Classic vs. Modern: Cinderella

Cinderella is a classic fairytale most little girls look up to and dream about. They watch the story of Cinderella enduring hardship and cruelty then wind up with her Prince in the end. These young girls fantasize and wish for their life to be exactly like Cinderella’s story. Children most often don’t grow up reading this original fairytale from a book, they only watch the Walt Disney version and know of nothing else.

Comparing Classic Cinderella to Disney’s Cinderella

So it is expected to think that they would grow up and never know that there was a different tale of Cinderella that had been told. Present day shows that this original fairytale is becoming more and more known though. So, it would be safe to say that the number of people who know of the original fairytale by their adulthood, is about to go up. The original fairytale of Cinderella, written by Charles Perrault, has many differences than Walt Disney’s version, but there are also many similarities.

Order custom essay Classic vs. Modern: Cinderella with free plagiarism report

450+ experts on 30 subjects Starting from 3 hours delivery

Get Essay Help

Fairy Tale and Movie Plot Differences

One of the first noticeable differences in the beginning was that in the book Cinderella’s father does not die, and is indeed still alive throughout the story. Although he is not mentioned after the beginning, it is known that he is not dead. The book simply states, “Once upon a time there was a gentlemen whose second wife was the proudest and haughtiest woman imaginable,” then the father was not to be mentioned again unless it was by Cinderella herself (78). The movie production by Walt Disney altered this detail of the story tremendously. The father went from being nonexistent to becoming ill and dying.

This creates more of a dramatic setting in the very beginning. I believe that Walt Disney intentionally wanted that, to glorify Cinderella’s strength and will power. In the video production it is not known how Cinderella actually got her name, it is just assumed that she was born with her name. The writing by Perrault says differently though. Charles Perrault writes in the original story that, “When she had finished her work she would sit huddled in the chimney corner among the cinders, and so it was that she came to be known as Cinderpuss,” (78).

He also states that the younger of her stepsisters called her Cinderella, and that is how her name came to be. In the movie it appears that the step sisters are made out to be as evil as can be, whereas in the book it almost seems like they have a tiny bit of empathy towards Cinderella at times. The “beginning” of the story also differs in length. In the movie there is a longer timep between the start of the story and the ball than in the book. The book is based almost solely on what happens at the ball. Whereas the movie has more of a story to it and involves more characters than the book does.

The book also bases Cinderella’s story off of two different royal balls rather than just a single royal ball. The story in the book touches briefly on all of the work and chores that Cinderella is forced to do. This is the last time that Cinderella’s father is mentioned in the story, she says, “She dared not complain to her father because he was entirely ruled by his wife and would have only scolded her,” (78). Thus showing that her father is indeed alive and well, just not a big part in the fairytale. In the movie is it noticed right away how much the stepmother and sisters rely on Cinderella.

Cinderella and Her Stepsisters

From early in the morning to late at night Walt Disney made sure to make it known how hard she was working nonstop throughout the day. Perrault seems to make it known, but not anything more. The relationship between Cinderella and her stepsisters also differs in the original from Disney’s version. The book has multiple civil conversations between the sisters and Cinderella, and even has a part where they come to Cinderella for advice and out of the kindness Cinderella has, offers to do their hair for them. Perrault writes on page 81 in reference to the ball, “They called in Cinderella, who had excellent taste, and asked her advice.

She gave them the best in the world and offered to do their hair for them, an offer they were very glad to accept. ” In the movie, Disney portrays the sister’s characters as so stuck up that they would never take advice from a servant like Cinderella, and the thought of Cinderella advising them would completely repulse them. Walt Disney never made a scene in the movie where the stepsisters and Cinderella were civil with each other, it was always an argument between them or rude commands made by them towards Cinderella. Perrault doesn’t even make the stepsisters in the book important enough to make their names well know.

He only referred to them as the younger and elder of the two sisters besides one time where he called one of the sisters by name, Javotte. Another major difference in the book from the movie would be the characters. The book is more simplistic with the characters whereas the movie is made a bit more complex. Cinderella is made one with nature and all of nature’s animals in the Walt Disney production. She is a friend with almost all of the animals she comes into contact with in the film. The mice seem to play a bigger role in the movie than the stepsisters do. Cinderella has a give and take relationship with her animal friends.

She clothes, feeds, and nurtures them, while they also help her with whatever they can, like making her dress for example. Although she isn’t fond of Lucifer, she still sticks up for him in the movie when she scolds Bruno for dreaming about chasing cats. In the book, the only animals mentioned are the ones Cinderella’s fairy godmother sends her for. But they have no name and barely any part in the story; they are only used for Cinderella to get to the ball. When it comes to the royal ball part of the story, there are so many differences, yet it is also very similar.

The movie is based on a single ball that Cinderella gets to go to with the help of her fairy godmother and that is where she loses her glass slipper. It is all in one night that Cinderella’s fairy godmother turns her mice friends into horses, her horse into the coachmen, and Bruno into the footman to take her to the ball in her pumpkin carriage. The storyline in the book is a little different than that. Perrault writes it to where Cinderella’s fairy godmother simply summons her to go get random animals in traps, cages, or behind the water butt to make into her horses, coachmen, and footman.

And as for her pumpkin carriage, there was actually work that had to be done before turning it straight into the magnificent carriage. Perrault writes on page 83, “Her godmother scooped out the inside and when only the rind was left she touched it with her wand. ” Whereas in the movie all she did was wave her wand and the pumpkin danced to life. Cinderella’s elegant gown in the book was made only once and by her fairy godmother. Compared to in the movie where Cinderella’s animal friends made her first dress for her and her second dress came from her fairy godmother.

The Royal Balls

The last major difference in the royal balls would be that in the movie there is only one and in the book there are two that Cinderella asks her fairy godmother to go to, and the second one is where she loses her glass slipper rather than in the movie where she loses it at the first and only ball she attends. The character of the Prince also differs in the movie from in the original written fairytale. In the film the Prince was not informed of this mysterious and beautiful maiden who was actually Cinderella. He saw her on his own inside the palace and then decided to go up to her.

In the written version though, the Prince was instantly informed of her arrival and he himself was the one to escort her from her carriage. Perrault writes, “The king’s son was told that a great princess had arrived whom nobody knew, and he hurried to welcome her,” (87). After this point Cinderella’s character is somewhat different. For example in the book Cinderella goes up to her stepsisters and gives them fruit that the Prince gave her and shows them nothing but kindness, whereas in the movie Cinderella completely avoids them because she is afraid that they will recognize her.

When the Prince’s father talks about Cinderella, she is said to be the most attractive girl he has seen in a long time. The king is saying this to the queen in this part in the written story, but in the movie there is no queen that is even mentioned or spoken to. The ending of this fairytale only differs slightly in the two versions. They both end with similarities that include her leaving at the strike of midnight, her leaving her glass slipper, and the Prince yearning to know who she was and being determined to find out.

One small difference that was noticed was in the book when Cinderella was leaving the ball the second night. The written version says, “The guards at the palace gate were asked if they had seen a princess leaving, but they said the only person who had gone out was a little ragged girl who looked more like a peasant than a princess,” (93). In the movie Cinderella changed back as soon as she was arriving home, unlike the book where she changed back before she even made it out of the palace. The stepsister’s part in the fairytale also differs in the end.

In the movie they are still as rude and snobby as can be when they find out it was Cinderella who was the beauty at the ball. And in the book Perrault makes them out to throw away their pride and beg for forgiveness from Cinderella. He again displays Cinderella’s kind heart when he writes, “They threw themselves at her feet and begged her to forgive them for all their unkindness. Cinderella raised them up and kissed them, telling them she forgave them with all her heart and hoped they would always love her,” (97).

Even after they could not fit the tiny slipper onto their own feet, they were not bitter but only remorseful for what they had done. In the movie the stepmother thought she had won when she managed to break the glass slipper, but was also bitter and angry when she saw that Cinderella had the other one. Their characters were cut right then and there in movie. Compared to in the book, Cinderella showed her compassionate side and had her two stepsisters moved into the palace right away. The moral of the story of Cinderella remains the same through the book and the movie.

That is the one part that does not differ one bit. Disney decided to keep the moral of working hard to get where you want to be, and to never give up on your dreams. The two men just went about getting the moral across to the readers/viewers in different ways. I can see however that the overall tone of the story changed between the two men. Disney made is much more clear how much of a victim Cinderella really was in his movie by focusing more on her abusive mother and sisters, whereas Perrault made it known she had lots of chores but focused more on the happy parts of the story.

Disney would chose to make his movie this was so that the “fairytale ending” would be much more glamorous in the end. Disney was focused on what ways he can alter this story to make it sell, and Perrault was a man of simplicity and wrote the story only to create a feeling of happiness among his readers.

Works Cited

• Perrault, Charles. Perrault's Classic French Fairy Tales. "Cinderella or The Little Glass Slipper". Meredith Press, 1967. 78-97. Disney Corp. Cinderella, 1965, Film.

Book Review on Chinese Cinderella: the Secret Story of an Unwanted Daughter

In wealthy families, babies are born with a silver spoon in their mouths. Not quite for Adeline. In fact, the recount of Adeline Yen Mah’s childhood is a relatively sad one even though her father was a millionaire. She was seen as bad luck to the family as her mother died after giving birth to her. She is always frowned upon by her older and younger siblings, neglected by her father and scolded by her stepmother. She has to learn to depend on herself as there was often no one to help her.

The story reveals the two sides of her family: on the surface it is friendly and caring, while inside one can realize how the children are really treated by their stepmother Niang. As the youngest of five children from her father’s first marriage, Adeline has to suffer many blows because every one looks down on her especially when she receives her father’s praise. Adeline’s main reason for her love of school was to be away from her stepmother so that she could become a different person that was admired by her peers as she topped her class regularly.

Her whole personality changed when she was away from her Niang and with someone that knew her from the heart; her friend Wu Chung-Mei, her Ye Ye and Aunt Baba. At age eight, Adeline was given a duckling, the only one left after all her siblings had picked their choice. Although it was not the best duckling, she still loved it dearly and treasured every opportunity that she could get with it. She named it Precious Little Duckling (PLT). I think this illustrates her love for her pet and that she was pleased that her siblings had left her one. It also gives a comparison of how each sibling is treated by their parents.

Since she was the youngest and the least likely to make a fuss, her big brother took her duckling when her father ordered him to test the obedience training of his dog Jackie. Adeline immediately sensed her duckling’s fate; she knew that PLT was going to die. When Jackie’s demonstration of obedience was over, PLT was bleeding and passed away next morning. Adeline and her third brother buried PLT under a magnolia tree. Adeline was saddened by the above incidence and recalled every time when she sensed the presence of a magnolia, she would remember PLT. I feel this demonstrates the love she felt for PLT and how heartbreaking the experience as. Throughout this passage of the story, I envision there are many emotions often shown as colours that were being pressed into Adeline’s mind: white, yellow, black and brown. I have chosen these colours because white represents the magnolias, yellow symbolizes the feathers of PLT, black for the grim horror that happened, and brown for the eyes of PLT and the earth on top of PLT’s grave. When Adeline became a sixth former at Sheng Xin (Sacred Heart) Primary School, a democratic election was held in their class to see who would be their class president and head girl of the whole school.

She teamed up with her friend Wu Chun-Mei who won the election for her. On her triumphant day, many of her supporters went to her house to give her presents. Her father and Niang were very upset and annoyed at the fact that Adeline’s friends were at their house, disturbing them. When she was called to her father’s room for the cause for all her friends to be there, Adeline did not know. Niang did not believe her and slapped her making her nose bleed. In front of all her friends (with blood still dripping down her face) she told them to go away because her father was sleeping.

Then she was told to open all her presents in front of her parents and throw them all in the rubbish bin. I experience the sadness she has felt when she was 2 humiliated by her stepmother. Adeline must have had a determination not to show her weakness by crying. After this incident, Niang ordered her to pack all her things as Adeline, Niang and her father were going to Tianjin on an airplane. As she was on the plane, they had to fill out landing cards. Adeline’s father forgot Adeline’s Chinese name and her date of birth.

Since her father had forgotten her Chinese name, Adeline felt deeply hurt as her father confused her name with her little sister’s. This meant that her father had forgotten all about her and had only remembered her little sister, even though she was his real daughter. I feel dreadful at the thought that her father could forget her name. Her date of birth became her father’s; November 30 because her date of birth was unknown. In this story of Adeline Yen Mah’s childhood life, I felt many ups and downs and how she might have felt. It was surprising to see a girl like Adeline being humiliated in front of her friends who wanted to support her.

If I were in her shoes, I would feel scared and frightened because the supporters might not support me anymore because they had known of the family ugliness. I think that this family ugliness was hidden from other people seeing it by Niang and Adeline’s father. To prove this point, when Niang met other people, she wanted them to know that the family only had her two children. She kept the five children from her husband’s first marriage in the dark, thus swerving Adeline’s father into forgetting his former wife’s younger children including Adeline.

Her father and Niang went with Adeline to Tianjin and left her as a border in St Joseph’s School. At first, there were many people attending the school but soon Adeline was the only student left in the whole school. All of them fled from the communist army. I feel how she must have felt in these circumstances as no one was bothered to look after her while she was the only student. She would feel bewildered and frightened at the same time as she was being punished from negligence by her father and stepmother.

During this story I feel Adeline’s sadness, despair and happy moments. I feel very grateful that I am in a different family and that I did not have to go through what Adeline had to undergo. The story of her childhood is a very sad one, but I hope that other children do not have to suffer the same case as she did. Her life had many hopeful and downhearted moments she had and only determination helped her live through this dark period. Encouragement from her Aunt Baba and her Ye Ye was the only source to give her the strength to be a good scholar and prove her Niang wrong.

In this story, Adeline has a message to neglected and unloved children of the world - within everyone there is something precious and unique. Her childhood experience brings out the importance of perseverance in life. One must persist to do one’s best when one is hopeless, to have the faith when one’s spirit is down, and to change fears into courage and strength. Everyone of us can be Cinderella and successful as Adeline if we hold her belief that “one single positive dream is more important than a thousand negative realities. ”

Cinderella Story

Abdulaziz Alshehri 31 October 2012 Cinderella Story Cinderella is a wonderful Disney movie. The social injustice in Cinderella is how they treat her. The ugly stepsisters and the evil stepmother treat Cinderella like she is trash. They have no respect for her. In one scene they destroy a dress that she is wearing. Cinderella was enjoying a leisurely life with her parents. Likely, Cinderella is blessed with love and compassionate from her mother, also from her father. It was her parents who made the maximum effort for happiness. She was a beautiful little girl and highly intelligent.

But the happiness turned into sadness when her mother fell ill, and the physicians were unable to help her mother. Then, she lived with her ?? father, who was much loved and was hoping to help her. I this paper, I will be discussing the life of Cinderella and how it changed after her parents died. Cinderella’s Father was believed that she would be in better shape if he married a woman who had two daughters. In the beginning, the stepmother treated Cinderella gently. After father died, stepmother impacted on Cinderella a harsh reality where she was treated like a maid.

Stepmother was hateful and made Cinderella do chores without the help of her stepsisters. Cinderella was poor no and only had a few birds and mice that became her friends and also helped with household chores. The stepsisters prevailed a Cinderella and treated her poorly. Cinderella lived in the darkness of her stepmother and stepsisters. She was doing housework alone without any help (Cinderella story). In that time, Cinderella lived her life with her stepmother is injustice and oppression around them.

Cinderella is dream was to live a long happy life. She dreamed to marry a rich man to care about her. One day, the King issued a decree making every girl a prospect for his son, the prince. The Prince would choose one lucky girl during the ceremony dance. Cinderella asked her stepmother and stepsisters to go with them to the ball. However, the stepmother requested that Cinderella clean the house. While cleaning Cinderella found beautiful clothes for the party. Unfortunately, hateful stepmother cut her dress and went to the concert without Cinderella.

Shortly there after, a good witch appeared, provides Cinderella with a stylish new vehicle. However, she warned that the would magic will disappear in the middle of the night. Cinderella thanked her and left for the ball. The Prince was astonished and asked her to dance. Cinderella forgot about her miserable life. At midnight, Cinderella remembered the warning and left in a hurry. Without a farewell, she did not tell him her name. She just left one of her slippers at the party. In the early morning, the prince asked his deputy and driver to look of the owner of the shoe.

When they arrived at the house, Cinderella’s stepmother tried not to let the Prince meet her. However, Cinderella’s loyal friends were there and told the prince about Cinderella. Luckily, Cinderella and the Prince met and lived happily ever after (Cinderella story). 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 Grimm’s have their own separate versions of 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”. Given that the time periods are very different (by 150 years), the formula for their fairy tales seems to remain constant. Character development, which is very important in fairy tales is both well done and accurately portrays the living situation for a character in the time period of when it was written.

Perrault's version seems to put Cinderella's family in a higher, well-off situation of the Grimm's because she is still abided to obey the rules that her dying mother had set for her. Something that you would see a women do in the late 1700's. Her higher class and the rules of her generation has set her to not have revenge on her stepsisters and helps her marry the prince in the end; as result, this makes a happy story for everyone. This also gives off the rules of the time to the young girls who would be listening or reading this story back then.

They knew their place in society and tales like Alzair Salim. The Arabic story, titled Rihab, has key elements in the story line that make it different from Perrault's Cinderella. The theme becomes different as the end of the tale results in revenge on the stepsisters from Rihab. This variation in the story line represents the setting in which the Grimm's either lived in themselves, or the living situation of the people who related this tale to the Grimm's” (comparing Versions of Cinderella). Finally, the Cinderella story is trying to explain the hope for the future and waiting a better life.

Cinderella believed marring Prince that lived in a beautiful palace was a sign that she had reached her goal. But it's nice to have a goal and actually get there. The story of Cinderella has transferred to many different era’s. The Greek historian Strabo said a similar story about Egyptian maid of Greek origin called Rohdobs, which has lagged behind Ahmose II ceremony because it does the work for other maids. Eagle came and stole her shoes and put it in front of the king. Eagle asked the king of all the women of his parish experience shoe was the only Rohdobs to boot Aumha.

He fell King Pegramha married her. And can refer to the assets of the story until the sixth century BC from the days of Aesop (620-560 BC). Famed author of fairy tales, and a similar story appeared in 860 AD in China called yen weighed. As many as similar stories talk about injustices and hating in different languages around the world. Cinderella has different types of versions stories, which have the same benefits for children (Cinderella Wikipedia). Work Cite D. L. Ashliman. Cinderella story. 28 October 2012. Cinderella story. 28 October 2012. Comparing versions Cinderella story. 28 October 2012.

Don't let plagiarism ruin your grade

Run a free check or have your essay done for you

Check my essay Hire Writer