Introduction:
The movie Ever After, was released on July 30, 1998 by 20thCentury Fox[1]. Among the many staff members responsible for the creation of the movie, are the primary creative personnel or the director Andy Tennany and the creative managers or producers Mireille Soria and Tracy Trench [1].
Genre:
Ever After is a movie that can fall under multiple genres. According to IMDb, it is classified as a drama, romance, and comedy [2]. However, I would be more inclined to, more specifically, call it a more hybrid genre of period romantic drama, Fairytale or chick flick [3, pg.75]. Without the Renaissance aspect, the film would be an entirely different one, and because of its inclusion of the tendencies and habits of people of that era it attracts a subset of audiences interested in such time periods and "provides audiences with a horizon of expectations" [3, pg.74]. The use of concepts such as “true love”, “love conquers all”, “happy endings”, and the generic presence of romance has the impact of engaging female audiences interested in distracting themselves with a fictionalized and oversimplified concept of love.
Medium:
Film as a medium, particularly in this case, has the affect of truly portraying certain themes of the movie that rely heavily on both audio and visual channels. Within the film, the concepts of wealth and beauty are heavily implied as crucial aspects. The prince is especially appealing as a man due to his status, and wealth which is visually represented through his attire, residence, and the way people treat or react to his presence. Audio is also especially important due to the emphasis that is placed on wisdom and knowledge within the film.Ultimately, Danielle makes an impact on the prince through her superior intellect and forward thinking. The dialogue between her and the prince causes the escalation of their relationship to romance. Both help tell the story though fairy tale related visuals such as the ball gowns and prince charming, and audio such as the confessions of true love.
Narrative and Storyline:
The story begins with one of the decedents of Danielle and the Prince relaying their love story to the Brothers Grimm who had recently written a rather uninformed version of “The Little Cinder Girl”. Although her voice is not heard throughout the movie, it remains implied that she is the storyteller.
The story describes the life of a girl named Danielle de Barberac. After Danielle’s father marries a baroness and shortly after dies of a heart attack, she is left at the whim of her cruel stepmother who treats her like a servant. After a chance encounter with the prince in which she makes a strong impression by expressing her strong social views, he is smitten and continues to pursue her not knowing that she is not nobility. Despite her stepmother and stepsister’s attempts to capture the prince themselves and thwart Danielle’s romance, she overcomes her position and ends up marrying the prince
Plot:
The story begins with a young Danielle saying farewell to her father who must leave for business, however as he leaves he has a heart attack and dies. His last words are loving ones for Danielle, and not his love interest the new baroness.
The story flashes forward 10 years to Danielle as a young woman tending to the estate. She is in servants clothes and is seen picking flowers when a cloaked mad rides by on one of her father’s horses. She calls the man a thief and throws an apply at him knocking him off the horse. The man turns out to be the prince of France and he gifts Danielle gold coins for her silence.
Back at the manor, Danielle returns home. She decides to use these coins to buy back a servant that her stepmother had sold off to pay her debts. Danielle must dress up as a courtier and go to court. She arrives, and demands Maurice be sold back to her, however, the cargo master refuses. At this point the Prince shows up, and defends Danielle, and tells the man to release Maurice. Danielle thanks him and attempts to flee, but having been blown away by her rant, he follows her in attempt to learn her name.
Later that day, the king tells Henry he has one week to find love, and during the ball he will announce his engagement to the girl of his choice.Over the next few days, Danielle and the Prince encounter each other several times. The next is when she decides to swim in the lake, and the prince is there with Leonardo da Vinci. He gives her his cloak to dry off, and they sit for a while discussing the lives of nobility and servants, and she lectures him on his snobbery and lack of pride for the land he owns.
Another day, the prince invites Danielle to the monastery with him. On their way home, the carriage breaks, and they are overtaken by gypsies. They end up making friends with the gypsies, and join them at their campfire until late into the night. During their drinking and talking, they eventually kiss.
Danielle’s stepmother finds out about her activities, and since she desperately wants the prince to choose her daughter Marguerite, she lashes Danielle for her insolence and disobedience and locks her away on the night of the ball where the prince will announce his engagement. Gustav fetches Leonardo who frees Danielle from her imprisonment. She tells him the truth of her social status, but he encourages her to go to the ball and tell the prince the truth.
At the ball, Danielle makes a late entrance, and the Prince rushes to her. She tries to tell him the truth, but he is far too excited to listen. Unfortunately, Rodmilla gets there first and tells him in front of everyone that Danielle is a servant in her household. Henry is appalled and denounces her in front of everyone.
The next day, Rodmilla tells Danielle she cant have her in the way of Marguarite and the Prince, and therefore sells her off to the slimy old man, Pierre Le Peiu. At his manor, he has her shackled up and doing servant work. He tries to make a move on her, but she grabs a nice and slices his cheek. She makes her escape just as the prince comes to rescue her. He apologizes for his behavior and confesses his love.Danielle is made princess, and she condemns her stepmother and stepsister for their deceitful behavior towards the royal family, and lives happily ever after.
Characters:
Danielle: caring, passionate, stubborn, sharp-witted.
Functions: to inspire the prince to do good with his position, and to triumph over evil step sister/mother.
Prince Henry: spoiled, romantic, stubborn, powerful.
Function: To ‘save” Danielle from her life. He epitomizes the happy ending
Rodmilla: selfish, cruel, opportunistic,and manipulative.
Function: serves as jail keeper of Danielle. Is the main antagonist.
Marguerite: beautiful, vindictive, selfish, materialistic.
Function: Serves to juxtapose Danielle, as competition for the prince.
Jacqueline:quiet, people pleaser, slow, timid, overshadowed.
Function: Acts as an ally for Danielle within the household.
Leonardo da Vinci: wise, generous, intelligent, outspoken.
Function: Represents the voice of reason and wisdom. Is the driving force that brings Danielle and Prince Henry together when the odds are against them.
Gustav: friendly, awkward, timid, supportive.
Function: Acts as Danielle’s only friend.
Louise & Paulette- Motherly, helpful, considerate, and supportive.
Function: They both act as Danielle’s support system and motherly figures.
Gender
Female: 10
Male:15
In terms of quantity, there are more male characters in the film then there are female characters. However, the females take center stage for the majority of the film. Meanwhile, aside from Prince Henry and Leonardo da Vinci, most males in the film have small side roles, and are portrayed in terms of their relationships to the females of the film (Maurice is Paulette's husband, the royal page is an informant for Rodmilla). This emphasizes the role of the film being one for girls.
Race:
Everyone in the movie, from main characters to people in the background, are Caucasian/European, except for the Gypsies. Among the Gypsy characters, we know none of their names, and are always referred to as "the Gypsies". Only 1 gypsy makes any sort of real appearance in the movie, and only through a short dialogue. This takes on the stereotypical characteristics of most well known fairy tales that you can only achieve wealth, status, and a happy ending if you are white.
Sexuality:
As far as the audience can see, all the characters in the film are heterosexual. This may be in part be a result of the time period represented, where sexuality was not commonly talked about.
Archetypes:
There are several examples of idealized persons in the film who represent or exemplify particular values or identities [3, pg.107].
Wise Old Man- Leonardo da Vinci: Fatherly figure to both Danielle and Henry. He represents “forward thinking”, and uses his personal knowledge and wisdom on the subject of love to guide the two lovers. He offers guidance when Danielle is afraid to confront Henry with the truth, and when Henry refuses to accept her because she lied to him about being nobility.
The Temptress- Marguerite de Ghent: Represents competition for the Prince. She is after him for his position and wealth, while Danielle falls in love with who he is as a person. Marguerite is beautiful and uses her feminine charms and physical attractiveness to ensnare the prince.
Damsel in Distress- Danielle de Barbarac: although Danielle is mostly self reliant and strong willed, she is still seen as the victim in the movie. She suffers from oppression by her stepmother and stepsister, and the prince is the means of being released from that. After the prince rejects her, she is even more so in a position of needing rescuing. She is subject to a bile old man who wants to “break her in”.
Star-Crossed Lovers- Danielle and Prince Henry: the two begin their love affair, and from the beginning the audience knows it is fated to end in tragedy. Danielle is lying to Henry about her status, which will separate the two once he finds out the truth. In addition, even if he knew the truth, their relationship would be disapproved of by society, which says that someone of such status as a Prince should never associate with commoners, especially not servants.
Gender Stereotypes:
The film does not contain too many stereotypes, aside from the Gypsy stereotypes portrayed in the film that represent the gypsies as barbarians, and outsiders of civilization who steal and attack the common folk.
However, the film is chalk full of gender stereotypes. The men portrayed are much better off than the women. The most powerful and wealthy people in the movie are the King followed by the Prince.
The highest ranking woman in the film is the queen. Even so, she plays a small role in the movie, and whenever she tries to speak out in regard to her son's arranged marriage, is largely ignored by the king. Instead of being represented as a woman of power she is shown more as a motherly figure.
The Baroness is the only other woman of power who is a prominent character in the film. However she is deeply indebted, and has to sell common items such as candles to Le Pieu while blaming the servants and reducing their wages.This follows the gender stereotype that women can't handle wealth because they always irresponsibly spend it all away.
Finally, Danielle is also a victim of female stereotypes despite her strong-willed and self-sufficient ways. Ultimately, she always needs a man to save her. Even though she is the one who dressed up to save Maurice, it was the money the prince gave her that allowed her to do so. Even though she escaped from Le Pieu, it is the prince who saves her from a life of being a servant.
Rhetorical Devices:
Allusion: in the scene where Prince Henry meets Leonardo da Vinci for the first time, da Vinci makes the joke that he was only invited to court as a guest painter because Michelangelo was stuck under a ceiling in Rome.
Juxtaposition:Marguerite serves to juxtapose Danielle. It is very interesting because the two women the Prince shows the most interest for are the two completely opposite girls. Danielle is compassionate, genuine, and a free spirit while Marguerite is superficial, cruel, and demanding.
Farce: The use of caricatures in the film can be seen multiple times as a form of humor. The princess of Spain and her ridiculous crying in during the potential wedding, Rodmillas seduction of the short ugly page in order to gain information on how to marry her daughter off to the prince, and the incident with the chicken. These serve to add humor to the film, while making fun of some of the characters who are less likable.
POV:
We are seeing the story from a 3rd person point of view, and although it mostly follows the experiences of Danielle, it also follows some encounters Prince Henry and Rodmilla have separate from her. When it comes to point of view, it is important to ask the quiestion, is the narrator reliable [3, pg.91]?Despite being a less biased perspective, we know the narrator is the Grande Dame of France who is supporting the good of her great great grandmother, Danielle. It therefore may still be biased towards her, and may be over exaggerating Danielle's positive traits and Rodmillas negative ones. However, there is no way to know for sure.
Production:
Geographical Location:
As an older movie, not much information is given on the demographics of the film. The movie does not even have its own web page. However, it is provided that the movie was filmed in France for several of its scenes. The castle shown in the film is the Chateue de Hautefort located in the Dordogne region, other chateaux featured were de Fenelon, de Losse, de Lanquas, de Beynac and some of the movie was filmed in the city of Sarlat. The location helps to give it an authentic French feel, since the story takes place in France.
Demographics:
All of the producers and writers along with the director are American which explains the U.S.-centric and focused format. In terms of gender, it is surprising that such a female directed movie was directed by a male, and that 2 of the 3 writers were male as well. Having 2 female producers makes sense for the direction the film was going.
Financing: The movie was produced and financed by 20th Century Fox, a production giant with large amounts of funds and assets [1]. The film was created for the intent of making a profit, and appealing to audiences who had adored the Disney Cinderella but perhaps had grown out of it, and needed an adapted version to fit their lives. The concept of "true love" and "happy endings" in a mature and more real world setting is what is being sold within the movie. The producers attempt to convince or give the allusion that disney fairy tales are possible in the real world as well. Although 20th Century Fox paid to create the movie, the real financier of the film is its American audience.
Audience:
as I mentioned in an earlier blog post, the main audience for this film is that of women. Specifically young American women who are looking for a romanticized version of love. This can be seen through the amount of women main characters and the way the male characters interact with them. Several of the men serve some sort of romantic purpose for the women (Maurice, the page, Captain Laurent). Also, simply for the simple reason that the movie is entirely about love and happy endings, which ultimately is a more feminine notion. As an American company, 20th Century Fox, with its use of American English despite the French setting, is obviously selling their product primarily to people in the U.S. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, the movie was created with a broad genre to include many audiences. Ultimately, this was for the purpose of making a profit.
A Safe Text:
Despite the changes to the original story, ultimately Ever After is not an original text. It takes its storyline from the well loved disney story Cinderella, which makes it a safe bet that it would be a popular film. The creators adapted the film into a more realistic, "modern", and adult version.
References:
1) Ever After (1998)– Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.).Retrieved October 6, 2013.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ever_After>
2) Ever After (1998)– IMDb. (n.d.). IMDb – Movies, TV and Celebrities. Retrieved October 6, 2013
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120631/>
3) Long, P., & Wall, T. (2009). Organizing meaning in media texts: Genre and narrative. In Media studies: Texts production and context (pp. 52-74). Harlow: Pearson Longman.
