Compare/Contrast Cinderella Essay
“The Walt Disney Company is a powerful economic and cultural phenomenon known throughout the United States and the world as a provider of family entertainment (Maltin, 1, 308). Its media and entertainment holdings establish it as a central communicator in contemporary life. As such, it provides many of the first narratives children use to learn about the world� (Ward, 1). Disney has always been family oriented making it one of the main attractions of reading something Disney. They always have an innocent feeling to their stories, which makes it more appealing for children. But in Vietnamese fairytales a family oriented story may be somewhat gory or violent. “The stories from Vietnam tell us about their culture, their beliefs, and their determination throughout time� (Ly, 1). The 1950 version of “Cinderella�, written by Walter Disney and adapted by Campbell Grant, has some differences and similarities to the Vietnamese “Tam and Cam�, by Vo Van Thang and Jim Larsen. They differ in their violent content in their stories but similarly have a great deal of magic included and also both have prevalent characters to help them find their way.
Being a Disney tale “Cinderella� was not a very violent story. “Our analysis of morality in entertainment is limited and stylized at present. Violence in the media is a major concern, and we research it relentlessly. But our treatments are typically moralistic and academically superficial� (Christians, foreward). In Disney it is “moral� to not use violence and it is also what is culturally acceptable. In Vietnam it is culturally significant to present the violence how it is and it is told to children in this same way. “The stories came about as a means of escaping their everyday lives and a way to live out their dream worlds� (Ly, 1). Tam was the good sister and Cam was the evil stepsister who took orders from her evil stepmother. Tam finally had one last chance to get back at them both for the misery they put her through, and she took her chance. “When Cam was in the hole Tam ordered the servants to pour in the boiling water, and so her stepsister met her death. Tam had the body made into mam, a rich sauce, and sent it to her stepmother, saying that it was a present from her daughter. Each day the woman ate some of the mam with her meals, always c...
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...ish bones in four jars later in the story the four jars become all the ingredients Tam needed to attend the King’s festival. The Buddha not only shows her the path to her destiny but also shows her how ordinary, not so beautiful things can become, “reincarnate� into extraordinary things.
“Cinderella� and “Tam and Cam� are so much alike especially using the workings of magic throughout these tales and also differ in the way that these stories use violence to represent their cultures. Their hope comes from these characters that help them on their paths for Cinderella it was her fairy godmother who created magic and for Tam it was a Buddha who hinted her to create magic reincarnation.
Works Cited
Disney, Walter E. Cinderella. Walt Disney's Cinderella.
Comp. Campbell Grant. N.p.: n.p., 1950. 516-517
Ly, Hugh H. Vietnamese Children's Stories. 17 July 2003.
Pacific University. 1 Apr. 2005
Van Thang, Vo. Jim Larson. Tam and Cam. Tam and Cam (Vietnam). N.p.: n.p., 1993.
228-233
Ward, Annalee R. Clifford G. Christians. Mouse Morality: The Rhetoric of Disney Animated
Film. Austin, TX: University Of Texas P, 2002
For this project, two films were viewed. The first one is Annie, a film made in the early 80s about a girl in an orphanage. She is then brought to live in a mansion for a week with one of the richest men in this world. He doesn’t like her at first, but he learns to love the little girl, and adopt her. The second film, Cinderella man, is about a boxer who loses his job after he breaks his hand during a match. He is then left to fend for his family. He begins to slowly rise up as a boxer and fight again, much to his wife’s distaste. For this project, I will discuss the similarities and differences between the films, and the time period, setting, and characters. Annie is the first film.
The Great Depression of the 1930’s caused widespread poverty, but the popular culture of the time did not reflect this. People wanted to escape from this harsh time so movies, dancing and sports became very popular. Radios broadcasted boxing matches and boxers became stars. The heavyweight champion James J. Braddock aka “Cinderella Man,” gained popularity. James Braddock gained fame by winning many fights and proving everyone wrong when they said he was too old and couldn’t win.
Walt Disney’s Cinderella is adapted from the original fairy tale written in 1697 by Charles Perrault. There are some key differences between Walt Disney’s Cinderella and Charles Perrault’s Cinderella. In Charles Perrault’s tale, Cinderella’s father is not dead, but the father is controlled by the stepmother. Cinderella’s younger stepsister is much more polite than the older stepsister, who calls Cinderella Cinderwench. The king in Perrault’s tale hosts a two day Ball, which Cinderella attends with the help of the fairy godmother. During Cinderella’s preparation for the first night of the Ball, Cinderella helps the fairy godmother find a coachman when the fairy godmother could not find one. Cinderella’s glass slipper comes off on the second night of the ball. Similar to Walt Disney’s Cinderella, the prince in Perrault’s story announces to marry a woman whose foot will fit in the glass slipper. Unlike the Walt Disney’s tale, Cinderella is not locked up in the attic and the stepmother does not physically attempt to stop Cinderella from trying the slipper. Instead, the step sisters ridicule Cinderella when Cinderella suggests trying on the glass slipper. Cinderella wears the slipper and takes out the other slipper from a pocket which Cinderella puts on the other foot. Suddenly, the fairy godmother appears and transforms Cinderella’s ragged outfit to a magnificent gown. After the transformation, the step sisters recognize Cinderella as the unknown beautiful princess who attended the Ball and beg for forgiveness. Cinderella forgives the step sisters and marries the step sisters to the great lords of the castle. The prince marries Cinderella, however, Perrault does not mention about the prince and Cinderella living happily ever after.
As the world has transformed and progressed throughout history, so have its stories and legends, namely the infamous tale of Cinderella. With countless versions and adaptations, numerous authors from around the world have written this beauty’s tale with their own twists and additions to it. And while many may have a unique or interesting way of telling her story, Anne Sexton and The Brother’s Grimm’s Cinderellas show the effects cultures from different time periods can have on a timeless tale, effects such as changing the story’s moral. While Sexton chooses to keep some elements of her version, such as the story, the same as the Brothers Grimm version, she changes the format and context, and adds her own commentary to transform the story’s
Fairytales, the short stories that most children heard as they went to bed, are actually folktales from previous decades. The fairytales today are primarily adaptations of older versions recreated by Disney— the pioneers of this generation. With that said, the modern versions consistently display good triumphing over evil, a prince charming that constantly came to the rescue, and a happily ever after ending. However, the original folktale version didn’t always come with fortunate events, but often were more violent and gruesome. With the fairytale Cinderella, Disney maintains a similar theme as its Grimm version; however, the conflicts, events, and characters that support this idea are rather different.
Over centuries of children have been enjoying the classic fairy tales of the Grimm Brothers and Charles Perrault. The fanciful plots and the vivid details allow children to be entranced by characters and adventures that can only be found in these stories. One of the most beloved fairy tales, which both the Perrault and the Grimms have their own separate versions of, is Cinderella. Cinderella is able to show how both versions are able to feed off the same plots while personifying the century and social economic situation in which they have lived.
Everyone knows and loves the enchanting childhood fairytales of magic, princes, and princesses, but very seldom are privy to the detrimental impacts of “happily ever after” on the developing youth. Fairy tales are widely studied and criticized by parents and scholars alike for their underlying tone and message to children. Peggy Orenstein, feminist author, mother, and fairy tale critic, has made it her personal mission to bring these hidden messages to the surface. In the article, “What’s Wrong with Cinderella?” Orenstein dissects the seemingly innocent tale of love and magic, and the princess many know and love, and points out its flaws and dangers. Fairy tales, Cinderella in particular, are not suitable for children because upon deeper evaluation,
When most people think of the movie, "Cinderella';, they think of the animated Disney version with the little mice and the happy ending where Cinderella marries the prince and they live happily ever after. While the movie "Ever After'; is based on "Cinderella';, it is not animated, but still has many of the same characteristics as the Disney version. Of course it is not exactly the same, and since it is not animated there are many differences.
Gilbert, Marc Jason. "Vietnam War." World Book Student. World Book, 2010. Web. 21 March 2010.
In both stories, Cinderella and Zozella are basically rescued by man from their hard, sad life, who then marries them and makes them his queen. This is sending a strong message to not only females but males also that women cannot save themselves and that they need to be “rescued” by a rich man who will marry them and provide them with a luxurious life. However, in Perrault’s “Cinderella” there is a theme which is not present in Basile’s “The Cat Cinderella”, this theme is the idea that beauty equals kindness of character. Cinderella is shown to be good of heart and also incredibly beautiful, unlike her less beautiful, mean spirited sisters, Perrault describes her as “a hundred times handsomer than her sisters, though they were always dressed very richly” (Perrault, 16). This sends the message that if you’re kind you are beautiful and if you are not beautiful then you do not have a good character. This theme is even seen in today’s society where women are judged and judge others based on appearance. This theme is not present in “The Cat Cinderella”, Zozella is beautiful as well but her beauty doesn’t make a good hearted person and this is evident when she commits murder to get what she wants. Creating the stereotypical view of women being cunning and sly in order to get what they want, and sending a message to young girls that women are heartless selfish
When the word “fairytale” is mentioned, nearly everyone thinks of light-hearted stories with friendly characters and happy endings. However, these are not the ideas that classic fairytales originally sparked. In fact, numerous modern Disney movies were based off stories that were not so sugar coated. In the 19th century, the Brothers Grimm were responsible for multiple of these popular children’s tales. The Disney remakes of classic fairytales such as Cinderella, Tangled, and Snow White exclude the dark, twisted themes that are significant in the Brothers Grimm fairytales, because society tendencies continue to evolve toward sheltering and overprotecting young children.
Roses are red, violets are blue, Snow White has changed, everything’s new. This is a different beginning than the original story of Little Snow White by the Grimm Brothers and retold by the director Rupert Sanders, in the movie Snow White and the Huntsman. The original story portrays Snow White as a beautiful, but naive, young woman, leading up to her eating a poisoned apple from the evil queen. The evil queen has been jealous of Snow White after she has grown up and become more beautiful. Although in both the story and the movie, Snow White eats a poisoned apple, Snow White in Snow White and the Huntsman is portrayed as more brave and courageous, even after she wakes up from the poisoned apple. In the end, both the story and the movie show that Snow White’s triumphs out rules all, no matter what is thrown at her, but the difference is in how. While there are many common motifs across the story and the movie; Gender roles have changed over time, as shown in the
There are many things one has learned from the experience, although the twelve versions of Cinderella are similar to each other but yet in some way they are different, which make it unique. Similar plot and similar circumstances however, different author with different minds. They are portraying with similar knowledge but the way the story may be told is different such as the characters names, locations, and the time it was created. No matter what it is I’ve learn that Cinderella will be Cinderella regardless of the different author, different time or different title. These creations of different versions is precisely similar to when one tells another person a story and is passed on to another person than the story will be shorten with less details and added with a few other exaggerations, in which will cause the stories to be different from each other.
A lot of the fairy tale stories that we have seen as young adults and even as adults are original folk tale stories that have been modified and rewritten to accommodate our new cultures. Cinderella happens to be one of these stories that have been changed over the years. There are many different versions of Cinderella, an African Cinderella, a Hungarian Cinderella and even a Chinese version. All of the Cinderella’s are similar in plot, but the author dictates the story’s theme based on the people whom he is writing for which completely changes the story’s tone, mood and other elements. While Perrault's version stresses the values and materialistic worries of his middle-class audience, Grimm’s' focus is on the harsh realities of life associated with the peasant culture. Perrault’s and Grimm’s Cinderella’s have the same plot, but their writing style is different which completely modifies the tale.
In today 's society, it is normal for young children to believe in fairytales. These fairytales are normally seen throughout books and movies but also through parents reading them as bedtime stories. These tales in our society have unrecognized hidden guidelines for ethics and behaviors that we provide for children. One such children 's story is Disney’s Cinderella, this film seems to be a simple tale of a young woman whose wishes work out as to be expected. This tale reflects the expectations of women 's actions and beliefs of a proper women.