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Author
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Comment
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headshot1
Registered User
(4/28/06 8:10 pm)
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Essay on Fairy tale values
Hey all. I'm in Yr 11 and doing an essay on "Why have fairy tales continued to be valued in the 21st Century?" In my answer, i'll be making references to "Cinderella" and the movie "Howl's moving castle".
Does anyone have any ideas for this question, and/or how i could link the question to Cinderella and HMC?
I'm REALLY stuck on this essay, so please, please, PLEASE help me!!!!
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dlee10
Registered User
(4/29/06 6:05 am)
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Re: Essay on Fairy tale values
First, have you read the Novel by Diana Wynne Jones? It was vastly different than the animated movie. Since it was written in the 1980's I'm not sure it would qualify as an example of fairy tales that are still valued in the 21st century.
I think the best place to start would be to ask yourself why you still value these old stories. What did they mean to you when you were younger compared to how you feel now. If your answer is "But I never liked them" ask family members and friends how they felt. Good luck!
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princessterribel
Registered User
(4/29/06 8:24 am)
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hmmm
Perhaps you could think about how the role of fairy tales has changed. For Cinderella (of which found the chinese to be the oldest literary version), once her story migrated to europe she was written down by italian and french writers for adult entertainment. Over time she made her way to the Grimms who recreated the tale s for children. I think that you should remember that the story has changed to suit changes in audience and culture as it has moved throughout the world.
This could be one reason of why it (and fairy tales) remain popular: they adapt with the times. If you think about it the most recent version of Cinderella you ahve seen was probabaly in Shrek 2 or one of those princess films like ella enchanted.
Unfortunately I havent seen HMC yet. If you need to look up some of the other versions of cinderella they can all be found on this site. :)
Good luck.
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searsmith
Registered User
(4/29/06 8:17 pm)
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Cinderella v HMC
Which version of Cinderella are you using? The standard modern version (stripped of religious elements) can be read as showing a girl who is innately good, beautiful and kind. She works without complaint. The stepmother and stepsisters are innately bad, ugly and unkind. They are selfish and lazy, and never seem satisfied with what they have.
The modern version can also be read as not about innate goodness or badness, but about how suffering makes people good through teaching them humility and industry and sympathy.
Either way, Cinderella's so good that the prince recognizes her beauty, and she is rewarded through marrying him. Then, everyone can see how worthy she is. She rises in the world through her virtue.
In HMC, the heroine is Cinderella-like in her uncomplaining suffering. She's not really beautiful like Cinderella is once she gets cleaned up, but her inner beauty shines through. She has more of a family to bring together than Cinderella does, binding them through her love (in Cinderella, there's no hope for her wicked family; they're just understood as bad, and they're sometimes punished in the modern tale through being left behind when Cinderella goes to live in the Castle). As in the Cinderella story, she rises in the world through her virtue -- the wizard ("prince") she loves loves her in return.
But, in HMC's story, there's more at stake. There's a war going on, one that's tearing the world apart. How do you think that matters to this story about a girl who is so good that her value is finally recognized through the love of a "prince" -- or wizard in this case? And are such stories good for girls and for our society or bad for them? How and why?
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