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Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Awesome Adaptations (57) Fairy Tales: Cinderella

Posted by Charlene // Tags: ,
This meme celebrates an awesome adaptation related to a weekly category. Any format of adaptation (television series, film, web series, etc.) is acceptable as long as it is based in some form on a book. Awesome Adaptations was created by Alisa Selene at PictureMeReading.

An Awesome Adaptation set in a school
Title: Fairy Tales: Cinderella
Adapted from: Cinderella

In 2008, the BBC adapted four fairy tales in modern retellings, and I absolutely adored their take on Cinderella when I first saw it.  Hans M. Prince (say it aloud - see what they did there?) is an eminent and well-known anthropologist and Cindy Mellor is a janitor at the university.  But she is very smart and when Prince is looking for a research assistant, Cindy wants to apply for the job, even though she has no credentials and is self-taught.  At first Prince is very dismissive and arrogant, but Cindy challenges his views on some of his anthropological theories and when he realizes she may be right, he has to find her to offer her the job.  Of course with some romantic interest included.

The interaction between Prince and Cindy is sparkling and fun - especially because Prince is really so arrogant in the beginning and it's great to see him get a reality check near the end from Cindy.  And Cindy is intimidated at first but eventually realizes she has so much to offer that she shouldn't feel unworthy and it's great to see her grow and become more confident.  The parts of the evil stepmother and stepsisters are very well filled in by an ambitious research department head and the two students she would like to see get the job.  This adaptation is just so cute and inventive with the wonderful twist that Prince and Cindy become interested in each other because of mutual respect for each other's intelligence.  There's lots of humor as well because of plenty of farcical moments, and the romance is certainly sweet and beautifully developed!