Spotlight on Fandoms -- Ella Enchanted
Hi there.
Ella Enchanted is, really, a children's novel (the cover says ages 8 and up)by Gail Carson Levine that starts with the plot of Cinderella and twists it, adding a thoughtless fairy gift, some ogres, and a wonderful, spirited heroine who I think I would have fallen in love with just as much if I'd read it when I was eight.
The world of Ella Enchanted is in the classic fairy tale model. It's vaguely medieval, but enriched with plants with magic effects, enchanted books, ogres (evil), and gnomes, giants, centaurs, and elves (all good).
Plot: Ella, the main character, is the daughter of merchant Sir Peter of Frell and his wife, Lady Eleanor. As a newborn, she was given the "gift" of obedience by the fairy Lucinda. This means she must follow all direct orders. To provide some protection from this very dangerous gift, she's also under orders never to tell anyone about it.
Her life passed relatively uneventfully until she was 14, when her mother died. At her funeral, Ella met and became friends with her home country of Kyrria's crown prince, Prince Charmant, called Char. Shortly thereafter, her father began courting the odious Dame Olga, who has two daughters about Ella's age.
Ella was shipped off to finishing school along with Dame Olga's daughter's as part of her father's plan to increase the family fortunes by marrying Ella to a rich man. At the school, Dame Olga's more evil daughter figures out the curse, and takes advantage of it to manipulate Ella. After most of a year at the school, Ella runs away to a giant's wedding, where she hopes to find Lucinda and get the curse lifted. She fails, and her father sends her back to Frell, figuring she is "finished" enough to be wed -- a plan he puts off only because he has found a bride for himself.
Soon after, he marries Dame Olga and immediately departs on a trading expedition. The dame and her daughters use Ella as a servant. The remainder of the book concerns Ella's deepening correspondence with and love for Char, her mistreatment at the hands of her stepfamily, and her efforts to lift the curse, which I won't spoil for you.
Characters:
Ella -- is our girl. She goes from 14 to almost 17 over the main course of the story. She is headstrong, stubborn, and determined not to let the curse break her. While she's bitter about her circumstances, it doesn't seem to effect most of her interactions with other people.
Prince Char -- Every fairytale must have a handsome prince, and this is this one's. He tends to be serious and badly wants to be a good knight and leader, but has a sense of humor it seems Ella alone can draw out. She hearts him lots and lots.
Mandy -- The family housekeeper/Ella's fairy godmother. It falls to her to protect Ella from her father's schemes after Lady Eleanor dies. Although she's a fairy -- which in this world means she could use magic for almost anything -- she abides by the fairy customs that limit her magic to uses small enough that there cannot be unintended consequences.
Sir Peter -- Ella's father and a jerk par excellence, willing to use a love potion on her daughter to ensure she made a good marriage. He's intermittently amused by Ella .... when he notices her, and she's probably more like him than either of them would admit. Mostly, he's a bit of a con man, and keeps himself busy tradng and scheming far from Frell.
Hattie - Ella's elder (by about two years) stepsister. She's the first person in canon to catch on to Ella's curse, and uses it to make Ella a servant, which leads to an extended war of wills -- e.g., ordered to remove Hattie's slippers, Ella tosses them out the window and into a slops bucket. Mostly, she has never had a thought that was not selfish.
Olive -- Ella's same-aged stepsister, though she acts younger. Dense as a brick. She cares for nothing except money and sweets, and is a failure at school; at one point we see a letter she's written and it's at the level of a very young child.
Areida -- Ella's close friend at finishing school, from the nearby kingdom of Ayorthia, where the culture is based around singing. She is very intelligent and basically the only nice person at finishing school. In an act of cruelty, Hattie orders Ella not to be friends with her.
Lucinda -- The fairy who cursed Ella. Heedless and silly, she is the only fairy in Kyrria who will use magic on a whim and is generally detested for this. She does eventually see the error of her ways, but it takes a lot of convincing.
That Movie: Yeah, so they made it into a movie.
They took the basic premise, changed the plot, simplified the way the curse works, added new characters, made some things more cinematic, and nudged Ella's age up a couple years to avoid the zomgchildbride aspect, so it's not going to win a medal for most faithful adaptation.
That said, looked at as its own story, it's definitely worth the rental. The art direction is gorgeous, Anne Hathaway is an excellent Ella, it has Cary Elwes being evil and Hugh Dancy being hot, and I liked the subplot they added about persecution of nonhumans. And I saw the movie before I read the book, so clearly it got its hooks in me.
The trailer:
Ella sings at the giants' wedding:
The finale:
Ella Enchanted is, really, a children's novel (the cover says ages 8 and up)by Gail Carson Levine that starts with the plot of Cinderella and twists it, adding a thoughtless fairy gift, some ogres, and a wonderful, spirited heroine who I think I would have fallen in love with just as much if I'd read it when I was eight.
The world of Ella Enchanted is in the classic fairy tale model. It's vaguely medieval, but enriched with plants with magic effects, enchanted books, ogres (evil), and gnomes, giants, centaurs, and elves (all good).
Plot: Ella, the main character, is the daughter of merchant Sir Peter of Frell and his wife, Lady Eleanor. As a newborn, she was given the "gift" of obedience by the fairy Lucinda. This means she must follow all direct orders. To provide some protection from this very dangerous gift, she's also under orders never to tell anyone about it.
Her life passed relatively uneventfully until she was 14, when her mother died. At her funeral, Ella met and became friends with her home country of Kyrria's crown prince, Prince Charmant, called Char. Shortly thereafter, her father began courting the odious Dame Olga, who has two daughters about Ella's age.
Ella was shipped off to finishing school along with Dame Olga's daughter's as part of her father's plan to increase the family fortunes by marrying Ella to a rich man. At the school, Dame Olga's more evil daughter figures out the curse, and takes advantage of it to manipulate Ella. After most of a year at the school, Ella runs away to a giant's wedding, where she hopes to find Lucinda and get the curse lifted. She fails, and her father sends her back to Frell, figuring she is "finished" enough to be wed -- a plan he puts off only because he has found a bride for himself.
Soon after, he marries Dame Olga and immediately departs on a trading expedition. The dame and her daughters use Ella as a servant. The remainder of the book concerns Ella's deepening correspondence with and love for Char, her mistreatment at the hands of her stepfamily, and her efforts to lift the curse, which I won't spoil for you.
Characters:
Ella -- is our girl. She goes from 14 to almost 17 over the main course of the story. She is headstrong, stubborn, and determined not to let the curse break her. While she's bitter about her circumstances, it doesn't seem to effect most of her interactions with other people.
Prince Char -- Every fairytale must have a handsome prince, and this is this one's. He tends to be serious and badly wants to be a good knight and leader, but has a sense of humor it seems Ella alone can draw out. She hearts him lots and lots.
Mandy -- The family housekeeper/Ella's fairy godmother. It falls to her to protect Ella from her father's schemes after Lady Eleanor dies. Although she's a fairy -- which in this world means she could use magic for almost anything -- she abides by the fairy customs that limit her magic to uses small enough that there cannot be unintended consequences.
Sir Peter -- Ella's father and a jerk par excellence, willing to use a love potion on her daughter to ensure she made a good marriage. He's intermittently amused by Ella .... when he notices her, and she's probably more like him than either of them would admit. Mostly, he's a bit of a con man, and keeps himself busy tradng and scheming far from Frell.
Hattie - Ella's elder (by about two years) stepsister. She's the first person in canon to catch on to Ella's curse, and uses it to make Ella a servant, which leads to an extended war of wills -- e.g., ordered to remove Hattie's slippers, Ella tosses them out the window and into a slops bucket. Mostly, she has never had a thought that was not selfish.
Olive -- Ella's same-aged stepsister, though she acts younger. Dense as a brick. She cares for nothing except money and sweets, and is a failure at school; at one point we see a letter she's written and it's at the level of a very young child.
Areida -- Ella's close friend at finishing school, from the nearby kingdom of Ayorthia, where the culture is based around singing. She is very intelligent and basically the only nice person at finishing school. In an act of cruelty, Hattie orders Ella not to be friends with her.
Lucinda -- The fairy who cursed Ella. Heedless and silly, she is the only fairy in Kyrria who will use magic on a whim and is generally detested for this. She does eventually see the error of her ways, but it takes a lot of convincing.
That Movie: Yeah, so they made it into a movie.
They took the basic premise, changed the plot, simplified the way the curse works, added new characters, made some things more cinematic, and nudged Ella's age up a couple years to avoid the zomgchildbride aspect, so it's not going to win a medal for most faithful adaptation.
That said, looked at as its own story, it's definitely worth the rental. The art direction is gorgeous, Anne Hathaway is an excellent Ella, it has Cary Elwes being evil and Hugh Dancy being hot, and I liked the subplot they added about persecution of nonhumans. And I saw the movie before I read the book, so clearly it got its hooks in me.
The trailer:
Click to viewElla sings at the giants' wedding:
The finale: