Genre notes - ANALYSIS - four Cinderella stories

8/7/2019 Genre notes - ANALYSIS - four Cinderella stories

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CINDERELLA, PYGMALION AND CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC – AN EMOTIONAL JOURNEY COMPARISON

STORY PARADIGM – VIRTUES OBSCURED IN ANOTHER’S EYES

CINDERELLA PYGMALION CONFESSIONS PRETTY WOMAN

ACT ONEHer negativesituation - theperson that shefears she willalways be seen as:

A scullery maidand the poorer of two older, uglierstep sisters. Theunderdog left athome to sweep thehearth

A lower workingclass flower girl

Working at aGardeningmagazine, up toher eyeballs indebt because of ashopping addiction

Working as astreet-level hooker– the lowest of thelow.

But… she hassome innate goodqualities goingunrecognised:

She is kind,generous andhumble: deservesbetter

She has a goodheart, a sense of humour – a goodsoul, but lost andunlucky.

An opportunitydenied OR hernegative situationbecomes acute /desperate:

Going to the ball(because she isnothing but aworthless scullerymaid)

Manning her ownflower shop inCovent Garden(because shedoesn’t have theright accent)

Working at afashion magazine(because hershopping addictiongot in the way of getting to theinterview in timeand the post was

already filled)“Arrival of the FairyGodmother” –break into Act 2

Fairy GM turns upand turns mice intofootmen, sewingher a beautifuldress andeverything she willneed to completethe transformationinto beautiful

Henry Higginsturns up and, onhearing her, saysshe will make anexcellent phoneticsproject and takeson a bet with hisfellow phoneticscolleague that he

The receptionist atthe magazinecompany suggeststhat she tries for a job at anothermagazine, MoneyMatters are hiring,and this will giveher an opportunity

Richard Gerearrives in aPorsche; ends uphiring her to spendthe night. Actchanges when heasks her to spendthe week with him.




princess can convince politesociety that thisflower girl is, infact, aristocracy

for the fashionmagazine, sooneror later, as theyhired within.Interviewed by itseditor, LukeBrandon, and,eventually, given job.

ACT 2 Transformation of her Exterior,creating a hugecontrast with her

Act 1 “problem self / appearance”

Turned into abeautiful princessby GM providedaccessories –

slippers provided

Is taught, alongwith her own hardwork andapplication, to

present herself asa lady, both interms of how shelooks and how shespeaks. Shown ata meeting withHH’s mother thattransformation isnot quite completeas content of whatshe says is not yet

quite ladylike

Instead of completing aboring new workassignment, she

goes on a shoppingspree where shehas an idea for acolumn called Girlin The Green Scarf,which is an instanthit and impressesthe CEO of themag. She alsoconvinceseveryone that the

debt collector whohas been followingher since the start,is just her stalker.She is invited to aconference andball by LukeBrandon, who isalso impressed.

Buys the clothes of the Beverly Hillsrich – gets use of the credit card.

At the ball – Plain scullery maid Eliza wins Higgins She charms and Battles hotel




tension between“exteriorappearance” and“interior self”. Fearof being “foundout”:

dressed asbeautiful womanwows all the guestthrough herbeauty, and inparticular theprince. But knowsit must end atmidnight.

his bet byconvincing thearistocracy thatshe is a princess.She speaks,delivers andpresents herself asroyalty

impresses a coupleof CEOS of majorcompanies whoagree to advertisein Money Matters.Her charmimpresseseveryone andincreasingly winsover Luke

concierge’ssnobbery; facesdiscrimination inboutiques; lacksthe requiredmanners. Cannotfully relax andenjoy the goodfortune – it’s a job.It will end.

Dancing with theprince –honeymoonmoment – oldexterior forgotten:

Dancing with theprince, feeling likea princess

Consorting with thearistocracy, feelinglike one of them

Charming thebusinessmen,feeling like a paidup, legitimatemember of journalistic body

At the opera, isoverwhelmed – itspeaks to her soul.He “glimpses hertrue self”. Sheloses herself in itsbeauty.

“Midnight flight” –exposure of original self – flees,shamed.

Clock strikesmidnight and allaccessories will bereturned to theiroriginal form. Shereturns,heartbroken,without her prince

and to herdestitute life oncemore – all theworse now forhaving tastedsomething better

Is furious with HHfor his abrasive,mercenaryrudeness –brushing her off and ignoring hernow that she haswon him her bet.

She neverthelessfetches his slippersand, in doing so,shows signs thather underclass,subservientcharacter is stillalive. Higginsberates her forwanting to be

Luke and Beckyhave a lovely timeat conference, goshopping and flirttogether. Agirlfriend turns upand invites him tothe ball to which

she was supposedto go. She returnshome, brokenhearted.

Gere’s businesspartner knowsshe’s a hooker;shamed andhumiliated by him,she flees the polomatch.




treated like aprincess when shestill isn’t behavinglike one. Elizaberates him forpicking her up,turning her intosomething anddropping her inbetween twoworlds, in whichshe belongs toneither. She stormsout.

ACT 3Dark moment –back to her originalsituation, onlyworse (havingexperienced andnow lost the“Honeymoon” joys).

Back to being ascullery maid withbullying sisters

Packs her stuff androams the street,like a flower girl,and finds Freddy

BF convinces her to join a shopping AAwhere Becky isforced to donate allher clothes tocharity – includedthe bridesmaidsdress she wassupposed to wearto her friend’s

wedding and thedress she wasgoing to wearduring a tvinterview for Girl inGreen Scarf. Shecan reclaim onlyone dress andchooses theinterview dress.

She has losteverything. Back toa life on thestreets, but with arenewed sense of her own value –fuck those snobbyassholes.




While recording thelive tv interview,the debt collectorturns up and

publicly outs her asowing lots of money. She losesher job at MoneyMatters. BF isappalled she gotrid of her BM dressand doesn’t let herback in theapartment. No job,nowhere to liveand no boyfriend

Meanwhile, princehas been affectedby meeting her; hehas changed /seeks her out:

Has decidedCinders is the one,finds the glassslipper andconducts anationwide searchfor this beautiful,beguiling woman

HH goes and seekscounsel from hismother, who is awise woman andsays that he hasbeen treating Elizawith disrespect andnot listening towhat she wants.

During thisconversation herealises the error of his ways.

Big CEOS aredisappointed not tohave BeckyBloomwoodinvolved in theirbusiness becauseshe adds glamourand spark andpassion. Luke sees

her value and isinspired to openBrandonCommunications,his own company,with a bank loan,moving out of themagazineconsortiumaltogether.

Gere is inspired byher to become“someone whomakes things”. Heturns his plannedhostile takeoverinto a partnership.He severs ties(punches) the

partner whoinsulted Julia.




Meanwhile, Fashionmag CEO turns upand offers Becky acolumn writing

about bargain sales– which Beckyturns down as itwould be evenmore irresponsibleof her toencourage womento spend on highend clothes andget into the awfultrouble she hasbeen in. Shedecides to makeamends by sellingall her stuff in aboot sale to pay off her debts. Thefinal item is hergreen scarf - theone she boughtearlier in the film,

that made her latefor her fash mag job interview andwhich, LukeBrandon had leanther the $20 for(they did not knowwho each otherwas at time). Ananon bidder offers




a huge amount of money for the scarf and enables Beckyto pay off her

debts.“The Slipper fits” –recognition of heressential virtuedespite her“negativesituation”, leadingto “marriage” (ormetaphoricalpartnership).

Prince takes slipperto house, does notfit any of the uglysisters and insteadonly fits Cinders.Although she is justa scullery maid,and he a prince,they have foundeach other and rideoff into the sunset

HH, having seenerror of ways, saysto Eliza that theywill never bemarried but thatshe must come andlive with him andprofessor as theirequals. She rejectsthis and insteadsays she wants tomarry Freddy. Playends with Higginslaughing at this.Epilogue is thatEliza and Freddyopen flower shoptogether , make aninitial balls up of itbut are pretty

much happy everafter

Pays off debts,makes amendswith best friendand then bumpsinto Luke anddiscovers he wasthe anon bidder.She goes on towrite a columncalled “Confessionsof a Shopaholic” aspart of his newbusiness andenters into arelationship withhim.

Realising her truevalue / true virtues,Gere puts socialsnobbery aside andgoes to her andbegs for her tocome back to him. This time, as aromantic equal, nota hooker. Heproves to her thathe wants her forwho she is, not howshe has seemed toothers. Theyreunite, in love.

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Genre notes - ANALYSIS - four Cinderella stories