...Politically Correct Cinderella We all know the story about Cinderella who starts out by being simple farm girl. And of course we also know the evil stepmother and stepsisters, and the fairy good mother. We also know about the ending where Cinderella gets the beautiful prince and they lived happily ever after. There is also another version of the story. Politically Correct Cinderella is the funnier and modern parody of the Traditional Cinderella story. Politically Correct Cinderella written by James Finn Garner in 1981. In this essay I’m going to analyze the Politically Correct Cinderella story, and then compare it to the traditional Cinderella story, and finally end it by relating to the concept of “political correctness”. The Politically Correct Cinderella has the main plot as the traditional Cinderella Story. It’s about Cinderella whose birthmother had died when Cinderella was just a child, and then her father married the evil stepmother, with the evil stepsisters. But this story is written in a different way. An example could be the language: when he writes woman he write it like this: “wommon or womyn” – in this case I believe it is to keep it more correctly. It is also to see it from a feminist point of view, which change the way we perceive the story. The fairy good person is a man here, which makes it a lot weirder for us, because the fairy good mother was one of the central characters in the story we became familiar with. Just as we are used to the fairy good person...
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...Ever After – Still the Same Old Cinderella Story In the movie, Ever After (1998), director and co-screenwriter Andy Tennant attempts to put a spin on the fairy tale we all knew growing up, Cinderella, by trying to empower the heroine and updating the film to appeal to a modern audience. Tennant explains, "I wanted to tell a very different version of Cinderella because I have two daughters, I did not want them growing up believing you have to marry a rich guy with a big house in order to live happily ever after" (Friedmeyer, p. 4). Did he accomplish? On the surface it would seem that Ever After is a modern feminist film, empowering women, but under the disguise, it still has the underlying traditional gender roles and stereotypes that Tennant tries to discourage and remove. In both Disney’s Cinderella and in Tennant’s Ever After, the male sex is ranked higher than females and has real power and social status. Kelley (2003) explains, “Males are seen as rescuers; females are more passive" (p. 651). The King and his son Prince Henry are the two highest ranking males in the film and they are shown to have ultimate power; the power over life and death. After Danielle hits Henry with apples, making him fall off the horse she thought he was stealing, she feared for her life because she assaulted royalty and the heir to the kingdom. In the same scene, in an attempt to quiet Danielle as to not cause a ruckus which may alert the royal guards, Prince Henry drops coins to the...
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...As a young child growing up and developing she was a Daddy’s girl, but unfortunate her parent separated when she was three years old. She never forgot her father even though he had move to another state and had started another family. When her father would come and visit her and her other siblings, She would cry her eyes out to go home with him and his new family, so one visit her mother had gotten weary of her crying her eye out so she said (you can go and live with your father), not knowing what kind of life she was sending her to or that she had never met my niece step mom. My Aunt was under the impression that Trina was going to be alright; upon arriving in the big city (CHICAGO) she was very excited and overwhelm; by her being from the south she had all kinds of ideas about the north. Trina was seven year old when she relocated to live with her father, during the time she had live with her mother she had live a shelter life and church was the basic of the upbringing. To say that she grew up fast and learn more than a seven old year was supposed to learn at that time is an understatement, Trina stepmom was having children back to back and Trina was the one who took care of them while the adults of the house went to work, missing school was a normal thing for her because she had to stay home and watch the children. Being eight of nine at the time a person would think that a child at her younger years would be outside playing jump rope or hop scotch with her friends, but...
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...shows, and books are always coming up with new strategies to help parents cope with children’s expectations for life and other material goods. “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros and “Cinderella” by Anne Sexton both show how kids grow up expecting perfect situations in life like fairytales; the main difference is that Cisneros’ story shows a young person waiting for the parents to provide her with happiness whereas in Sexton’s piece the young girl shows initiative to make her dreams a reality. In “The House on Mango Street,” by Sandra Cisneros, a child details her living situation with her parents. She talks about how they lived in apartments and moved around before finally moving to a house. The house the family finally moves to does not meet her expectations that were created by her parents. Although the house is “a real house that would be ours for always so we wouldn’t have to move each year” (Cisneros 392) it has lots of problems and things seem to break a lot. At one point her teacher passes by the house where she sees the girl playing and reacts in a way that makes her embarrassed of her home. The story ends with her expressing a desire to move to “A real house. One I could point to.” (Cisneros 392) but her parents just say this is how it is for now. “Cinderella” by Anne Sexton starts by giving examples of...
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...about the story of Cinderella, the first thing that pops into their head is the animated movie Disney had created. They think about the poor servant girl who was dressed in nothing but rags who cleaned the entire house and was mocked by her cruel step sisters and step mother. As the story continues, Cinderella then receives help from her fairy god mother and ends up at the ball where she meets her prince. The animated Disney version had become a big hit towards younger children because of the moral lessons they receive at the end of the movie. When kids think about Cinderella all they believe and see are the good things that can happen to them. They see the little mice and the happy ending where Cinderella marries the prince and they live happily ever after. This story was originally created by a man called Charles Perrault. Little do they know that there are multiple stories about Cinderella, some even containing violent and aggressive behaviors unsuitable for a child to hear. For example another version of Cinderella was made by Jacob and Wilhelm Grim which told the tale the same exact way as Charles Perrault, the only difference was that the step sister’s eyes were plucked out by birds at the end of the story for treating Cinderella badly in the beginning. Also, before Cinderella was revealed the step sisters were so desperate to be with the prince that they ended up chopping their own toes so they would be able to fit their foot inside the glass shoe. Although the story may be...
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...Encouraging children to believe in a fantasy that is unobtainable is what Disney has successfully done with the help of their fairytale movies. Altering the gruesomeness of blood soaked feet and empty eye sockets of Grimm, into a lighter hearted humorous version of Cinderella has changed the moral and what we are trying to teach our children. If Disney’s movies were made identical to Grimm’s versions would they still be as magical, would the movies still be geared for a younger audience? Has Disney taken away the true hardships and meaning of the classic fairytale by censoring the stories to fit their ideal mold? Children who have grown up with Disney have been given entertainment first and to believe in a fantasy world and where morals are no longer the focus. Children want to believe in characters and certain setting and events that occur and Tolkien makes a good claim at that by saying, “children are capable, of course, of literary belief, when the story-maker's art is good enough to produce it.” The story of Cinderella is a tale of a girl that goes through abuse and is made to be a servant in her own home and given a new name in mockery of her suffering. Grimm made Cinderella’s mother present and an important factor in her personality by saying "Dear child, be good and pious, and then the good God will always protect thee, and I will look down on thee from heaven and be near thee." That line in itself shows the way society thought at that time and the type of message...
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...Stories of a person overcoming adversity have been told since the beginning of time. These stories are not only appealing to the reader but they also teach the reader important life lessons. In the article “Fairy Tales and Modern Stories” by Bruno Bettelheim, Bettelheim explains the effect fairy tales have on a reader in their actual life. He lists different reactions readers have after they read a fairy tale. Another article, “An Introduction to Fairy Tales” by Maria Tatar, summarizes the basic principles of all fairy tales. In addition, Tatar introduces a message brought across from many fairy tales. Both of these articles directly relate to the movie Breaking Away, which is about a group of four friends who grow up in the poor suburbs of Bloomington, Indiana. In the movie, the group of friends struggle to find where they belong in society. One of the main characters, Dave Stoller, resorts to riding his bike as an outlet to his life problems. Dave Stoller’s life is a classic example of a modern day Cinderella story. The movie and the articles show how a person can rise from the most challenging and...
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...There are many fairy tales that we have heard as children, but as society is changing so are those fairy tales. Cinderella as so happens to be one of those fairy tales that has been changed over the years. Now in days there are many versions of Cinderella. Almost every culture has their own version of Cinderella. All the Cinderella stories have a similar plot, but all still share some differences. Differences such as who helped Cinderella, how she was helped, what cloth she wore, and the ending are different as well. Charles Perrault and the Grimm Brothers both wrote similar versions of the famous Cinderella story it is the differences in each story that make each of them a masterpiece. In each story of Cinderella...
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...listen to fairy tales. When we were young, we ask our parents to tell us stories. People are not sure why fairy tales are so interesting and why every children love them. While it is entertaining, it is also moral lesson to young children. They learn from the fairy tales about good and evil. They learn how to distinguish good and evil, wise and foolish, and moral and immortal. Children learn many lessons from the characters of fairy tales and it is very interesting to see that they love heroes in the fairy tales and do not like the bad guys in the stories. When I was thinking about the research topic, the one thing pulled my attention was why there are villains in almost all fairy tales. It is very interesting to think that all fairy tales have villains. In this paper I am going to talk about who the villains in the story are, why authors talk about villains in their stories and what readers learn from them. I will use mostly about fairy tale villains such as my favorite fairy tale’s villain, Cinderella’s stepmother. When we read the stories, we can tell who the villain in the story is. They are usually described as stepmothers, witches, monsters, sneak, thief, robber and traits. For example, in the Cinderella story, Lady Tremaine is a villain. In the article “Top 10 Most Evil Disney villains”(Antonia) the author described the Lady Tremaine as self centered and wicked person. She physiologically abuses Cinderella. When I see the characters I listed above, they all are wicked. It...
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...“The Princess Paradox” Summary In his article “The Princess Paradox,” James Poniewozik, a writer who focuses on feminine topics, discusses his information about Cinderella, which he expresses her as practical and dressy. (323). Generally, Poniewozik explains how Cinderella has influenced society through movies, young girls, and has created a desire for the fairy tale romance. Poniewozik begins explaining about parents and their daughter regarding Halloween (323). Even though a young girl without the traditional Barbie dolls, that is more “tomboy,” may even want to dress up as a princess to celebrate the fall holiday (323). Poniewozik claims young girls desire to be princesses due to the Cinderella themed movies today. Then later on in his...
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...1010 November 16, 2009 Women’s Position in Stories A folk tale is a short story that comes from the oral tradition. Folk tales often have to do with everyday life and frequently tell an inspiring tale of the lower class (peasants) triumphing over the higher class (nobles). In their original versions, most folk tales are not children's stories because of the violent nature of the story. Most folk tales come from true stories with tragic endings or violent and horrific events. For example, the “humpty dumpty” story was about a man who tried to commit suicide several times and succeed at the end. Also the “little red riding hood” story masked the ending of little red riding hood falling victim to a rapist. Unlike a folk tale which has cultural background, a fairy tale involves magic and fantasy. Examples of fairy tales are, “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”, “Beauty and the beast”, and Disney’s “Cinderella”. Usually fairy tales include fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, giants, gnomes, and talking animals. Since folktales usually mirror the values and culture of the society from which they originated, a fairy tale can be a folk tale. In essence a fairy tale can also be a subgenre or genre of a folktale. Up until 1450 folktales were passed on orally, so not all folktales were the same. Because Folktales have been told by so many different people there were many different versions. In 1450 the printing press was invented and the folk stories were written in books. People around the world...
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...The fantasy literature of Cinderella was introduced by many cultures and every culture seems to have its own version. Cinderella stories date back as early as 850 A. D. with the first written version of Chinese tale yeh-shen (Cinderella: A cross-cultural story by Patricia w. Kite) Even though Cinderella is a fantasy story it shows many meaning to the character that portrays Cinderella. In many cultures there are stories of Cinderella where every girl dreams of having a Prince charming. The story of Cinderella is a fairy tale that is told and read to children of very young ages (ALA American Library Association) Research shows that many versions have been found first in Europe and the story tale origins appear to date back to a Chinese story from the ninth century. (ALA American Library Association) The book Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah is a story portrayed by a very young girl who mother died giving birth to her. Cinderella lived with her family who thought she was bad luck to them, therefore she was discriminated against and treated very bad. In the Chinese culture many Chinese people prefer sons then daughters. In many cultures children look for the love of their parents. The book emphasizes that quote “how you should do your best in the face of hopelessness; to have faith in the end your spirit will prevail; to transcend your abuse and transform it into a source of courage, creativity and compassion.” (by Adeline Yeh Man) ...
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...you ever wondered how the same story can have so many different versions? For example, Cinderella. This might sound absurd, but the Disney Princess version of Cinderella isn’t the only version. There are hundreds of Cinderella stories. For example, “The Irish Cinderlad” which is the Irish version of Cinderella. Not every Cinderella is the same, but they all follow the basic plot line. “The Irish Cinderlad”, the Irish version, and “Cinderella”, the French version, have similarities, but they also differ from each other. A difference is represented in both story’s social necessities of the individual culture. These two stories have very different cultures. At the same time, there culture is what makes both stories different from each other....
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...what many of these parents fail to realize is they are teaching their children many of the the same things they are protesting using fairy tales. Nobody ever stops to think about the true meaning behind fairy tales, after all what harm can come from reading a bed time story, but the truth is that many of these stories have subliminal messages. Cinderella, for example, seems like it's just about a hard working girl who perseveres, though suffering, is payed off by her living happily ever after with a prince, right? One could not be more wrong, Cinderella contains messages which teach kids a sense of entitlement, vanity, and to not stand up for ones self. Children are constantly asking their parents for toys, junk food, and money. Parents should just be able tell their children yes or no when they make such requests, but sadly thats not the case. When a parent tells their kid no quite often that kid responds with yelling, screaming, crying, and slamming doors. Kids refuse to take no for an answer because they have learned form stories such as Cinderella that all they should have to do is ask for something, and it will be immediately given to them. Regardless of which version of Cinderella one reads, in every story she asks a magical entity for the clothing and...
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...Cinderella & Sleeping Beauty Once upon a time, most young girls grew up watching Disney’s classic princess films. Most of these films ended with the princesses marrying the prince and living happily ever after! For example “Cinderella” and “Sleeping Beauty” they are both princess that have evil villains trying to ruin them, but their stories are not the same. For example, they have different struggles, and how they overcome them. They both sing magically, but have different songs. They may be two of the most known princess in the world, but they also have many differences. However, in the end either the glass slipper fits, or true loves kiss wins. Cinderella and Aurora are two of the most beloved Disney princess of all time. How they got to be the most loved princesses is two completely different stories literally! Cinderella is a good-hearted girl, who is a servant in her own home to her cruel step-mother and two step-sisters because her father died at a young age. As Aurora is a kind hearted princess born into royalty. Although she is living with misfortune, as Cinderella, because and evil fairy named Maleficent curses her to die on sixteenth birthday. So Aurora is a more tragic story. However, Cinderella is a more hopeful and optimistic story that one day things will turn around. She dreams of a day that she will no longer be a servant in her own home. Her chance comes true when there is a ball at the castle, where the prince is looking for his future wife. With the...
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