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[kemcc103-blog]

The classic version of “Cinderella” that we all know so well has many apparent themes relating to family relationships due to the abuse and neglect by her step-mother and step-sisters. In the French version of the tale, “Donkeyskin”, we see an even more disturbing familial relationship when the king announces that he wants to marry his daughter. This type of familial intermarriage is a taboo in most societies today. As you could imagine, Donkeyskin was terrified of this idea and ran. Researching this social issue is interesting because it has given me a better understanding of the situation and an explanation of how this idea may have come about.

[bajoh103-blog]

It seems to me that your research must have included a lot of taboo topics. I find taboos very interesting in different societies. Some vary greatly from culture to culture, whereas other taboos seem to be nearly universally. Determining their origin seems like it must have been enlightening, disturbing, or probably both. 

[courtneymelvinuaenglish103-blog]

Child Maltreatment

Child maltreatment is very complex and hard to define and research. There are about four broad forms of it: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect. Within these four categories, there are endless ways this maltreatment may occur. Each individual act is such an injustice it makes people sick at the thought. What could cause a grown man or woman to harm an innocent child? There must be detrimental impacts on the child as a result, right? In the Grimm Brothers’ version of “Cinderella,” we see a strange mix of childhood hardships and bizarre behavior and development. It brings forth the question: could there be a correlation between these hardships, specifically the emotional abuse and neglect she experienced, and Cinderella’s strange behavior then as a young adult? Were there negative effects on Cinderella’s psychological development as a result of the apparent child abuse and neglect she experienced?

[bajoh103-blog]

This idea of childhood treatment having a lasting effect on individuals as they head into adulthood kinda ties into what I ended up talking about in part of my paper. I find the correlation between childhood trauma and adult behavior very interesting. By knowing someone’s past, it often becomes much easier to understand the choices they make when they are an adult.

[bajoh103-blog]

Taking Their Autonomy Doesn’t Keep Kids Safe

In my researched argument, I looked at how the perception of childhood has changed over the past 200 years. I start right around the publication of the Brothers Grimm and go from there. It was super interesting to see the transformation that has taken place. From the Industrial Revolution that endangered children to the Enlightenment thinkers that praised them, there developed a dichotomy that people struggled with for centuries. We can still see the scars of these conflicting ideas when we look at children today. The average child is now protected, nurtured, and completely useless. We have robbed children of their agency in an effort to safeguard them from the real world. We must protect them, no doubt, but we must not forget that they are autonomous beings in society as well.

[xxxxly333-deactivated20181030]

Material Glorification

Similarly to modern marketing, Cinderella glorified a world of royalty and wealth. Her lone dream was to attend the ball with the prince, and to be among the socially elite. In modern advertising, companies market that their product will make the consumer elite through purchasing. This causes a product to be glorified, and those who do not have the product to take a blow to their self esteem. An individual grows their self esteem through purchasing elite products because they feel wealthy. Cinderella was susceptible to this scheme of marketing as well, but luckily her story ended happily.

[bajoh103-blog]

Yeah for sure. Materialism is definitely a big topic nowadays, and it's effect on the psyche of the individual is quite disturbing in a lot of cases. Cinderella is barraged with these ideas of beauty, prestige, and wealth. This has a lasting effect on how she views herself, but she is thankfully able to power through it for the most part.

[erste103-blog]

Parental Neglect

In my annotated bib I examined parental neglect and how it affects children. Specifically in the aspect such of self- esteem.  Generally speaking, lazier parenting, or parental neglect, can lead to several psychological issues I children. One being their self esteem. This is something that can be related back to Cinderella. Her father was never present, and her mother passed away. Leaving her with her step mother who genuinely abuses Cinderella everyday. This is something that can shed light on what shaped Cinderella’s character, which allows us to further understand why Cinderella would run away from a charming prince, or take other drastic measures as she did in the tale.

[mabig103-blog]

I completely agree on the fact that how you are raised and the types of parents you have can shape your personality and determine how you decide things. I am not sure if Cinderella acts in the classic way most children would in this situation but I would be interested in the analysis of her decisions.

[bajoh103-blog]

I started off with just documenting how the perception of childhood has changed over time, but pretty quickly I became interested in the effect of the destruction of childhood on the youth of an era. Reading this post makes me think of that breakdown of childhood, especially in the context of the industrial revolution and the time period of the brothers Grimm.

[bajoh103-blog]

Little Red Over Time

I have been looking at how childhood has changed in form and function over time through a lens of fairy tales, specifically Little Red Cap by the Brothers Grimm and comparing it to a later version of the same tale. I find this very interesting considering the role the societal standards in the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, and the Modern Age have played in transforming how we view childhood. I am trying to ask the question from the different eras: Is a sheltered childhood important to the development of a successful adult? Little Red was just sent into the woods, which is a very dangerous situation for a small child. What do you guys think? Do you think preserving childhood innocence is important tin today’s culture? 

[courtneymelvinuaenglish103-blog]

Cinderella vs. A Case Study of Emergency Room Procedure and Risk Data Management by Hospital Staff Members in the Urban Facility

Stacy Richter took her story “A Case Study of Emergency Room Procedure and Risk Data Management by Hospital Staff Members in the Urban Facility” in a completely new direction from the Grimm brothers’ “Cinderella,” incorporating bizarre new aspects into it including the shocking new themes of drug addiction, imprisonment, and legitimate danger, in contrast to the original Cinderella where all the princess really had to endure in terms of mistreatment was a life of servant-hood and an unpleasant step family. Still, this story ultimately failed as a retelling. The characters were unrecognizable apart from the nicknames of “Prince” and “Princess,” which caused the story to lose all of the original and respectable elements that make it such an alluring and beloved fairy tale.

[kemcc103-blog]

I agree that this retelling failed. There was very little resemblance between this story and Cinderella. You had to look much deeper into it to find similarities.

[bajoh103-blog]

I think that many times authors try to put their own spin on something and fail because they do not adequately respect the original version enough. It is key for an author to understand that their creation is instinctually going to be held up to the original. It needs to work in this context if it hopes to be taken at all seriously.

[kemcc103-blog]

James Lapine, the writer of Into the Woods, took on the challenge of rewriting not one, but four fairytales. Attempts at this challenge were failed by writers and directors for 15 years. Lapine took “Cinderella”, “Little Red Riding Hood”, “Rapunzel”, and “Jack and the Beanstalk” and incorporated them into one visual retelling of the Grimm Brothers’ versions of these tales.  He tells the story of Cinderella and her experiences at the Prince’s festival with the exact visuals that the written story gives to readers. He even took dialogue right out of the written version so that no details are left out.  Although he does add his own twist at the end, the version of Cinderella in Into the Woods was successful because it sticks to the general plot of the Brothers Grimm version with very little variation.

[daric103-blog]

Does it really stick that closely with the original Cinderella? There seemed to be some major alterations from my point of view. For example, Cinderella avoids the prince on three separate nights before intentionally deciding to let him find her slipper. Also in Into The Woods, Cinderella’s prince really is not the Mr. Perfect he’s originally made out to be. He does end up cheating on her after all. I’d give you on a basic level the plot structure is the same, but some of these things look like distinctions worth noting.

[maces103-blog]

I think that this version of Cinderella was a success as well. It follows many of the plots main points as you pointed out while adding modern elements making it easier to relate to. I do not agree however that Lapine added changes only to end but overall I agree with your analysis.

[xxxxly333-deactivated20181030]

I also agree that the differences are too distinct to not give recognition. The alterations show clear differences between the creators of each version based upon social status, nationality and time period. I think it is important to take these three into consideration before agreeing the stories are too similar- doesn’t the main theme change due to their alterations?

[bajoh103-blog]

His ability to maintain the integrity of the Grimm versions is really admirable. I feel like it would be difficult to be an artist who could balance expressing your own creative voice and letting the traditional piece shine through. I also really enjoyed the final result, which just speaks to his ability to entertain the general public as well.

[bajoh103-blog]

Modern Little Red Cap

Fairytales fill many roles in a society, from entertaining to forming moral frameworks. Thus, these tales seldom are simply forgotten after children mature into adulthood. This fact leads many writers to create their own adaptions of the tales, both because they are still intrigued and they can rely on common cultural knowledge to establish much of the plot. However, this technique also subjects the contemporary writer to the inevitable question: does it work? Little Red Riding Hood is one such tale and Angela Carter is one such writer. In her adaption, Carter twists the story in several ways, making the wolf much more of a man than a wolf, making Little Red be attracted to him, and ultimately leading the wolf to have sex with Little Red rather than kill her. This addition of gender roles to a common fairytale is intriguing when one takes into account Carter’s title as a feminist writer, who focused on the self-sacrificial nature and willingness toward submission of women. While Angela Carter’s adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood humanizes the wolf and reimagines Little Red Riding Hood in order to successfully redefine the notion of succumbing in the tale, doing so alters the purpose of the piece and the questions that arise from it.  

[beachhbummerr-blog1]

Mean Girls

At some point in time we all, I included, have felt extremely threatened by the superiority of another person, but we must understand that to act upon our natural instincts to get rid the superior being is immoral and incorrect. Although Snow white was treated poorly and extremely unfairly by her step mother, despite being “the fairest of them all,” I don’t believe she was in right to make the wicked queen dance in the heated iron slippers until her death. I was always told to never fight fire with fire, you only end up with a bigger fire. The outcome of the wicked queen’s death after is left up to the reader to decide, as the story ends with her death, but the fact that Snow White essentially killed the queen poses the question; was Snow White as bad as the Queen?

[mabig103-blog]

This is very interesting as most of the stories I hear about Snow White end where she has nothing to do with the queen’s undoing. In this version I think it could be argued that she had hatred in her heart and acted at cruelly as the queen.

[xxxxly333-deactivated20181030]

This is a very interesting ideal that much of society looks over, by creating a hero, they overlook any despicable actions the hero has committed. In modern society, we need to look at the entire being of a person before deciding whether they are truly good or bad.

[bajoh103-blog]

I like the question you are posing here (and the title.) We believe that good will conquer evil, but simply by reversing the perspective of a tale, we begin to question which side is truly good. We try to oversimplify the people around us because it is so maddening to accept that we live in a world of gray.

[courtneymelvinuaenglish103-blog]

Image

I recently went through one of the largest rushes in the nation for Greek life. Greek life itself has many good aspects of it, as I am finding out more every week—charity, community, and commitment to name a few. On the other hand, Sorority Recruitment struggles to match this depth of meaning. I found much of recruitment to be centered around appearances and image. In the Grimm Brothers’ Cinderella, a young girl, her step mother, step sisters, father, and the prince of the kingdom all play a part in a very interesting, slightly disturbed, and extremely shallow story that strongly depicts the ideals of beauty that dominated the culture at that time. The interesting part was, this story was published in 1857, 1058 years ago, and yet I still see an incredibly strong value placed on beauty and image in today’s society. Humans’ undying obsession with appearances can be seen not only through a week of sorority recruitment and a fairytale story written over a thousand years ago, but in everyday life through the media, the social interactions we have, and even through the thoughts that run through our head on a daily basis, if we’re being honest.

[tuerv103-blog]

Neat ancedote! I never would have thought of comparing Greek life to Cinderella, but it definitely seems to work here. Using beauty image is also a great idea. I can see how that relates to both today’s society and Cinderella. Sounds like you got it all planned out.

[kemcc103-blog]

I love this connection because it’s so interesting to see how some things in society just never change!

[bajoh103-blog]

I like what you are getting at with this. I think one of the main things we are trying to do with this reflection is analyze the themes that we always just passively accepted in fairy tales from our childhood. We consistently equate beauty with worth in society, which is kind of messed up.

[bajoh103-blog]

wandering helps us find our way

My father and Little Red Cap’s mother were trying to protect their children from unnecessary pain and possible failure, but they neglected to accept the fact that children are autonomous beings that will ultimately do whatever they see fit when left on their own. In this way, parents are put into a difficult position in which they must attempt to teach their children the best way to do something, while knowing that their children will not truly listen to their advice. Instead, we often try some new approach, thinking ourselves to be the exception to the rule, and we fail miserably. Only then are we willing to consider the possibility that our elders may have enough life experience to know a better technique. This frustrating process of maturation is natural and necessary. Youth is a time to wander, to get lost, to worry about the wrong things, and to invest in the most foolish of ideas.