Cinderella

Cinderella was my favorite Disney fairytale growing up. There was something about Cinderella’s presence on the screen and the magic throughout the film that kept me wanting more. The storyline was filled with a jealous stepmother and stepsisters, a magical pumpkin turning into a beautiful carriage, singing mice and of course a prince charming whom gives Cinderella her “happily ever after.”  It was interesting to see how different the versions of Cinderella were in “The Classic Fairytales” and how the actual Disney film came to be from the stories presented.

The versions I enjoyed the most were Donkey Skin by Charles Perrault and Cinderella by the Brothers Grimm. Each version was incredibly different from what I know as the true Cinderella.

I would have never imagined the storyline of Donkey Skin being similar to the Cinderella I was told as a child. I always assumed that Cinderella was going to find her prince charming, and that prince charming would not start out being her own father. The princess is very distraught at the thought of her father becoming her future husband so she gives out tasks that her father must obey in order for the marriage to happen. Of course her father obeys and even gives her the skin of the donkey that provides the kingdoms fortune. She sets out wearing the donkey skin so her father won’t find her and finds herself in home with a handsome prince. The Kingdom, unaware of her beauty, treated her as if she was a monstrous slave. The Prince, aware of her true beauty, wanted to be married to the girl known as Donkey skin. It was interesting in this story that the key to finding Cinderella’s prince charming was through an emerald ring. When the ring fit, Cinderella got her happily ever after and her father came back wanting to be apart of her new life.  My favorite part of the story is the explanation that all women should think they are beautiful and believe that they will get the happily ever after.  It shows that true virtue and character get you to a happier place.

Cinderella by the Brothers Grimm was much more similar to the version that I grew up with, but there were some differences that I couldn’t help but notice. In this version, there is no fairy godmother but doves and turtledoves that give her beautiful clothes and shoes during the three-day festival. Another difference is Cinderella’s escapes from the Prince as she leaves each ball.  I was used to the magical pumpkin carriage bringing her home at midnight. My favorite part, in which this version kept the same, was the fitting of the slipper on Cinderella’s foot. It’s her time of triumph over her ugly stepfamily and the doomed fate of her stepsisters.

Each version had their own interesting twist on the story Cinderella.  It was interesting to see each version and the similarities and differences each version had with the version of Cinderella that I grew up knowing.  Some of the stories, I felt, didn’t seem as if they had anything to do with Cinderella and it was especially hard to believe that one the versions Cinderella was actually a little boy. I think Cinderella is instilled with certain values and norms that are placed in each version of the story.