Ever After Analysis
Throughout the many renditions of “Cinderella”, there is a clear line between the Stepmother, Stepsisters, and Cinderella. Yet in Andy Tennant’s Ever After: A Cinderella Story the director takes that division another step further and separates the Stepsisters and Stepmother from each other. Tennant pits the Stepmother and one of her daughters against the Cinderella. The curveball, the second stepsister, is cast out to the side, a somewhat neutral party who favors Danielle but still longs for her mother’s love. Could one consider the varying levels of the loss of parental love each girl experienced and tie that to her behavior? Although Ever After has the appearance of simply another story about Cinderella, it is really providing the viewer with an incommensurable view into the behaviors of three girls who have had varying degrees of parent love rived from them and is a comparison between the loss of father and mother love which is discussed in Jacqueline Schectman’s ““Cinderella” and the Loss of Father Love”.
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Utilizing the theories of Carl Jung, author and therapist Jacqueline Schectman dissected “Cinderella” and gave readers a contemporary view on the classic fairytale. In her article ““Cinderella” and the Loss of Father Love” Schectman brings to light that Cinderella is not the only sufferer in this tale. The Stepsisters experienced very little father love, the Stepmother had almost all father love she was given torn from her and with the lack of love given to the Stepmother, the Stepsisters were neglected and shown harshness. The author addresses the prevalent idea in society that girls need to change in order to obtain the prince, and that mothers force this change on their daughters. Schectman also states that the Stepsisters will be granted inner sight when they become physically blind. Andy Tennant, director of Ever After: A Cinderella Story, weaves a tale of a servant girl, Danielle, and her rise to royalty. Similar to other renditions of “Cinderella”, Danielle’s mother died, and her father, whom she was close to, remarries and dies. Danielle then becomes a servant to her stepmother, Baroness Rodmilla de Ghent, and the stepsisters, Marguerite and Jacqueline, and viewers watch as both Danielle and Jacqueline attempt to please the Baroness. After Danielle accidentally becomes acquainted with the Prince, the whirlwind romance between the two begins. Although the portrayal of the fall into love between Danielle and the Prince has very few similarities to the classic “Cinderella”, the glass slipper is left for the Prince at the ball. Another difference between the classic Cinderella and Tennant’s Ever After is the ending. In Ever After, Danielle saves herself from her owner and after she is married to the Prince, she requests that the Baroness and Marguerite be treated the same way they treated her. Throughout Ever After, the Baroness discards and continuously chastises both Danielle and Jacqueline refusing both girls the motherly love they require while praising Marguerite. This favoritism creates a rift between Jacqueline and the Baroness and Marguerite. The more the Baroness degrades Jacqueline, the more the viewer can visibly see Jacqueline turning away from her mother and shifting loyalties to Danielle. Unlike Jacqueline, Danielle did experience some parental love from her father before he passed. Because she had some family dynamic in her life, Danielle takes longer to turn against the Baroness because she longs for what she once had. Jacqueline, who probably never had a loving family, does not feel the need to cling to the idea of a full, loving family. When the Father attempts to give both Marguerite and Jacqueline affection just before his death, both girls remain stony-faced and give nothing back. Despite the hazardous relationship between Danielle and the Baroness, they both react to certain situations in a similar manner.
When the Father gives love to the Baroness, she accepts it, while Danielle looks at the couple with a look akin to jealously. Yet when the Father gives Danielle love, the Baroness first ‘thumbs’ her nose, and also looks down at the love. But at his death, both woman and child are seen crying over him, begging him not to leave. Both turn for physical affirmation of the now dead love, Danielle pulls the father’s hand toward her face trying to get him to caress it as he had done moments before. The Baroness turns to another man, clinging to him whilst sobbing over her dead husband, also looking for physical contact. But when Danielle grows up, rather than turning toward each other in their shared loss, the Baroness shoves Danielle away with insults, and creates the two sides that will split Marguerite and Jacqueline and the
family. Although this “Cinderella” tale can be related to Schectman’s essay, one thing the essay does not account for is Danielle saving herself. In Ever After, Danielle makes a conscious choice for father love over mother love. When offered the choice between her mother’s shoes, and her father’s book, Danielle realizes that mother love has only given her heartache and pain, whereas father love stayed preserved in her memories, unable to turn its back on her. Because the girls have lost certain levels of parental love, they will respond differently to the parental love they have left. Marguerite accepts all of the motherly love offered to her, Jacqueline turns instead to sister love with Danielle due to the loss of both father and mother love. And finally, Danielle still clings to the father love that lingers in her mind, and is reborn again in the Prince.
Utilizing the theories of Carl Jung, author and therapist Jacqueline Schectman dissected “Cinderella” and gave readers a contemporary view on the classic fairytale. In her article ““Cinderella” and the Loss of Father Love” Schectman brings to light that Cinderella is not the only sufferer in this tale. The Stepsisters experienced very little father love, the Stepmother had almost all father love she was given torn from her and with the lack of love given to the Stepmother, the Stepsisters were neglected and shown harshness. The author addresses the prevalent idea in society that girls need to change in order to obtain the prince, and that mothers force this change on their daughters. Schectman also states that the Stepsisters will be granted inner sight when they become physically blind. Andy Tennant, director of Ever After: A Cinderella Story, weaves a tale of a servant girl, Danielle, and her rise to royalty. Similar to other renditions of “Cinderella”, Danielle’s mother died, and her father, whom she was close to, remarries and dies. Danielle then becomes a servant to her stepmother, Baroness Rodmilla de Ghent, and the stepsisters, Marguerite and Jacqueline, and viewers watch as both Danielle and Jacqueline attempt to please the Baroness. After Danielle accidentally becomes acquainted with the Prince, the whirlwind romance between the two begins. Although the portrayal of the fall into love between Danielle and the Prince has very few similarities to the classic “Cinderella”, the glass slipper is left for the Prince at the ball. Another difference between the classic Cinderella and Tennant’s Ever After is the ending. In Ever After, Danielle saves herself from her owner and after she is married to the Prince, she requests that the Baroness and Marguerite be treated the same way they treated her. Throughout Ever After, the Baroness discards and continuously chastises both Danielle and Jacqueline refusing both girls the motherly love they require while praising Marguerite. This favoritism creates a rift between Jacqueline and the Baroness and Marguerite. The more the Baroness degrades Jacqueline, the more the viewer can visibly see Jacqueline turning away from her mother and shifting loyalties to Danielle. Unlike Jacqueline, Danielle did experience some parental love from her father before he passed. Because she had some family dynamic in her life, Danielle takes longer to turn against the Baroness because she longs for what she once had. Jacqueline, who probably never had a loving family, does not feel the need to cling to the idea of a full, loving family. When the Father attempts to give both Marguerite and Jacqueline affection just before his death, both girls remain stony-faced and give nothing back. Despite the hazardous relationship between Danielle and the Baroness, they both react to certain situations in a similar manner.
When the Father gives love to the Baroness, she accepts it, while Danielle looks at the couple with a look akin to jealously. Yet when the Father gives Danielle love, the Baroness first ‘thumbs’ her nose, and also looks down at the love. But at his death, both woman and child are seen crying over him, begging him not to leave. Both turn for physical affirmation of the now dead love, Danielle pulls the father’s hand toward her face trying to get him to caress it as he had done moments before. The Baroness turns to another man, clinging to him whilst sobbing over her dead husband, also looking for physical contact. But when Danielle grows up, rather than turning toward each other in their shared loss, the Baroness shoves Danielle away with insults, and creates the two sides that will split Marguerite and Jacqueline and the
family. Although this “Cinderella” tale can be related to Schectman’s essay, one thing the essay does not account for is Danielle saving herself. In Ever After, Danielle makes a conscious choice for father love over mother love. When offered the choice between her mother’s shoes, and her father’s book, Danielle realizes that mother love has only given her heartache and pain, whereas father love stayed preserved in her memories, unable to turn its back on her. Because the girls have lost certain levels of parental love, they will respond differently to the parental love they have left. Marguerite accepts all of the motherly love offered to her, Jacqueline turns instead to sister love with Danielle due to the loss of both father and mother love. And finally, Danielle still clings to the father love that lingers in her mind, and is reborn again in the Prince.