BEIJING, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- A young girl is pure and kind, but she is bullied and suppressed by others, met the prince under the care of heaven, and finally lived a happy life with the prince after experiencing many twists and turns.
Cinderella's meeting Prince Charming has always been the dream of countless young girls. Recently, broadway Chinese version of the musical "Cinderella" was staged in China, and it is said that the biggest difference of this version is that it more reflects Cinderella's "independence" and "growth".
Cinderella poster
From "Pride and Prejudice", "Pretty Lady of the Wind and Moon", to "The Inheritors" and "Meteor Garden", the "Cinderella" story has been staged again and again. Although the story is old-fashioned, it always attracts the attention of the audience. What kind of charm does Cinderella have that makes many people have an inseparable plot for her?
The story of Cinderella has a long history, and some people trace its earliest version back to ancient Egypt. In the 1st century BC, in the Geographical Chronicle of the Ancient Greek historian Strapo, the story of Lodopis, a Greek maiden married to Egypt, was described.
At that time, Lopez was washing clothes by the stream, when suddenly an eagle flew by, took her shoes away, and landed in front of Pharaoh, who told all egyptian women to try on shoes and not wear them, until he sent someone to Greece to find Lodopis, so he married her.
The story was widely circulated in European folklore before it was later edited and co-written by the French writer Charles Perot and the German Brothers Grimm, and the two most popular editions were also written by them.
In 1697, Perot published the fairy tale collection "The Story of Mother Goose", which included "Cinderella", which was widely popular because of the addition of three elements: pumpkin cart, fairy, and crystal shoes.
In the Grimm Brothers version, cinderella is not helped by a fairy but by a wishing tree at the grave of her mother, bringing her lucky golden shoes, including the plot of two sisters cutting off part of their feet in order to put on the shoes.
Many people do not know that there is also a version of Cinderella in China, that is, "Ye Limit" included in the late Tang Dynasty writer Duan Chengshi's Zhiwei novel "Youyang Miscellaneous Tricks".
After the accumulation of time and history, the story of Cinderella has long had a variety of variants.
The heroine is abused – meets the hero – and gets together after many twists and turns, and this "Cinderella" story model has also become a motif in literary creations, such as Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, and so on.
On the other hand, the story of Cinderella is also constantly presented on stage and in film and television works. The musical "Lady of the Wind and Moon", the movie "Pretty Lady of the Wind and Moon", many Korean dramas also have Cinderella elements, "The Heirs", "Full House of Romance", "Paris Lovers"...
Today, many idol dramas still like to use such a bridge, but people have changed their title - "Mary Sue".
In the musical "Cinderella", Cinderella's personality has also changed, she no longer passively waits for fate to come, but actively chooses a strong woman with her own destiny.
Creative and consultant producer Kevin Wallace said that in the earliest stories about "Cinderella", Cinderella had no say in her own life and always changed her life because of others.
The biggest difference in this version is that Cinderella embodies more "independence" and "growth", with the help of the fairy godmother, she meets and falls in love with the prince, and gradually understands how to take her fate into her own hands rather than entrusting the future to others.
In the play, the prince goes around looking for Cinderella with a glass shoe, but finds nothing. Cinderella went to meet the prince with her cloak, and at first she did not have the courage to say that she was the owner of the shoes. In the end, when the prince is leaving, Cinderella finally makes up her mind to pursue happiness on her own, and bravely catches up with the prince.
Not only is Cinderella in pursuit of happiness, but the prince is also looking for his own miracle. The king wanted the prince to marry the princess of a neighboring country, so that the benefits would be maximized, but the prince was not happy and wanted to find his true crush.
"But fools are not willing to give up, never willing to stay where they are, to find their miracle." This line appears many times in the play, and it can also be said to be a summary of the play.
Here, Cinderella and the prince return to ordinary boys and girls, as the play says, they "love each other and dream together, just like there are many people in the world and you".
Exquisite magic special effects, gorgeous costume props, popular and simple lines, due to the creation of an ideal fairy tale, the musical "Cinderella" was loved by many children, and when Cinderella transformed, the children all made a sound of amazement.
Why do people like Cinderella so much? Some people say that because the protagonists in other fairy tales are princesses or princes, they are too far from the lives of ordinary people, and Cinderella is very "grounded", so that many ordinary people can also resonate. After all, most people's lives are very ordinary, and who does not fantasize that miracles can happen.
It is also said that there are very simple values in cinderella's story, that is, "good repays evil with evil." The good Cinderella was finally happy, and the stepmother, who represented the evil forces, was finally punished.
However, some people have suggested that liking Cinderella also means a lack of self-confidence and a fear of independence. In the musical "Cinderella", because there is no other extension in the plot, some people think that the story is somewhat idealized and slightly childish.
In 2015, when disney-produced movie "Cinderella" was released, some netizens questioned Cinderella's positioning of herself, why when her stepmother abused her, she chose to suffer in silence rather than resist, "She should clearly tell them that she is not Cinderella, she is Rilla, the daughter who makes her father proud."
There is also a view that Cinderella is favored by men because of her youthful beauty, which is a materialization of women.
In fact, Cinderella is still the Same Cinderella, but the people who watch it have changed. With the development of the times, people no longer like the submissive heroine, but prefer a big heroine like Wei Yongluo, although born poor, but never soft in the face of evil people.
Kindness is true, but kindness is not cowardly, and you strive for happiness yourself, rather than relying on others to save you. This is probably the new understanding of Cinderella today.
And for pure and beautiful fairy tales, in fact, there is no need to be too demanding. After all, every ordinary person has longed to see a miracle, Cinderella, but it is just a dream and sustenance for them. (End)