Juggling Symbolism in Deconstructing the Contemporary Fairy Tale: The Case of “Cinderella”

            Symbolism can be easily depicted in the history of fairy tales, especially ones concerned with women’s discourse. In the fairy tale cannon, symbolism has been used by patriarchy as a cultural as well as a political tool by authors of the fairy tale genre, so when viewing symbolism in fairy tales, it should be traced back to the values and norms in the cultures behind those tales. However, contemporary feminist fairy tales that portray female characters with a focus on their subjectivity, reject the portrayal of female passivity and weakness found in traditional tales. A major part of the feminist discourse looks at symbols as an agent of women’s empowerment. With the emergence of third-wave feminism, writers as well as film authors and directors have started to express women’s views through fairy tales. In the light of the modern views about the use of symbolism, I argue that contemporary fairy tales juggle symbolism as a means of resistance.
          In the light of the aforementioned account, the present paper examines three contemporary retellings of “Cinderella” including Tanith Lee’s short story “When the Clock Strikes” (1983), Emma Donoghue’s short story “The Tale of the Shoe” (1993), and Andy Tennant’s film Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998). The researcher addresses three symbols, namely “The Symbol of Silk,” “The Symbol of Number Three” and “The Symbol of the Clock”. Interestingly, findings show that contemporary versions of “Cinderella” reinvent female characters, and revisit them to come up with ways to empower women as a counterattack against patriarchal versions with their oppressed women.