Aschenputtel – Cinderwench

Hello everyone!

Welcome to my third post. Today I want to talk about the class we had related with tales, more specifically with “Cinderella”.

Most of us know the story because we have seen the sweet version of Disney. But the truth is that the original versions are not that sweet and for that reason the target of this story it wasn´t for children in a first place but for members of the high society.

In my opinion, it is really interesting to see how different versions appeared in different times and places and apparently, they didn’t know about the existence of the other story or version. From my point of view this is a bit strange, and I wonder how can this be possible, maybe it is just a coincidence, but there are some specific things they have in common that made me been really suspicious about it. For example, in both versions, Grimm’ and Perrault’, the mother of Cinderella dies, the father get married for a second time, Cinderella has two stepsisters that treat her badly, the Prince looks for a Queen and celebrates a ball or festival, Cinderella forget the slipper and so on. I don’t know about you but I think this is too much to just be a coincidence.

Anyway, I can’t say they were copying ideas but that’s what it seems to me. With this, I don’t mean to say this is something bad, they are just different versions, the same happens with the movies. There are a lot of films that have been versioned by different directors and each of them changes something, because they evolve with the pass of the time; ideas, thoughts, beliefs… changes with the society and I think movies are a good way of reflect them.

Finally, I want to add that we have to be very careful with the things we take to class. In the case of the tales, sometimes we are not aware of some messages that can be transmited. Sometimes we are focusing on something that much that we can’t see in an objective way and this is something that we can’t allow to ourselves as future teachers.

One thought on “Aschenputtel – Cinderwench

  1. Hi Elena, glad you found the Cinderella lesson interesting. I consider that the story was a popular tale until these authors collected it in their compilations. Until then, it had been spread by word of mouth. In any case, each of the authors is incorporating something of their own contexts. Regarding bringing stories into your lessons, you should not be afraid if critical thinking is used effectively. :)

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