A Modern Cinderella

In modern society fairy tales are still compelling. Found in oral, written and filmed versions, the stories may serve a pleasurable purpose for individuals or a cultural purpose for academics. Fairy tales have been studied to produce typologies and methodologies in folklore, to examine societal similarities and differences, and to identify changes in values over time. On the one hand these stories have been criticized for supporting the status quo; on the other, their motifs have provided acceptable plot elements for hundreds of Hollywood motion pictures.Cinderella is one of the best liked of these tales, measured both by the number of variations of the story and by the scholarly and popular interest in them. There are some 700 versions of Cinderella. It has been recorded in every area of the world, in written form in China as early as the ninth century CE (Bettleheim 236). Marian Roalfe Cox published her study of 345 variants of Cinderella in 1893 (Cox). Since that time folklorists have continued to study the story, as have literary historians, psychologists, and feminists. The most popular version in recent years in the United States has been that of Charles Perrault, which was compiled in France in 1697. In roughly the past 40 years in America, elements of his story have appeared in a full-length Walt Disney cartoon, two shorter cartoon videos and some pastiches, a stage musical filmed for television and made into a video, and dozens of Hollywood films. Of the latter, Pretty Woman is the most obvious Perrault derivative.The first and last of the above-mentioned film variations, the Disney Cinderella and Pretty Woman, have certainly been very successful. The Disney cartoon has been reissued repeatedly in theaters since its creation in 1949 and is for sale or rent as a home video. It was Oscar-nominated in 1950 for Best Sound, Song, and Musical Scoring and has been reviewed as having "an adult following as well as a children's following" (Greatest Movies 88). Pretty Woman appeared early in 1990 and by November of that year had earned $178.4 million at the box office (Shearer 24). It has continued to sell well as a video and to earn even more money from home rentals. Julia Roberts won an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress for her role of Vivian.Given the major changes in American society that took place during the 40 years between the making of these two films, differences in social values might be expected, especially concerning gender roles. Beginning with the women's movement in the 1960s there have been demands for information about women, sexuality and gender. The scholarly studies since that time have produced a better factual knowledge of women, the development of a number of feminist ideologies, and a new awareness of how gender stereotypes are created and also what their costs to society are. This data has resulted in a number of societal changes.Politically in the past 30 years the interest in women's issues has meant alterations in many laws in the United States that applied to women and the passage of an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution. This caused serious discussion even though it was never ratified. For the first time in American history large numbers of women openly asked for political, economic and social equality with men.The demand for equality is one conception of feminism. A more thorough definition has been provided by Nannerl O. Keohane, the former president of Wellesley College. She says that feminismembraces the belief that no one of either sex should be channeled into (or out of) a particular life course by gender. Each person should have the opportunity so far as possible, to pursue her own visions, hopes, and dreams--to prepare herself to realize her own ambitions and to define her own identity, untrammeled by stereotypical expectations about what men or women can or cannot, should or should not, do. (23)This statement implies that feminism requires self-acceptance as well as tolerance, that is, the acceptance of others' dreams and decisions for themselves. …