Cinders: A Cinderella Podcast: Recent Episodes
Grace Elyse
While many classic fairy tales have remained prevalent in popular culture over the centuries, perhaps none have been more ubiquitous than Cinderella and her journey from servant covered in soot to princess with her glass slippers. This podcast will explore the Cinderella fairytale, and how its legacy evolved from its earliest origins in ninth century China, to a Grimm fairytale, a Disney animated film, and now endless adaptations in books, movies, television, music and more.
Grace Elyse desperately needed to take off this week. So instead of Cinders, this is an episode of the new podcast Grace is hosting with her friends Sam and Sanjana—Rose Watch: Just Another Bachelor Podcast. Listen to a cynic, a believer, and an in-betweener discuss their thoughts on the Bachelor Franchise. This is the first recap of the first episode of Michelle Young's Season.
Find Rose Watch wherever you get your podcasts!
This week, we continue to examine the "inverted Cinderella" with Notting Hill and Pretty Woman. Along the way, the episode veers into an existential crisis about the economic politics of the fairy tale, and I decide that Shrek is a real one.
Resources:
"A Modern Cinderella" by Karol Kelley
It's a tale as old as time, just switch the gender of your major character, and you've got yourself a reboot! So why do we rarely see adaptations with the genders reversed? Is the rags to riches story specific to women? We take a look at the 1960 Jerry Lewis film, Cinderfella, and dig further into male-centric Cinderella stories...or the lack thereof.
A Gay Cinderella Story
If Cinderella Were a Guy
If the Shoe Fits
Cinderfella by Todrick Hall
This week, we discuss Ever After(1998) and how the film uses the Cinderella story to interrogate modern society in a Renaissance setting. Socialism and chickens are involved.
*This episode contains spoilers.
Things went awry this week, so we're doing a mini-sode. It turns out, I am very much not a fan of A Cinderella Story, so much so that I could not stand to do a proper episode about it. Apologies to my fellow millenials. In any case, here's what I wrangled together!
Resources:
"I Watched Every Single Cinderella Story Movie So You Don't Have To" by Sidney Rochnik - https://www.mvhsoracle.com/2019/12/12/i-watch-every-cinderella-story-movie-so-you-dont-have-to/
"How Many Cinderella Adaptations Do We Need?" by Princess Weekes - https://www.themarysue.com/how-many-cinderella-adaptations-do-we-need/
This week we're talking foot and shoe fetishes! For a tale that promotes piety, Cinderella managed to sneak some pretty feisty stuff in there.
“Fetishism in Cinderella and the Impotence of Prince Charming”by Cara Burgio: https://steepstairs.wordpress.com/2016/10/15/fetishism-in-cinderella-and-the-impotence-of-prince-charming/
"A Cross-Cultural Investigation of the Role of Foot Size in Physical Attractiveness" by Daniel Fessler: https://www.academia.edu/2356194/A_Cross_Cultural_Investigation_of_the_Role_of_Foot_Size_in_Physical_Attractiveness
"An analysis of shoe within the context of social history of fashion" by Asli Sanckatar: http://library.iyte.edu.tr/tezler/master/endustriurunleritasarimi/T000364.pdf
"Cinderella: the glass slippers are actually a sexual metaphor" by Shanee Edwards: https://www.sheknows.com/entertainment/articles/1076609/cinderella-glass-slippers-are-actually-sexual-metaphor/
From Foot Fetish to Hand Fetishby Jiang Jiang: https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/41315187/22.1.jiang-with-cover-page-v2.pdf?Expires=1632108457&Signature=GrTzBUqpHK34tmO7TjioTiyANMqz7f0QB~JLZMuwkxKcv6t7lBkHl2IoVtiN6kHL5MJjWOWmEPhedJkUb0fM-H5jyy8-P-XtWTuR2CfMaEX-cgv~iSt~7qdTupsJ0cjMO~mGxzhYq9KcIERVaTrRaqRHVKMPjFZfnx06h3ZiPh8I3w~ax7m8HsoxvUd4nhLuCsxYbJemnZgIb7hgj3co2tvYfTOy2EwO0-EL17THX8ixYapapp9jtT2jZQ2FD0LlzJa6m9TcF3VTFgISJRIxxxl-6t6nsI7Bvja2nIJEX-XKczcdmy0k04Fg-qdvfBtvDr6doNGK7PkmDFjvDYNI0Q__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA
This week we discuss Cindy, a musical TV film from 1978 that features an all-Black cast. Along the way we cover the Bible, the Harlem Riots of 1943, the Double V Campaign, and not settling for Prince Charming. A true journey for one of my favorite episodes.
Resources:
Cindy (Full Movie): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Nt7LbudnBc&t=8s
Harlem Setting for Cinderella (New York Times Review): https://www.nytimes.com/1978/03/24/archives/tv-harlem-setting-for-cinderella.html
Little Glass Slippers on the American Silver Screen by Minu Susan Koshy: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/b383/1aab343c78e7a2e39128c7b4f6d3d0e09398.pdf
Harlem Riots of 1943: https://www.baruch.cuny.edu/nycdata/disasters/riots-harlem_1943.html
Double V Campaign: https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/exhibitions/double-victory#:~:text=In%201942%20the%20Pittsburgh%20Courier,Americans%20in%20the%20United%20States.
Interview with Stepp Stewart: https://www.wabe.org/cinderella-goes-harlem-cindy-musical/
We take a deep dive into the beloved book Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine. What if Cinderella's obedience was not the character trait of a humble maiden, but a lifelong curse that robbed her of free will?
This episode contains spoilers
Resources:
Unbreakable Glass Slippers by Tori Shereen Mirsadjadi: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1042&context=scripps_theses
Not All Work Is Depicted Equal by Jennifer Erin Johnson: https://open.library.ubc.ca/media/stream/pdf/24/1.0067700/1
Ella Evolving by Linda T. Parsons: https://www.crsd.org/cms/lib/PA01000188/Centricity/Domain/667/English/Fairy%20Tales/Cinderella%20Stories%20and%20the%20Construction%20of%20Gender%20Appropriate%20Behavior.pdf
How The Heroine Of ‘Ella Enchanted’ (Accidentally) Became A Feminist Icon by Claire Fallon: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ella-enchanted-feminist-nostalgia_n_597bb2e7e4b02a8434b6866e
Join Grace Elyse as she watches the new Cinderella film starring Billy Porter, Camila Cabello sigh, and James Corden double sigh. It might be a good idea to crack open a drink for this one...
In this episode, we analyze the two versions of Cinderella that inspired many of the features we see in Cinderella tales today. Plus I introduce a new segment to the pod, Cinderella Watch!
Resources:
Full Cendrillon Text: https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/perrault06.html
Full Aschenputtel Text: https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm021.html
Unhappily Ever After by Maddie Crum: https://testkitchen.huffingtonpost.com/grimm/#introduction/
A Grimm Reminder by Kerstina Reba Ouimet: https://open.library.ubc.ca/soa/cIRcle/collections/undergraduateresearch/52966/items/1.0221649
Cinderella Tales and Their Significance: https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=honorscollege_anthro
After the Shoe Fits by Faith Boren: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/After-the-Shoe-Fits%3A-A-Rhetorical-Analysis-of-Four-Boren/aa592ad333ab7f61309d04b91718567baab70667
Looking back on the history of Cinderella, and exploring what may have been the first Cinderella story on record: Ye Xian.
Resources:
Full Ye Xian Text: https://www.slps.org/cms/lib03/MO01001157/Centricity/Domain/4081/Cinderella--Ye%20Xian--China%20ancient%20and%20modern.pdf
Ye Xian on CBS Storybreak: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYvh5QZRKjE
"Asian Origins of Cinderella" by Fay Beauchamp: https://journal.oraltradition.org/wp-content/uploads/files/articles/25ii/10_25.2.pdf
"The Fairy-Tale Girl in Chinese Culture" by Weilin Luo: http://repositorium.uminho.pt/bitstream/1822/64313/1/Weilin%2BLuo.pdf
Music from Uppbeat:
- https://uppbeat.io/t/danijel-zambo/dreamin, License code: AKU1ETS8SK7IW3YN
- https://uppbeat.io/t/noxz/lexie, License code: YJSXCBXCOAW3QQLJ
**While many classic fairy tales have remained prevalent in popular culture over the centuries, perhaps none have been more ubiquitous than Cinderella and her journey from servant covered in soot to princess with her glass slippers. This podcast will explore the Cinderella fairytale, and how its legacy evolved from its earliest origins in ninth century China, to a Grimm fairytale, a Disney animated film, and now endless adaptations in books, movies, television, music and more.
Music from Uppbeat: https://uppbeat.io/t/noxz/lexie**
License code: YJSXCBXCOAW3QQLJ