ve been the case in earlier days. Fairy tales such as Cinderella have been found guilty of possessing subliminal socialization traits. Classifying genders as inferior and molding young girls into the female that society expects them to be. In Charles Perrault’s version, which is considered the most common, Cinderella is seen as passive, limited, dependent and inferior. As critics argue, these traits can hinder a child’s self esteem. Karol Kelley states that the “expectations and the promises of the Cinderella story are psychologically harmful to women.” (p648). The fact that Cinderella is a limited character may give the girl an impression that she should be happy with what she has and not have any or aspirations in her life. That is, until her Prince comes to rescue her. Since these comments were made, the Cinderella story has been modified and changed. In order to see how gender roles have changed in fairy tales from the old to the new, let’s compare the classic version of Cinderella by Charles Perrault to a recent version which is a movie that was released in 1998 called “Ever After”which was directed by Andy Tennant . Even though there are some similarities in the way they classify gender, a significant effort has been made in the movie “Ever After” to modernize the tale and change the way women are portrayed. One of the traditional stereotypes that is evident in the classic version of Cinderella is the passive nature of the girl. Cinderella’s step-mother and her step-sisters constantly mistreat her which would normally cause a person to react in a rebellious and aggressive way. This is not the case in this situation. Cinderella absorbs and suppresses the anger, and never lets it show. She continues to be lovable and caring. “People would laugh if they saw a Cinderbottom at the ball” Charles Rerrault (p599). After her sister tells her that cinder bottoms like her would not belong at a ball, she offers to do their hair in preparation for the big night. Teaching kids to hide their emotions is one of the negative traits of this story. This also teaches the acceptance of an inferior role in society.

Some topics in this essay:
Charles Rerrault, Andy Tennant, Cinderella Baroness, Drew Barrymore, Karol Kelley, Comparison Thinking, Richard Convingtons, Gypsies Prince, Modern Cinderella, Charles Perrault’s, fairy tales, “ever after”, fairy tale, karol kelley, classic version cinderella, cinderella story, evil sister, self esteem, andy tennant, drew barrymore, movie “ever, drew barrymore p634, movie “ever after”,