Earliest Memory...and more

The first memory I can recall was at my second birthday. I remember wearing a frilly colorful dress, my hair curled, and sitting on the kitchen table in front of my cake. My relatives were all surrounding the table, getting ready to sing happy birthday to me. My dad, back when he used to have hair, sat behind me while I perched on the table. My whole family sang happy birthday to me, and when they finished, my dad told me I could take a bite of the cake. So, instead of waiting for a plate, I threw my whole face in the middle of the cake and took a moutful. I lifted my head up and my face was covered in while frosting, and there was a face-sized hole in the middle of the cake. All my relatives laughed and were surprised.

Over the weekend, I also read the three versions of Cinderella. The Disney version was very familiar and was the cinderella story I was used to. I'd heard of the Grimm version before, but had never read the whole story. I was surprised at how gruesome and violent it was, with the stepsisters cutting off parts of their feet, and birds pecking out their eyes. I can see why Disney sugar-coated the story for young children. If not, it might have been more of a horror story. The Chinese version was extremely different from both of the previous ones, and I didn't enjoy it as much, but it had an interesting take on the story. Overall, I liked the grimm version the best. Even though it was violent, it gave many details and I felt like it explained the story more fully.

Overall, the story of Cinderella is the story of "rags to riches", and there are so many modern versions and interpretations of that theme that it would be impossible to name them all. Just a few of the recent films I can think of are Ever After, A Cinderella Story, Enchanted, and Ella Enchanted.

Since this class involves alot of fairytales and retellings, it makes me think of one of my favorite movies: The Tenth Kingdom. It's actually a t.v. mini-series at 7 hours long, but it's always been one of my favorites. The story combines numerous fairytales, such as cinderella, snow white, little red riding hood, the three little pigs, and rumplestilskin, alone with many other fantasy elements. If there could be any story that involved the retelling of countless fairytales, the tenth kingdom would be that story. As far as I can tell, not many people have seen it. Nonetheless, I highly recommend it.