Ever After
Written by Nostalgia Chick Friday, 28 May 2010 18:10
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05.28.2010 - 18:44 | comicchaser
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06.14.2010 - 15:43 | pagan_born87
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05.28.2010 - 18:54 | incrobe
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05.28.2010 - 19:23 | zeitgeist1138

Great review, Lindsay. "Oh my god, it's six a.m., and that bitch is still singing." :D
Anyway, I think the need to retell the Cinderella story or a variation of it is because it has been a strong motif since medieval romances, through the Disney princess genre, and is a permanent part of popular culture. While most heroines of medieval poetry are passive (e.g.: Lai le Freine), some are active (to a point) to get what they want (e.g.: Emare). I'm guessing that most Cinderella stories and its analogues (a la Disney) relied on the passive heroine because the "damsel in distress" motif waiting for the obligatory hero was a common way to tell the story. Regardless of attempts to make the Cinderella heroine play a more active role, I guess most studios will simply fall back on a more passive characterization.
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Isnt it funny that the Guy pining for the Red haired Heroine in Enchanted, is also the guy that played Cyclops in the Xmen Movies, who also likes a certain red head???
@Nella
MY Sword is BIGGAR...I dont mean that figuratively-I own a Spanish 35Lb Brass Trimmed Dual Edged Sword with Red Velvet Trim on the Handle . I use it to pwn unappologetically...Not really, but i just have it.@NChick
Thanks for the review, oddly enough i thought you were just gonna review enchanted.
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05.29.2010 - 15:30 | dudeintheskully
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05.28.2010 - 19:29 | Wolfgar
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05.30.2010 - 01:04 | chrismccart

Some of them are funny, some insightful; and I don't know about everyone else but there are times (chiefly when its really early in the morning - I mean when the sun is about an hour away from splitting the trees) when my brain just can't take all of Lindsay's ideas in!
The Smurfette Principle had me and a buddy whincing! "Too late! :0 Too much thought!! :S Tiny man-brain cannot process! :pinch: ...*BOOM!*"
...Well, everything but the last part. In all honesty though, I haven't even attempted to watch that one since then... truthfully, I'm a little afraid of what it might do to my head... :(
Otherwise, keep it up, Lindsay! Though be gentle where the math is concerned... for the sake of the poor apes you ladies affectionately dub... 'men'. ...It is affectionately... right? :huh:
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05.28.2010 - 19:36 | e33laf
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05.28.2010 - 23:38 | Hatterlet
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06.01.2010 - 18:45 | theSnark
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05.30.2010 - 10:43 | Jumpman256
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05.28.2010 - 19:41 | Duskar
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05.28.2010 - 19:51 | randomperson3
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05.28.2010 - 19:51 | LauraRiddle
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05.28.2010 - 19:52 | Darkseid
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05.28.2010 - 19:54 | Ethan
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05.28.2010 - 20:04 | Bear-kun
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05.28.2010 - 20:04 | kyrieeleison
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Welcome back! Glad to see another review. Also, it is always entertaining to see Nella's cameos.
Do you come up with what she should do, or does she or both?
Either way always entertaining.
I am a 21yr old guy and I still enjoy Ever After to this day. I just can't help it lol Though I really did enjoy Enchanted as well and I'll admit, even Ella Enchanted, even if I only watched it originally because of Anne Hathaway and then got all into the dance move once I heard them singing Queen, though, even though too some they butchered it, well, I still liked it once again, I guess I'm that forgiving of films lol
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05.28.2010 - 20:08 | Squeezebox
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05.28.2010 - 20:10 | DecapitatedAnimalCrackers

I really like how your videos aren't just funny movie reviews and explore the context in which these movies were made and their culture implications. It more like nostalgic analysis. The textuality definitely adds to the analysis of all the movies, but sometimes it's hard to keep track of which movie you are commenting on since you keep jumping back and forth. I think if you video would be more accessible if it was more linear. By that I mean going through the movies chronologically and drawing similarities and cultural implications afterwards.
I notice you're a little anti-princess or at least you try to examine the princess icon for what it is. I'm interested in what you as our Nostalgia Chick were into when you were a little girl and what shaped your definition of girlhood and eventually womanhood.
I liked that Utopia bit. I wonder if the screenwriter was trying to make a point about something.
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05.28.2010 - 20:15 | Konungarike

A new NChick episode so soon! My week is saved!
And agreeing with above commenters on that NChick's stuff is the most intelligent on the entire site. It actually makes us internet-dwellers think for ourselves and ultimately become more respectable as people.
That said, I do miss some of the earlier reviews played for laughs sometimes. I still think her earlier works, especially Pocahontas and She-Ra, are her most entertaining (Read: has most rewatch value) material.
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05.28.2010 - 20:16 | ManWithGoodTaste
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05.28.2010 - 20:22 | whatever42

Pretty interesting and entertaining take on the classic Cindarella story. I never really realized just how many movies use the basic structure there.
On a side note, I hope we can see more and more of Nella. Her appearences are very entertaining.
Nice video Nostalgia Chick. I look forward to the next one.
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05.28.2010 - 20:28 | tehrin

Nella looks fabulous.
"Ever After" was my comfort movie when I was thirteen because I did find Danielle to be a strong character. I wasn't really interested in the Prince at all. Maybe Da Vinci gave her wings so she could be a flying fish?
Have you seen "Mulan 2"? The plot centers around the engagements of three noble ladies through arranged marriage. They happen to embody the feminine ideals which each of Mulan's three stooges sang about in the first film. It's Mulan, Shang and Co.'s duty to protect them as they travel to a foreign land (Mongolia I think?) to be married. Mulan is indeed engaged to Shang at the beginning of the film. There's some conflict between them, but of course, there's a wedding and "happily ever after" for everybody at the end. Classic Disney formula ultimately supporting traditional gender roles and marriage with no other themes but that, undoing the messages of the first film, complete with a song about yin and yang needing each other to be whole.
I shudder when they get around to making a "The Princess and the Frog 2."
Anyways, great review. This may be my favorite.
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05.29.2010 - 07:16 | Alohilani
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05.28.2010 - 20:27 | ares2101

Not sure if this is normal for a guy, but I always liked Ever After. It's the only Cinderella-type movie I can say I like. I like how they actually give Barrymore's character some real depth and how they make one of the step-sisters actually nice in a way.
Of course, there's also the epic Oh Sh*t look on Angelica Houston's face in the end when she sees Danielle all dressed up in that courtroom, knowing the girl she mistreated for the past decade now has power over her
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05.28.2010 - 20:33 | DyloniusFunk

I'm a guy and "Ever After" is a movie i won't have a problem watching. It's not one i neccessarily seek out but if it comes on and there is nothing else on or i'm at someone else house i'll watch it. It's got some interesting things like having Leonardo DaVinci involved with the whole affair and making the story a flashback. My father liked it because he was a fan of Angelica Houston. She's got a certain charisma about her. Barrymore was pretty good too. The Disney version is pretty formulaic for the most part. About the only difference between that, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty is the heroine gets to spend the entire movie awake.
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05.28.2010 - 20:28 | takineko
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05.28.2010 - 20:33 | NostalgiaTraitor
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05.28.2010 - 22:38 | Kgent
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05.28.2010 - 20:35 | Solrider77

Hey Nostalgia Chick,
Are you aware of the comic series FABLES from Dark Horse Comics? Very interesting stuff, the story is what happens to the characters from fairy tales and fables after they've been booted from their land and forced to live in our world for the last 4 or 5 centuries. Yeah in this comic all the characters from the fables lived in the same lands, so they all knew each other.
How this relates to Cinderella is this, she's the ex-wife of Prince Charming. In fact she one of three ex-wifes since Charming here is the same guy in the stories of Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella. So yeah in this series Charming is a total prick, who cheated on all three of them. How the women coupe with that is interesting, Snow ends up becoming a Deputy mayor of Fabletown (the setting of the series), Beauty's living an upper class life, and Cinderella has become a spy.
That's right, in this series Cinderella has become a spy and assassin for the Fabletown government. She recently starred in her own spin off miniseries CINDERELLA: FROM FABLETOWN WITH LOVE, which is both a homage and spoof of spy stories. The creators of FABLES said they choose to make Cinderella a spy because it something totally unexpected. Do you agree with this? Or is this simply the logical extreme end of making Cinderella an assertive character?
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05.29.2010 - 03:50 | Eyeshot

All right, I'm gonna go see 'Sex and the City 2' ... though I'll call it by its original name, 'Men, What Are They Good For?'
BTW, in the original written story (made by the Brothers Grimm [I think]) Cinderella actually breaks her glass slipper and cuts her foot on it. The Prince's men then go out to find a woman with a cut-up foot. One word: Enchanting!!!
Also, what is it about scenery that makes actors like Anjelica Hustin chew on it? Does it taste like chicken?
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05.28.2010 - 21:17 | PIE!!!
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05.28.2010 - 20:39 | Cyndaquil

You should look up "Ashiepattle" in "Grimm Selected Tales."
This was the original Cinderella. You'd be surprised how feminist most of our beloved folk tales really were. There was no fairy godmother, but Ashie somehow did her own magic. The step-sister cut off her own toes to fit the shoe, and was later blinded blinded by birds.
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05.28.2010 - 22:42 | tehrin
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05.29.2010 - 10:25 | ASqueakyToy
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05.29.2010 - 17:33 | LifeShouldBeAMusical

Oddly enough, there's a fairy tale by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen (1812-1885) called "The Princess Whom Nobody Could Silence" that is sort of a gender-swapped Cinderella story, with a (male) protagonist named "Ashiepaddle." The plot goes something like this:
There's a princess whom nobody can silence, and her father gets so fed up with this he offers to marry her and give half the kingdom to anyone who can make her be quiet. A lot of people try, they fail.
On the other side of the kingdom, there's this peasant named Ashiepaddle. He and his brothers decide to go and see if they can silence her, because there's a kingdom and a beautiful princess to be won. Ashiepaddle picks up a bunch of random junk off the ground, and is ridiculed by his brothers for it. When the get to the palace, his brothers fail, but he ends up having this long conversation with the princess regarding the junk, which eventually confounds/stuns her to silence. He wins her and the kingdom, the end.Another typical anti-feminist fairytale. The only female in the entire story is this princess, and her sole character trait is that she is annoying because she talks a lot. And she's beautiful, because this is a fairy tale and she's a princess.
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05.28.2010 - 20:41 | jz1337
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05.28.2010 - 20:44 | Wealedout
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05.29.2010 - 18:05 | Robinhoodarch
Very interesting stuff yet again, Lindsay. Keep it coming.