English 310
October 10, 2013
Cinderella: Perrault’s Powerful Purpose vs. Disney’s Dramatized Dream
Growing up I can remember how I felt after watching the Cinderella story. Inspired by the rags-to-riches fairy tale, I can remember hoping that maybe someday I could be like Cinderella. I never imagined the story I knew all-too-well would have been dramatically altered from its original version. Though the lesson remains the same, comparisons reveal numerous differences between Walt Disney’s Cinderella to the earlier Charles Perrault’s “Cinderella: Or the Glass Slipper”. Variations are noticed in characters, events, and outcomes of this world-famous …show more content…
In Perrault’s version, Cinderella was forbidden to attend the royal ball, yet in Disney’s allowed her, but only after completing tasks that her evil stepmother thought would be impossible. Concerning the royal ball, Perrault’s version of the event was over two-night period, while Disney’s version was only one night. I believe Disney minimized this to ignore Perrault’s more realistic and self-sufficient character that disobeyed not once, but twice in order to seek her own happiness. In contrast, Disney chose to enhance Cinderella’s reaction with a more love-stricken bliss as she daydreams while humming to the song that she and Prince Charming sang together “So this is love…” (Geronimi, Luske, & Jackson, 1950). During the slipper scene of Disney’s Cinderella, the evil stepmother attempted to destroy Cinderella’s destiny by locking her in her room and going so far as to trip the Grand Duke causing him to drop the glass slipper. Disney created suspense and made viewers think that Cinderella may not live “happily ever after”, after …show more content…
Perrault embraced the truism of the story by allowing the stepsisters to apologize to Cinderella for treating her so badly. True to her character, Cinderella “forgave them with all her heart” (Perrault, 2009). Furthermore, Cinderella arranged for both sisters to be married on the same day. Perrault concluded with a moral statement declaring that: “beauty is a fine thing… but charm is beyond price and worth more… more than a happy ending” (Perrault, 2009). Perrault’s ending reinforced the readers’ understanding of text and provided a good explanation of the purpose behind the tale while reinforcing readers understanding of text. Disney’s version merely ended soon after the shoe fit with a “happily ever after”