Synopsis
History and Tradition
Modified elements
Strengths and Weaknesses
- Once upon a time…
- A widowed gentleman feels his beautiful daughter, Cinderella, needs a mothers care. He marries a lady from a good family with 2 daughters of her own who are Cinderella’s age, Anastasia and Drizella.
- Soon after, Father dies an ‘untimely death’.
- Stepmother’s true personality is revealed: horrible to Cinderella, she becomes the house servant.
- The brightness in Cinderella’s daily life is the animals around her. She talks with the birds constantly that assist her with her numerous tasks. Cinderella is also friendly with a group of mice; particularly Jack and the clumsy Gus.
- The King is desperate for his son to get married as he wants to see his grandchildren grow up – so he announces a homecoming ball for the Prince in the hope that he will meet his future bride – Every eligible maiden is to attend.
- Stepmother announces the ball to her daughters. Cinderella hears this and is excited because she can go too. Step sisters mock her. Stepmother says that she may go if she gets all her jobs done and finds something suitable to wear.
- Cinderella plans to modify a dress of her mothers into a beautiful ball gown but has no time because of all the extra tasks she must do for her stepmother and sisters in preparation for the ball.
- The friendly mice transform Cinderella’s mothers dress into a beautiful ball gown by using materials they collect from around the house.
- Cinderella discovers the dress as her step sisters and mother are leaving. She catches up with them but is severely scolded for stealing their things to make a dress. They destroy the dress.
- A deeply upset Cinderella cries outside under a tree. A fairy godmother appears and offers to make her happy.
- The fairy godmother transforms the following using her magic wand and the words “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo”.
- A pumpkin to a royal carriage. - 4 of the mice to grey horses
- A grey horse to a driver - A dog to a coachman.
- Cinderella’s ruined dress into a beautiful ball gown. - Cinderella is warned that everything that has been transformed will return to its original form at midnight.
- Prince is besotted by Cinderella immediately. They dance, sing and walk together all night.
- Cinderella loses track of time – bells of midnight chime – she fleas the palace but loses a glass slipper in her haste. Prince does not know her name.
- Prince is determined to marry the beautiful girl and the King announces to his kingdom that the slipper is to be tried on by every maid in the kingdom. The lady whom it fits will be his sons royal bride.
- Cinderella is cheerful at this announcement and so sings whilst working around the house. Stepmother figures out why she is so happy and in a jealous rage locks Cinderella in her room.
- While the step sisters try on the glass slipper, mice Jack and Gus pry the key from the step mothers pocket and free Cinderella with the help of all her animal friends.
- The slipper does not fit the step sisters. Cinderella is freed just in time. Stepmother trips the Grand Duke so that the glass slipper smashes before Cinderella can try it on.
- Cinderella produces the other glass slipper from her pocket and slips this on her foot – showing that she is to be the royal bride.
- Cinderella and the Prince marry immediately in the royal palace.
- They lived happily ever after.
- This animated version was produced by American Walt Disney (1901-1966).
- Charles Perrault is credited for the writing of this story along with 6 other authors who adapted and animated the story.
- It is thought that Cinderella was chosen for production because it resembled the ‘Snow White’ story, of which the film had been a huge success (Disney n.d.). Disney was struggling financially at the time Cinderella was made. All scenes featuring human characters were shot in live action before the animation process began to see if the scenes worked. They were deemed a success and production began.
- Cinderella was one of the highest grossing films of the year upon its release at $4 million +.
- This Disney version has been re-released 8 times with the most recent being a digitally restored and remastered version released in 2005.
- Begins with ‘once upon a time’ and ends with ‘they lived happily ever after’ as is typical of Disney fairy tales.
- Several differences within the story. Cinderella’s fathers’ death is announced in the opening scenes. He is alive throughout the Perrault version but is controlled by his new wife.
- Stepsisters are named: Drizella and Anastasia.
- Inclusion of many animal characters (mice Gus and Jack, stepmothers cat Lucifer, birds and the dog Bruno) who play large roles in the story. Parallel story to that of Cinderella is the constant chase of the mice by Lucifer which adds a comedic element to the film.
-They create a ball gown for Cinderella so that she can go to the ball.
-They steal the key from the stepmother in order to free Cinderella from her room so that she is able to try on the glass slipper. - Stepmother is portrayed as extremely unattractive with a pointy chin and nose, which is not stated in Perrault’s version. All scenes that feature the stepmother are dark and have lots of shadows – symbolism of evil.
- The king holds the ball for one night only, not two as in Perrault’s version.
- There are 6 songs that are incorporated into the film, sung by characters. Each song is representative of the characters emotions at that time.
- Cinderella is allowed to go the ball if she completes the list of never ending jobs her step mother requests her to as opposed to not allowed to go at all in Perrault’s version.
- Some variation from Perrault’s version in the transformations that the fairy godmother makes.
- 4 instead of 6 mice to horses.
- A grey horse instead of a rat into a coachman.
-Added element of a dog transformed into a driver. - Disney gives the ending greater complexity, the stepmother locks Cinderella in her room so she is unable to try on the slipper. This creates great suspense for the viewer and presents the possibility that she may not live happily ever after.
- Cinderella doesn’t actually try on the glass slipper as it is destroyed; instead she proves her identity by presenting the other glass slipper.
- The film entertains viewers for 76 minutes as it contains much more detail than that of the Perrault version which varies between three and ten pages in length.
- The characters in Disney’s film cater for a wide audience; adults and children alike. Disney makes his characters accessible to viewers as we are able to ‘understand something of [their] personality, motivation [or] situation’ (Wood 1996: 30). A good example of this is Disney’s portrayal of Gus’s (the mouse) clumsy habits – which the audience can relate to as the audience is able to picture a real person who is similar to Gus.
- There is a lot of criticism of Disney’s adaptation of Perrault’s Cinderella. Zipes believes that Disney ‘robs the literary tale of its voice and changes its form and meaning’ (1999: 344). This can be seen through the exaggeration of the stepsisters’ and stepmother’s unattractive physical features and poor child like behaviour, in comparison to the extent that these characters are perceived as having these traits in the Perrault version.
- The inclusion of additional minor characters such as Gus, Jaq, Lucifer, Bruno and the birds adds a comedic element to the film. The story of the adventurous mice and the hungry cat runs parallel to that of Cinderella’s quest to go to the ball. These additional characters ensure the story is continually ‘busy’ so that there is always something happening to hold the audience’s attention.
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This page was created by Liz Tingay
An assignment for:
History of Children's Literature 1 (EDU12HCL)
La Trobe University Bendigo
Semester 2, 2006