Texts_Are_Transformed_by_Modern_Culture_so_They_Maintain_Their_Relevance_-_Cinderella

Cinderella Assessment The statement, “Texts are transformed by modern culture so they maintain their relevance”, can be proven true through the many appropriations of past texts. One example of this is the everlasting tale of Cinderella. There are arguably thousands of versions of Cinderella, one for just about every culture. There are at least 500 versions in Europe alone, all featuring a young woman that is rescued from a life of labour by a handsome prince. The first written account of Cinderella dates back to the 1st century BC where the Greek historian Strabo wrote about a girl called Rhodopis who was ‘rescued’ from her life of servitude by the Pharaoh. Author Jack Zipes stated in a book published in 1983 that in Cinderella, over time the motifs, characters and themes were rearranged or eliminated to reflect the changing values of society. Three examples of the story of Cinderella are Charles Perrault’s Cinderella or The Little Glass Slipper, Gary Marshall’s Pretty Woman, and Andy Tennant’s Ever After. Charles Perrault’s Cinderella is one of the most well known versions of the tale, and is the basis for many of the appropriations. Elements of this story have appeared in a Walt Disney cartoon, shorter cartoon videos, musicals, the Grimm brothers’ account, and dozens of Hollywood films. It was Perrault who first came up with the fairy godmother, pumpkin, and glass slippers. It was originally written in French, but later translated into English. The story first appeared in print in 1697, called Cindrillon, ou la petite pantoule de verre. Translated literally, this means Cinderella, or the small slipper of glass. It was widely believed at first that Cinderella was supposed to have worn fur boots – which is vair instead of verre – but this theory has since been disproved. Charles Perrault was born at the start of 1628 into a wealthy Parisian family. He was very morally upright, and this was reflected in his many works like Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals, of which Cinderella was contained in. He used places around him in his stories, such as the Chateau Ussé in Sleeping Beauty. He contrasted many of his stories’ subject matter with details and implications drawn from the world of fashion, and wrote Cinderella for the society of the seventeenth century. Pretty Woman, directed by Garry Marshall, is a romantic comedy featuring Julia Roberts playing a prostitute, Vivian Ward, who is hired by a wealthy businessman, Edward Lewis, to accompany him to various social and business functions. They eventually fall in love and at the end of the movie her ‘Prince’ rescues Vivian. It is set in the United States in the 1980s, even though it was released in the 1990s. Within the fist half year at the box office it had earned $178.4 million, and eventually made around $464 million altogether. It also earned numerous awards, and is still a very popular movie today. The culture in which Pretty Woman was set in has a major impact on the actual movie and the ideas presented within it. Since the 1980s, the general publics view towards prostitution has changed. Firstly, there was a growing awareness of the worldwide spread of HIV/AIDS. Even though prostitution was made illegal between 1910 and 1915, if the prostitute was found to be carrying HIV/AIDS he or she would be charged with a felony, instead of a misdemeanour. In Pretty Woman, Vivian openly mentions that she gets checked every month for an STD, and this may have something to do with the strict penalties that she would face if caught. In the 1980s, being a billionaire like Edward is the highest possible status that one can achieve during that time. Therefore in this way Edward is like the Prince out of Perrault’s Cinderella, as he cannot gain any higher position than that of a billionaire. Ever After is another derivative of the fairy tale Cinderella, and is directed by Andy Tennant. It is seen as a modern, post-feminism interpretation of the Cinderella myth. Danielle De Barbarac was left in the care of her new stepmother and stepsisters when her father suddenly dies of a heart attack. The stepmother, Baroness Rodmilla De Ghent, is cruel to Danielle and treats her as a servant, as does her elder daughter Marguerite. The other stepsister however, Jacqueline, is shown as being sweet-tempered, and in this aspect the tale bears more resemblance to the Grimm brothers’ version than Perrault’s. Danielle soon catches the eye of the Crown Prince of France, Henry, and they fall in love without Henry knowing that Danielle is a servant and not a ‘comtesse’ he believes her to be. When he finds out he shuns her, but in the end love conquers all and they marry. The movie is set in 16th century France, during the Renaissance. The costumes fit the time perfectly, and it is even quasi-historical concerning the characters Henry, Francois, and Leonardo Da Vinci. However, Danielle is an extremely unusual character for her time. The typical female can be seen in Marguerite or even Jacqueline: always looking for marriage and concerned about their appearance and those higher in status than them. Danielle, on the other hand, quotes Thomas More, knows how to defend herself with a sword, is fiercely loyal, and incredibly smart. This behaviour would have been atypical higher up the hierarchical system – which is what first gains Danielle the notice of the Prince – but as a servant she is wilful and strong-minded as well, which is shown when she throws an apple at the ‘thief’ and constantly goes behind her stepmothers back to see Henry. This behaviour was definitely uncharacteristic of the 16th century. Perrault’s Cinderella contains many different language forms and features. Firstly, it was written in French, which makes the many translated forms hard to study. However what all the translated versions share is its formal tone and words appropriate to the time it was set in, roughly the fifteenth or sixteenth century. For example, words like ‘staylaces’ and ‘garret’ are used. These words are barely used in modern day society, and the resistant reader would have no idea what they mean. The formal tone is used to convey a moral, rather than tell a story, and is structured like a short story. Ever After is set roughly the same time as Perrault’s Cinderella, and claims to be the true version of Cinderella. The language is generally sophisticated and formal, as would be expected within a 16th century society. The story alludes to Thomas More’s Utopia, and Danielle uses a quote from it when speaking to the Prince for the first time, ‘If you suffer your people to be ill-educated and their manners corrupted from infancy, and then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them, what else is to be concluded, sire, but that you first make thieves then punish them'’. Ever After gives the viewer a more in-depth view of the story of Cinderella, and the characters’ personalties are expanded upon in more detail and given further depth. Pretty Woman uses slang common to the 1980s, as that is when it is set. It makes references to Sylvester Stallone, Carol Channing, and Prince. These references give the movie its context, as these were all major names in the 80s era. The three texts show some similar and some different values and morals. Perrault’s Cinderella seems to value beauty and the more feminine characteristics, such as being docile and obedient. This is shown through the repeated use of ‘beautiful’ in reference to Cinderella and ‘ugly’ when regarding the two stepsisters. Cinderella comes across as the stereotypically ideal woman: beautiful, polite, graceful, obedient, hard working, and docile. Unlike her two stepsisters, she doesn’t threaten men by coquetry and waits patiently for a man to recognise her virtues and to then marry her. The women who hold power in this story are represented as evil or silly, and this also shows a stereotype that would be typical of the time of which Cinderella was written. For example the stepmother is ‘the haughtiest and meanest woman ever seen’, the sisters are ‘spiteful’, and ‘spent the whole time before a looking glass’. The protagonist of Ever After, Danielle, is portrayed as strong willed and independent, and shows no need of a husband in her life, unlike Perrault’s Cinderella. She knows how to defend herself, and rescues herself and others repeatedly, showing that she doesn’t need her Prince Charming to save her. Pretty Woman, however, makes a direct reference to Edward ‘rescuing’ Vivian. She seems to need rescuing throughout most of the movie, for example when she is trying to buy a dress and she complains to Barney Thompson, the hotel manager, that ‘nobody will help me’. In this instance, Barney plays the role of the fairy godmother and helps Vivian to find the perfect dress. Additionally, Edward saves Vivian from being raped by Phil, his lawyer. When Vivian seems ready to pursue her own visions and create a real life for herself, Edward climbs up the fire escape and ‘rescues’ her, once again. Cinderella, Vivian, and Danielle should all logically be angry and resentful of their situations, but this is not portrayed. Cinderella is obedient, as is shown in the quote, ‘[Cinderella] bore this ill treatment very patiently and did not complain’. Vivian is not as angry as she should be at Kit for buying drugs with their rent money, and she shows more self-pity than resentment in Barney’s office after being denied to buy a dress. Danielle shows some disobedience towards her stepmother, but she still shows no anger over her situation. Rather, she has accepted it quietly and does what she can in this position. Nevertheless, all three stories show that where beauty is a treasure, graciousness is priceless and will eventually be rewarded. If one stays pure and good in the face of unpleasant circumstances, they will eventually be rescued and find true happiness and love. For a text to become popular or valued, I believe it has to achieve a number of things. The text should say something of value, and address a certain moral in either a positive or negative way. The language used should be effective and appropriate, and the composer should be able to clearly show the viewer his or her beliefs or opinions. The themes involved should be universal, and hold meaning in multiple different contexts, like many of Shakespeare’s plays. The themes and morals that are presented within the text should be as relevant now as they were at the time they were written. The tale of Cinderella occurs within myriad stories, as it is a story that has become valued and loved. Perrault’s Cinderella, Ever After, and Pretty Woman are all immensely popular texts by becoming one of the many derivatives of the Cinderella tale. It is most obviously loved by the female population, as it is a story of finding one’s true love no matter the boundaries presented. It shows that anyone can find true love no matter what situation he or she is in, even if they are working as a servant or a prostitute. It is every young girls dream to find her own ‘Prince Charming’ that will take her away from the troubles of her life while they live ‘happily ever after’. In conclusion, the everlasting tale of Cinderella has lasted through hundreds of years due to its fanciful love story. As is seen in the movies Pretty Woman and Ever After, and also in Perrault’s Cinderella, the main story line has stayed the same: a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances is rescued by the man of her dreams. Instead of this thread changing constantly to suit the context of that time, the story just gets modernised constantly through different appropriations to suit the culture at that time. Cinderella is just one example of a text that has been transformed by modern culture to keep its relevancy, and there are plentiful other examples of texts that have been modernised; yet not changed completely. Society does this so the basic morals that are contained within these stories will not be forgotten, and that other generations will be taught, through an enjoyable film or story, to uphold the proper values.