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Courtney Boyle Essay 2 English 2089 02/27/15 Life Lessons: The Story of Cinderella As a child grows up, she is told many stories and hears of many tales. The stories start simple; she knows the muffin man first thing after she knows her first words. The stories then become slightly more advanced, with stories about Dora the Explorer and Mickey Mouse as seen on children’s television today. These television stories are meant to enhance the learning ability of a child, and to engage her in fun activities that will build her basic math, reading, and problem solving skills. These stories, however, are not the only ones that children will learn as they grow. Fairy tales are the most popular stories that children will learn about, but these are meant to serve a different purpose. A fairy tale is a story that usually involves magic and improbable events that lead to a happy ending. These tales have been around for hundreds of years, and it is believed that most of them are meant to teach a lesson. “The fairytale, the story told to children to make them behave, or learn some valuable lesson or value...might be considered a staple for many (if not most) cultures.” (Lethologica) Even though the characters may not be believable, or may not even exist (for example, those characters in The Little Mermaid), their experiences and choices are supposed to mimic realistic choices that characters should and should not make. Some of the very first fairy tales were written by the Grimm Brothers. A few of their most popular tales includes Snow

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White, Sleeping Beauty, and Rapunzel. Nobody made a real effort to tell these stories differently until 1937, when Walt Disney released a new version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Disney’s basis of the story was essentially the same as the Grimm Brothers, but it had new and different details. The different details of these stories is severely important, because the way each author tells their stories depends on the reaction and understanding of their audiences. One of the most popular tales, Cinderella, which was no exception to the Disney transformation, is an obvious example of how both the Grimm Brothers and Walt Disney attempt to teach important moral lessons, but with two completely separate styles. Cinderella was one of the Grimm tales that required drastic manipulation by Disney to create such a successful movie. For example, in the Grimm version, Cinderella does not have a fairy godmother, but she is granted her wish by the spirit of the willow tree at her mother’s grave. In addition, in the Grimm story, the Prince’s ball lasts three days, and on the third night after Cinderella has already run away twice, the Prince poured tar on the steps of the palace to keep her from running away again. This is how Cinderella loses one of her slippers, unlike in the Disney version where her glass slipper simply falls off her foot as she’s running away. Finally, in Disney’s version, the Grand Duke almost gives up when they see the slipper does not fit either of the evil stepsisters. However, in the Grimm version, Cinderella’s stepmother cuts off the toe of one stepsister and the heel of the other so the slipper would fit. It is only because of the blood dripping from the slipper that the Prince realizes they are frauds. There is also one final detail that Disney omits from his version; in the Grimm story, after Cinderella is discovered as the maiden who fits the slipper, her evil stepsisters attend the royal

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wedding to try to be in good standing with the new future queen, only to have their eyes pecked out by birds. It is because of these differences that a clear line separates Disney from the Grimm Brothers and their styles of writing. One can easily assume that the majority of the people in the world know of the classics of Walt Disney. It would be hard to find someone who grew up as early as the 1920s who does not know Walt Disney and his famous mouse, Mickey. After releasing a new Snow White in 1937, Disney released a new Cinderella in 1959. It was wildly loved by its viewers, and is still loved by children today. Disney tells their stories in an attempt to teach young kids important morals. The moral lesson in Cinderella can be described as one of karma – a sort of “what goes around, comes around” type of teaching. Cinderella is a very kind and loving and obedient person, and in the end she is the one who gets the happily ever after. Cinderella’s stepmother and stepsisters are cruel and selfish, and in the end it is they that are left unhappy. This is what Disney is trying to teach with Cinderella: those that are kind will receive their eternal reward, while those that are unkind will receive their eternal punishment. However, Disney’s style does not hold the same severity that the Grimm Brothers had in their version. “I was horrified to find that the origins of many of my favorite Disney movies had much more gruesome details that Disney completely left out.” (Triska) Essentially, Disney has a more “singsongy” and fun approach to help children understand the importance of kindness and purity, while at the same time protecting them from the harshness that the Grimm Brothers used. One of the main reasons that Disney is able to achieve this is because of their use of animation. It is because of the cartoons, the constant chorus, and the little

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animals in the movie that Disney is able to so successfully mention these moral values while offering an entertaining perspective on the story at the same time. In complete contrast to Walt Disney, the Grimm Brothers wrote the story of Cinderella to teach the same lessons, but their approach was one of a very different fashion. They wrote all their stories, not just Cinderella, around the year 1812, which was a time when people took pride in their morals, and those who broke them were criticized and ostracized. By using the story of Cinderella, they wanted people to know that those who were unkind and cruel would be punished, whether it be by karma or in the afterlife. However, the Grimm Brothers included all the very gory details in order to teach their lesson differently. They wanted to scare people into doing the right thing. They frequently use death, deceit, and sin to imply the significance of living purely and abiding by the rules that morals place on the lives of humans. These details, however gory and disgusting they may be, they were completely necessary. Because the ability to use animation was not an option to the Grimm Brothers, their stories (written in storybook mode) needed to contain so many details because their readers were creating their own images and emotions based off these tales. The lesson of the story had to be buried in enough strong emotion to inflict a reaction in the reader, and one of the strongest emotions is fear. If their storybook tales didn’t have all the details and emotions that would normally be easily picked up by a viewer of an animation film, the entire goal of the story would be lost. Whether a fan of fairy tales or not, everyone knows the story of Cinderella. And whether or not the lesson is obvious, it is present, and it is very significant. It is possible to “chart the changes in the fairytale according to cultural pressures, and in turn pinpoint

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the expectations and values held by the societies the fairytales belong to,” (Lethologica) and this is an important in order to understand why the Grimm Brothers and Disney’s stories were each successful and powerful in their own times. These fairy tales (especially those made by Disney) are the stories that are ed down through generations because they are so beloved by all, and the tales will continue to be ed on because of the lessons they preach to the young and naïve. While it is true that Disney is more directed to a younger audience, people of all ages can still enjoy it. And while it also true that the Grimm Brothers tales were directed toward an older audience because of their violence and nastiness, their versions of these stories still live on to this day. These stories mold children’s’ brains in a way that simple songs and television shows cannot. And while those shows and early developmental engagers are important, they are not as nearly as important as the lessons that fairy tales teach us. Whether in the loving and entertaining fashion of Disney or the cold-hard truth of the Grimm Brothers’ stories, the life lessons they teach are much more essential to a child and their moral development, rather than how highly developed their math skills by the time they start kindergarten.

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Work Cited

Lethologica. "Seeking Cinderella: A Brief Glimpse of the Evolution of Fairytales." Seeking Cinderella: A Brief Glimpse of the Evolution of Fairytales. 12 Mar. 2011. Web. 17 Feb. 2015. Triska, Zoë. "The REAL Stories Behind These Disney Movies Will Ruin Your Childhood." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 12 Nov. 2013. Web. 17 Feb. 2015.