shoes turn out to also fit somebody completely unsuitable, such as an amorous old crone. In Terry Pratchett's Witches Abroad, the witches accuse another witch of manipulating the events because it was a common shoe size, and she could only ensure that the right woman put it on if she already knew where she was and went straight to her. In "When the Clock Strikes" (from Red As Blood), Tanith Lee had the sorcerous shoe alter shape whenever a woman tried to put it on, so it would not fit.
The Revelation: Cinderella's stepmother and stepsisters (in some versions just the stepsisters and, in some other versions, a stepfather and stepsisters) conspire to win the prince's hand for one of them. In the German telling, the first stepsister fits into the slipper by cutting off a toe, but the doves in the hazel tree alert the prince to the blood dripping from the slipper, and he returns the false bride to her mother. The second stepsister fits into the slipper by cutting off her heel, but the same doves give her away.
In many variants of the tale, the prince is told that Cinderella can not possibly be the one, as she is too dirty and ragged. Often, this is said by the stepmother or stepsisters. In the Grimms' version, both the stepmother and the father urge it. The prince nevertheless insists on her trying. Cinderella arrives and proves her identity by fitting into the slipper or other item (in some cases she has kept the other).
The Conclusion: In the German version of the story, the evil stepsisters are punished for their deception by having their eyes pecked out by birds. In other versions, they are forgiven, and made ladies-in-waiting with marriages to lesser lords.
In The Thousand Nights and A Night, in a tale called "The Anklet", the stepsisters make a comeback by using twelve magical hairpins to turn the bride into a dove on her wedding night. In The Wonderful Birch, the stepmother, a witch, manages to substitute her daughter for the true bride after she has given birth. Such tales continue the fairy tale into what is in effect a second episode.
In an episode of Jim Henson's The Storyteller, writer Anthony Minghella merged the old folk tale Donkeyskin (also written by Perrault) with Cinderella to tell the tale of Sapsorrow, a girl both cursed and blessed by destiny.
Many popular new works based on the story feature one step-sister who is not as cruel to Cinderella as the other. Examples are the film Ever After, Cinderella 3 and the Broadway revival.
=== Revisionist retellings ===
Ever After (known in promotional material as Ever After: A Cinderella Story) is a 1998 American romantic comedy-drama film inspired by the fairy tale Cinderella, directed by Andy Tennant and starring Drew Barrymore, Anjelica Huston, and Dougray Scott. The usual pantomime and comic/supernatural elements are removed and the story is instead treated as historical fiction, set in Renaissance-era France. It is often seen as a modern, post-feminism interpretation of the Cinderella myth.
There is also Gregory Maguire's novel Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, which gives the classic story from the view of one of the ugly stepsisters. In this version, the Cinderella character is unusually beautiful, but also a shy enigma. Her stepsister, though plain, is charming and intelligent. The novel has themes much more adult than the traditional story.
Likewise there is a Marissa Meyer novel Cinder, which is set in a futuristic Beijing. The Cinderella character, named Cinder, is a cyborg mechanic, who meets Prince Kaito.
Gail Carson Levine wrote Ella Enchanted, a story about how "Ella" is under a fairy curse of obedience (she does whatever someone tells her to). A movie also has been made based on this book.
In 1982, Roald Dahl rewrote the story in a more modern and gruesome way in his book Revolting Rhymes.
In his book Dr. Gardner's Fairy Tales for Today's Children, Dr. Richard A. Gardener's story "Cinderelma" has the heroine Cinderelma and the prince re-unite, then mutually decide to separate. Cinderelma then gets a job as a seamstress, later opens her own dress shop, and marries a young printer who owns the shop next door to hers.
In 1995, Richard Conlon's play Anastasia and Drizella was produced at Chicago's Temporary Theatre. In it, Cinderella's step sister Anastasia gets a master's degree in finance, and her step sister Drizella gets a master's degree in chemical engineering. When the prince tries to have Cinderella's step family beheaded, Anastasia buys the kingdom. The prince and Cinderella get married, and spend the rest of their lives working as servants for Cinderella's step family, while the step sisters live happily ever after.
In the 2005 picture book Ella's Big Chance by Shirley Hughes, Ella is a dressmaker in her father's shop, and when the stepsisters arrive they appoint themselves as models. Ella eventually chooses to marry Buttons, an employee in the shop, instead of the prince.
In Emily Short's 2006 interactive fiction short story Glass, it is Cinderella herself who has magical powers, and neither her stepmother nor her stepsisters are malicious. The royal ambitions of the stepmother plays a small part in their attempt to deceive the prince, but more importantly they are trying to protect Cinderella from the law of the land, under which practicing magic is punishable by death.
In 2014, Bad Wolf Press published a musical version called Cinderella: A Modern Makeover, a fractured interpretation of the story featuring a more positive "blended family" home life as well as a heroine trying to get her dream job at the palace instead of a marriage proposal.
Also in 2014, Rae D. Magdon published an unusual retelling of the story in a novel titled The Second Sister, in which the protagonist, Ellie, is somewhat forced into stopping one of her step-sisters from enchanting the Prince and take over the entire Kingdom. In order to do this, she receives the help of a shy maid, a friendly cook, a talking cat, and her mysterious second sister.
Anne Sexton wrote an adaptation as a poem called "Cinderella" in her collection Transformations (1971), a book in which she re-envisions sixteen of the Grimm's Fairy tales.
The Throne of Glass series, written by Sarah J. Maas, is inspired by the story of Cinderella.
Bridget Hodder has written The Rat Prince, a middle grade novel telling the Cinderella story from the point of view of one of Cinderella's rodent friends. FSG/MacMillan is publishing the book August 23, 2016.

Review: This early Disney version of Cinderella is worth a look for his fans.
Nearly 28 years before making the classic feature-length animated version of Cinderella, Walt Disney made a short 7-minute version for the Laugh-O-Grams studio in Kansas City.
In this one, the title character is doing dishes with her cat while her stepsisters are lying around reading the papers (there is no evil stepmother here).
I better mention that this takes place in the '20s with flappers and cars.
Meanwhile, the prince is out hunting for bears (in this sequence, the bears are dancing just before the prince ties them up in one rope!).
After he sends his cat with the invitations, that cat gets a little injured but when someone asks if he's all right, he hits him with his stilt!
After the stepsisters leave Cinderella and the cat alone in the house, the fairy godmother gets them a car with a flapper dress for the girl.
If you know the story you can probably guess what happens at this point on.
I will also mention that Cinderella and the prince look similar to the characters in the first cartoon Disney made, Little Red Riding Hood.
The animation here is actually an improvement from his first two that I saw on YouTube.
So on that note, I highly recommend this first version of the famous fairy tale made by the legendary Walt Disney..
charming early Disney.
This very basic animation ('Laugh-o-Matic') was one of Walt Disney's first ventures into the world of animation, and into the fairytale of Cinderella, which he would eventually release as a feature cartoon in 1950.Crudely drawn, this cartoon still has the hallmarks of Disney - the characters have personality even within the limits of the drawings, the story is funny as well as sentimental, and all of the story is there including the run away at midnight as the spell is broken (which leads to a nice gag involving the Prince which I won't spoil here).A delight to watch just to see where the seed of the idea for the eventual movie success came from.
It can be found on the DVD of Cinderella, Special Edition, as an extra..
Disney's Early Take.
Cinderella (1922) *** (out of 4) Walt Disney directed this early cartoon from the Laugh-O-Gram.
The story is pretty simple as Cinderella wants to go to the Prince's ball but of course her evil stepsisters won't allow that.
Thankfully her Fairy Godmother shows up just in time.
There's really nothing overly special about this film other than the fact that Disney worked on it.
If you took away that interesting bit of history then it's doubtful too many people would be seeking this version out.
However, it's impossible to get away from who directed it so if you happen to watch this version you'll see it's nothing too special but it remains mildly entertaining.
The animation itself was good for its period but I think the highlight is just seeing how weird it actually is.
The Prince is rather dorky to say the least and the entire story is just told in such a way that you can't help but find it weird but interesting..
About as far removed from the great 1950 version by Disney, but still very good for the time..
One of the Walt Disney Company's most famous full-length cartoons was "Cinderella" back in 1950.
However, few fans today would know that Walt himself made another Cinderella story long before this--back in 1922.
Back then, Walt had just created the Laugh-O-Gram studio.
Unfortunately, his cartoons never really made much money and the studio shut down soon after--and Walt moved from Kansas City to California.
When you watch "Cinderella" (1922), you need to keep a VERY open mind.
Cartoons were all black & white, silent and quite short--and so compared to the average cartoon of the day, "Cinderella" is quite well done and cute.
It's also very watchable today--something that can't be said of most of these older toons.The story is very different from the traditional Perrault story.
Much time is spent on extraneous things meant to entertain as opposed to convey the story--such as showing the young Prince hunting and then writing invitations.
It's also quite different because Disney apparently forgot to include an evil step-mother--or even any step-mother.
Instead, she lives with her two homely sisters who won't let her go the the ball.
And, interestingly, although the Prince later goes looking for Cinderella with the shoe, he never even tries it on her--as, when he sees her he instantly knows who she is (this actually makes A LOT more sense told this way).All in all, a cute little film that fans of the studio might enjoy seeing--just to compare it to the later film and to see how far Disney progressed over the years..
No justice done to the great tale.
"Cinderella" is a 7-minute black-and-white film from 1922 and this is Walt Disney's silent film take on the famous story by French 17th century writer Charles Perrault.
Maybe this tale badly needs sound and color as this one here (without these two) is very difficult to watch.
It is extremely fast to fit in as much action as possible into this short runtime, but it feels also extremely bizarre, especially in the first half.
I am pretty sure that if the story would not be that well-known to anybody, this one here would be perceived even worse than it actually is because nobody would have a clue what was going on here.
I cannot say I enjoyed the watch at all and I was actually glad it was over so quickly.
And yes, this one may be almost 100 years old, but even back then animation was already better than we see in here.
Watch the Betty Boop take on the story instead (with color and sound).