Analysis of the Cinderella Stories
The Disney Cinderella has beautiful dresses with a handsome prince housed in an oversized castle with everything in stock. Even though Cinderella is clad in rags in her own home after her father dies under the rule of her overbearing stepmother and stepsisters, Cinderella still shows her kindness to every creature while dreaming of one day escaping the house of horrors. The Cinderella in the Spanish American version, Little Gold Star, lives with her humble hardworking father who leaves Teresa alone with her stepmother and stepsisters who treat her and her father Tomas horribly. The first difference is that the father is dead in Disney’s version and the father is alive but away in the hills tending his flock of sheep in the Spanish American version, but were both widowers in the beginning. Another difference is that Teresa is called Little Star and Cinderella is called Cinderella. Teresa is helped in her troubles my Mary and Cinderella is helped by her fairy godmother. Bridgette believes this is because in the Spanish American culture they are very focused on the religious beings that can help them in times of trouble. Cinderella needs magic and a fairy fits that bill to match the magic incorporation that the public feeds off of. Isabel and Inez, the stepsisters in the Little Gold Star, do not listen to the helper Mary and are punished by growing horns and ears, but in the end become nice and lose their horns and ears. Anastasia and Druzella in Disney’s version do not get punished because Diseny wants to have a happy ending for the public to enjoy. Both versions include a father, stepmother, and stepsisters. “Cinderella” is put to work in both stories to do the chores and take care of the house while the stepsisters try to get men’s attention in order to marry them to have a happy life. Teresa and Cinderella want to get something (married, and to the ball) and receive help from a woman to get that. Teresa and Cinderella end up marrying their men and live happily ever after.
The Disney version does not correlate so well with the Russian Baba Yaga. They both have a father who is a widower that remarries. There is a daughter from the first marriage in both the Disney and Russian version. The stepmothers in both treat their stepdaughters poorly by giving them all of the chores. The Baba Yaga story does not have stepsisters like the Disney version. The stepmother in Baba Yaga sends the daughter to the aunt who will eat her (Baba Yaga) but instead the daughter goes to her real aunt to seek advice, which is still the womanly figure as a helper to the young girl. The real aunt tells the daughter how to escape the Baba Yaga. Cinderella gets the help from her fairy godmother on how to overcome the chores given by the stepmother and go to the ball. The stepmother ends up dying from the father shooting her from anger in the Baba Yaga story. The father and daughter end up living happy for the rest of their lives. The Disney version does not show what happens to the stepmother and stepsisters because it would disrupt the happy ending that the public would like to enjoy.
The Disney version does not correlate so well with the Russian Baba Yaga. They both have a father who is a widower that remarries. There is a daughter from the first marriage in both the Disney and Russian version. The stepmothers in both treat their stepdaughters poorly by giving them all of the chores. The Baba Yaga story does not have stepsisters like the Disney version. The stepmother in Baba Yaga sends the daughter to the aunt who will eat her (Baba Yaga) but instead the daughter goes to her real aunt to seek advice, which is still the womanly figure as a helper to the young girl. The real aunt tells the daughter how to escape the Baba Yaga. Cinderella gets the help from her fairy godmother on how to overcome the chores given by the stepmother and go to the ball. The stepmother ends up dying from the father shooting her from anger in the Baba Yaga story. The father and daughter end up living happy for the rest of their lives. The Disney version does not show what happens to the stepmother and stepsisters because it would disrupt the happy ending that the public would like to enjoy.