4/20/2010: Disney's Cinderella

Film Clip: Disney’s Cinderella (Stepmother in Bedroom)

Lecture:  Disney’s Cinderella     
Disney’s Animated Fairy Tales: quotes

• “Literary versions of old fairy tales are usually thin and briefly told. They must be expanded and embellished to meet the requirements of theater playing time, and the common enjoyment of all members of movie-going families. The screen version must perceive and emphasize the basic moral intent and the values upon which every great persistent fairy tale is founded. To these ends I have devoted my own best efforts and the talents of my organization, in full realization of our responsibility as a mass entertainer and especially our responsibility to our vast audience of children around the world.” W. Disney (Disney That Never Was, 59)
• “As long as a little girl met a wolf and said he had big eyes, audiences would accept the film as Little Red Riding Hood.”
• Walt Disney (1959 interview): “From years of experience I have learned what could legitimately be added to increase the thrills and delights of a fairy tale without violating the moral and meaning of the original. Audiences have confirmed this unmistakably. We define the heroines & heroes more vividly; add minor characters to help carry the story line; virtually create such immortal friends of the heroine as the Seven Dwarfs. Storywise, we sharpen the decisive triumph of good over evil with our valiant knights—the issues which represent our moral ideals. We do it in a romantic fashion, easily comprehensible by children. In this respect, moving pictures are more potent than volumes of familiar words in books.”
• John Hench (worked on Cinderella) in an interview in Crimmer’s in 1975: “...fairytales ...all fall into a pattern, often a Biblical pattern. In the case of Cinderella, she was very high born. Through some set of circumstances, she was reduced to a kitchen maid. This is clearly Man being kicked out of Eden. Along comes a redeemer, a prince, and there’s always a gimmick, a key, a talisman. In Sleeping Beauty it’s a kiss, in Cinderella it’s a glass slipper. And the person is returned to the former state.” (Grant 234)

Film Clip: Disney’s Cinderella (Ball Scene)
Disney’s Cinderella:

In-Class Writing Assignment: List the major differences between Disney's Cinderella and Perrault/Grimms.

Disney v. Perrault/Grimms:

Questions: 

VI. Final Film Clip: Ever After (Rescue Scene)