The Popularity of Cinderella
The classic fairy tale of Cinderella has been around for centuries. The story is consider most popular amongst children and adults as it contains romance, drama and also has a happy, feel good ending. But perhaps the real reason why Cinderella is so popular is because it follows the common theme of facing hardship and then overcoming this hardship to achieve success.
Sayer (1995) undertook a study involving 40 children (20 boys & 20 girls) aged 5-9 and 35 female adults to determine children's and adult's responses to fairy tales. Sayer (1995) found that on a scale of 1-5 children and adult's liked fairy tales with a mean result of around 3.6. Throughout her research she also found that Cinderella was in fact the most reported popular fairy tale amongst both the children and adults, with 18% of children liking it and 33% of adults. As mentioned above it is believed that children are so fond of Cinderella due to the common theme of overcoming hardship to reach success. Although the first version of Cinderella dates back to 1697, writers, filmmakers and marketers continue to replicated Perrault's work as it has proved so popular amongst children and adults. It is believed that Cinderella appeals to adults for the same reason, as it is a classic story of rags to riches. Movies such as Pretty Woman and Slum Dog Millionaire also follow a similar rags to riches story line, and these too have been proven box offices hits amongst adults.
Sayer (1995) undertook a study involving 40 children (20 boys & 20 girls) aged 5-9 and 35 female adults to determine children's and adult's responses to fairy tales. Sayer (1995) found that on a scale of 1-5 children and adult's liked fairy tales with a mean result of around 3.6. Throughout her research she also found that Cinderella was in fact the most reported popular fairy tale amongst both the children and adults, with 18% of children liking it and 33% of adults. As mentioned above it is believed that children are so fond of Cinderella due to the common theme of overcoming hardship to reach success. Although the first version of Cinderella dates back to 1697, writers, filmmakers and marketers continue to replicated Perrault's work as it has proved so popular amongst children and adults. It is believed that Cinderella appeals to adults for the same reason, as it is a classic story of rags to riches. Movies such as Pretty Woman and Slum Dog Millionaire also follow a similar rags to riches story line, and these too have been proven box offices hits amongst adults.