https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REv5iCESpyg
This commercial ad for Aldi in “Cendrillon” (French for Cinderella) shows a guy looking for the shoe owner of the woman he saw at a club in the modern world, sharing photos of the shoe online but also the classic method of asking girls to try the shoe on. The shoe won’t fit this one pretty girl he knew from a party, but he does not want to give up. So, he heads to Aldi, buys a pair of pliers, and cuts the shoe open so it fits the love interest’s foot. The ad ends with “Welcome to today’s life. Welcome to the new consumers.”
Jordan Gellert, Natalie Chudecki, & Angelina Veverka
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoSUHgs7hCs
My favorite adaptation of Cinderella is Ella Enchanted. Although it is an obvious adaptation to Cinderella, because we can see there are evil stepsisters, a fairy godmother, and a prince charming, it does not follow the exact plot of Cinderella and the movie puts a spin on things. But since Cinderella is such a classic we can see and compare Ella Enchanted to Cinderella without them even mentioning it is a Cinderella story. The only nod to that being her name is Ella.
Gianna Oliveri
Great examples. I love the twist with the commercial.
An adaptation of Cinderella that I find interesting is the movie “Into The Woods”. The movie is about a family’s adventure to reverse the curse of a witch. The movie is made up of characters and plots from four different fairy tales, including Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Rapunzel.
The movie trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pjy5MK1X70
I just watched this movie recently and yes, great use of familiar fairy tales in new ways.
https://www.amazon.com/Just-Ella-Palace-Chronicles-Book-ebook/dp/B006VIFQE0
This isn’t a video, it’s a book but, it’s my favorite adaptation of the Cinderella story. The book take the magic out of it and instead focuses on the story as if it really happened! It puts rational thinking behind the events and allows Ella to really think about what has happened to her. The prince isn’t as sentimental as she though, palace life was difficult and chaotic, the ladies in waiting were cruel, and Ella didn’t just fit into the position but, was rather forced to conform. I think it offers an interesting perspective on what might have actually happened if Cinderella was real.
Peyton Strack
Cinderella is a super popular plot structure. Hallmark movies are filled with the trope. Some are obvious (A Cinderella Christmas, Ever After: A Cinderella Story, Not Cinderella’s Type, A Cinderella Story: Christmas Wish). Others may take bits and pieces, such as a kind-hearted protagonist surrounded by a wicked family, a love interest of a higher socioeconomic caste, or other instances of “faking” wealth in the name of love. We found this trope super overdone. I particularly dislike the kind “odd one out” protagonist trope because ten out of ten times, the protagonist is a self-insert placeholder, and it feeds into the delusion that everyone else is mean and nasty except for me. Woe is me! I find it kind of annoying (and slightly problematic), but we are certainly not the target audience for Hallmark clichés.
– Tomas Beas Romero & Nolan Knipfing
Yes, those Hallmark movies are too often fairy-tale-ish in the most simplistic and superficial way. I love your analysis here, Tomas.
Warner Bros put out a series of Cinderella stories starting in 2004 until 2021. When I was a kid “A Cinderella Story” and its sequel “Another Cinderella Story” were very popular, each having their own modern twists to the original story. The first was a story about a girl working for her stepmother in what used to be her fathers diner before he passed, spending her times writing an internet pen pal who turned into her prince charming. The second is about a girl aspiring to be a professional dancer. The girl wasn’t taken in by a stepmother but rather is being used by her legal gradian that took her in after her mothers death. Both these stories put a modern twist to our classic Cinderella story, and I can only imagine the rest in the film series take their creative liberties in creating a rag to riches story for a beautiful young girl.