A Feminist Fairy Tale

So I'm taking this Intro to Feminism class online from Penn State and one of our projects is to re-write a classic fairy tale from a feminist perspective. Here's my version of "Cinderella". Enjoy!

Here's the prompt:

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice…
Writing a Feminist Fairy Tale
(Approx. 500 words)
How many hours a week would you guess that a 1 year old toddler watches television? Well, given that the American Pediatric Association recommends that children under 2 years of age don't watch any television, it's surprising that, on average, those one-year-old toddlers are watching about 6 hours a week ! And that's even better than the 20 hours (on average) that children ages 2-10 watch! So as parents across the country pop in the next Disney DVD, let's take a moment to think about the gender messages that come across and see if we can do a bit of intervention.
Student Project: Read the classic fairy tales Snow White and Cinderella . Choose one story to rewrite from a feminist perspective. You will be graded on creativity and originality, as well as your ability to consider new ways of understanding gender roles. Your story should challenge conventional themes such as rescuing others, submissiveness/ aggressiveness, domesticity, concern with physical appearance, etc. You should target this story to a young audience—feel free to situate the story in any setting. You may tailor the story to suit your needs, but the overall arc of the story should remain intact. Be imaginative.

My story is under the cut.


The Ella Story (Cinder optional)

Once upon time there was a girl named Ella who lived with her father and mother in a small home. Then her mother died. Dad roamed the streets and found a new wife. Although this woman was very nice to Ella’s dad, she was very mean to Ella and always treated her own two daughters much better than Ella.

In the winter, they never gave her enough clothing to keep warm and so Ella had to resort to playing in the ashes of the fireplace to stay warm. One day, Ella’s dad came home from work and saw the sisters cackling at Ella and taunting her and calling her Cinderella. His heart was so hurt, that he decided to separate from the stepmother. So Ella and her father moved out of the big house that the stepmother owned and into a dainty little shack near the interstate. Ella’s father couldn’t bear to see Ella burdened with all of the housework by herself, so he decided to stay home and help. He also found a job cleaning other people’s houses too. Because cleaning work doesn’t pay as well as doing business, Ella and her father lived very humbly. They were happy, but they were also very poor.

One day, as Ella’s father was sweeping the walkway to some grand house, he overheard the neighbors talking about the grand ball that the governor was holding to celebrate his son’s return. Ella’s father saw this as an opportunity for Ella to make new friends and hurried home to tell Ella the good news!

In his hurry, he tripped over the threshold to his cozy little shack and broke his foot. Ella immediately dropped everything she was doing to rush over to her father’s side. She ran for the doctor, but sadly, their fees were all so high (and she had no insurance)! So she rushed back home and comforted her father, situated him as best she could in his bed and sat by his side as he told her all about the governor’s grand ball. Presently she started to cry deep, choking sobs of sorrow. Here, this strange portly woman dressed in a glittery gown appeared at Ella’s side.
“Crying because you can’t go to the ball, Ella?” inquired the portly woman.
“Who are you, and what are you doing in my home?” yelled Ella, angrily.
“I’m your fairy godmother, you silly goose! I’ve come to help you get to the ball, so you can stop weeping now.”
“You moron, I’m not worried about the ball! I don’t even want to go now! I’m crying about my father! He just broke his foot! Jeez! A ball…! Come on!”

The fairy godmother, although a bit shocked that her goddaughter just called her a moron, gladly fixed up her father. A tap of her magic wand, and her father was good as new, no broken anything! She turned to Ella, sized her up with her eyes, did a circle or two and nodded a few times.
“Mmhmm. I think I have just the dress for you, Ella-dear!” she said, as she whipped out an entire rack of expensive designer dresses.
“We’ve got silk chemise, satin, crushed velvet, anything you can think of!”
“Great.” says Ella. She proceeds to reach into the rack and pulls out a hideous seafoam green and dandelion yellow cotton polyester mess. “Here. I want this one.”
The godmother, holding back her vomit, tutted at her. “No, no, no, dear. Obviously you need much more help than I imagined.” With a wave of her wand, Ella found herself in a tailored, sky-blue silk evening gown with none of the puffs or tulles she imagined. With another wave of her wand, the fairy godmother produced a shiny new Rolls Royce limosine complete with mini bar and chauffer.
Ella makes a face of disgust, “What is THIS?!”
Rolling her eyes, the fairy godmother replied, “We can’t have you going to the ball in a 1987 Volvo, you know.”
Ella retorts, “Hey Volvo’s are super safe, you know. But fine, no Volvo. I want a Vespa instead.”
The fairy godmother stops pushing Ella into the Rolls Royce and just stands there, dumbfounded, “You mean Vespa, like the scooter?!”
“Yes, godmother. A Vespa.”

The fairy godmother, though looking down on the choice, has no choice but to grant Ella’s wish to go to the ball in a Vespa.

So Ella zooms off to the ball in a shiny, new, fire-engine red Vespa.

At the ball, she mingles, picks up a conversation there, and a conversation here; maybe makes a few new friends. She introduces herself to everyone she sees, and gradually makes her way to the front of the crowd of townspeople waiting eagerly to welcome the governor’s son.
The governor’s son finally makes his appearance, and as he slowly descends the grand staircase, his eye catches Ella’s. He’s so captivated by her beauty that he trips down the rest of the flight of stairs. Ella manages to push past the guards and run to his side to help him to his feet and at that moment, the governor’s son fell in love.

And the rest? They say it’s history.