Masaryk University Faculty of Arts
Department of Germanic, Nordic and Dutch Studies
To Whom the Shoe Fits: Cinderella as a Cultural Phenomenon in the Czech and Norwegian Context
2020 Mgr. Adéla Ficová
Masaryk University Faculty of Arts
Department of Germanic, Nordic and Dutch Studies
Norwegian Language and Literature
Mgr. Adéla Ficová To Whom the Shoe Fits: Cinderella as a Cultural Phenomenon in the Czech and Norwegian Context M.A. Thesis
Supervisor: Mgr. Karolína Stehlíková, Ph.D. 2020
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Statutory Declaration
I hereby declare that I have written the submitted Master Thesis To Whom the Shoe Fits: Cinderella as a Cultural Phenomenon in the Czech and Norwegian Context independently. All the sources used for the purpose of finishing this thesis have been adequately referenced and are listed in the Bibliography.
In Brno, 12 May 2020 ......
Mgr. Adéla Ficová
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Acknowledgements I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Mgr. Karolína Stehlíková, Ph.D., for her helpful guidance and valuable advices and shared enthusiasm for the topic. I also thank my parents and my friends for their encouragement and support.
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Table of contents 1 Introduction ...... 6 1.1 Literature review ...... 8 2 Historical genesis of the Cinderella fairy tale ...... 9 2.1 Theory ...... 9 2.1.1 The Aarne-Thompson-Uther classification system ...... 10 2.1.2 Morphology of the folktale by Vladimir Propp ...... 11 2.1.3 Sources of the analysis ...... 14 2.2 The Czech tradition ...... 15 2.2.1 Božena Němcová: O Popelce (Cinderella) ...... 16 2.2.2 Němcová: O třech sestrách (The Three Sisters) ...... 18 2.2.3 Němcová: O Popelušce (Cinderella) ...... 20 2.2.4 Pavol Dobšinský: Popeluša ...... 23 2.3 The Norwegian tradition ...... 25 2.3.1 Asbjørnsen: Kari Trestakk ...... 26 2.3.2 Other Norwegian Cinderella variants...... 29 2.3.3 Norwegian Cinderella hero tales ...... 31 3 Analysis of the film Three Wishes for Cinderella ...... 32 3.1 The theory of film adaptation...... 32 3.2 Film analysis ...... 34 3.2.1 Historical background ...... 34 3.2.2 Analysis of Three Wishes for Cinderella ...... 35 3.2.3 Comparison to the published screenplay...... 42 3.3 Application of ATU motifs and Propp’s functions ...... 44 3.4 Comparison of the film and the Czech and Norwegian tradition ...... 48 4 Analysis of the Norwegian version of Three Wishes for Cinderella ...... 51 4.1 Historical background ...... 51 4.1.1 The question of the Norwegian translation ...... 52 4.2 Voiceover ...... 55 4.3 Comparison of the Czech and Norwegian version of the film ...... 58 5 A timeless phenomenon? ...... 62 5.1 Three Wishes for Popelka as a cultural phenomenon in Czechia ...... 62 5.2 Three Wishes for Askepott as a cultural phenomenon in Norway ...... 64 6 Conclusion ...... 67 7 Bibliography ...... 70 8 Czech and Norwegian Summary ...... 74
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1 Introduction
The story of Cinderella is probably one of the best-known fairy tales. Yet, it has so many variants that the story is a bit different for people around the world. This master thesis is concerned with the Cinderella fairy tale in the Norwegian and Czech context. Moreover, a special focus is placed on one variant of the story – the Czechoslovak/East German film Three Wishes for Cinderella from 1973 which has become a part of Christmas traditions in both the countries1.
The film is an interesting point of intersection where the Norwegian and Czech culture traditions meet. This connection between the countries is astonishing and deserves to be explored more. The topic may be therefore remarkable not only for students of Norwegian language and literature in general or, for example, folklore and film, but also for general public. A lot has been written about the Cinderella phenomenon, including academic works and popular literature. Nevertheless, the subject remains unexplored in such a narrow rendition (for more details, see chapter Literature review).
The purpose of the thesis is to explore the historical literary roots of the Cinderella fairy tale in Norway and the Czech lands and to compare them. The assumption is that if the historical genesis of the fairy tale is similar in the countries, it might explain the popularity and acceptance of the film in Norwegian and Czech society. Furthermore, the goal is to analyse the film itself and compare it to its Norwegian version. Finally, the cult film is already more than 40 years old, therefore, the author will also pay attention to its current status in the Norwegian and Czech society.
In line with the goals of the thesis, I define the structure of the thesis and its research questions as follows:
1. From what kind of origin does the Cinderella fairy tale stem in the Czech and in the Norwegian context?
The whole Chapter 2 is devoted to this question. I am going to classify the Cinderella fairy tale in general, investigate the literary origins of the tales in Norway and the Czech lands, describe their variants and compare the national traditions. In this way, I will be able to determine whether the tradition is similar.
1 The thesis does not deal with the German context as the script is based on thea Czech variant of the Cinderella tale.
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2. Does the Czech film Three Wishes for Cinderella deviate from the Czech and Norwegian tradition of the Cinderella tale?
2.a. If so, which aspects are different?
Chapter 3 is an analysis of the film Three Wishes for Cinderella. As the script is written by Czech script writer František Pavlíček and is based on a story by Božena Němcová, a Czech National Revival movement writer, we can expect that the story will be in line with the Czech tradition. Nevertheless, the aim is to define what changes the story has undergone in the Czech tradition and if the film storyline is (dis)similar to the Norwegian tradition.
3. How are the Norwegian and the Czech version of the film Three Wishes for Cinderella different?
The following chapter 4 is concerned with the Norwegian version of the film. The Norwegian version is specific because it uses a voiceover with the broadly known voice of Knut Risan. The Norwegian script is not a direct translation; most importantly, some parts of the dialogues are removed. The purpose of the chapter is therefore to ascertain what changes were made in the Norwegian version and if these changes could have an impact on the viewer’s general impression. For example, features of some of the characters may be changed in this way. This chapter is one of the pivot parts of the thesis and the research itself because it is not to my knowledge that such an analysis has been conducted.
4. How do the fairy tale of Cinderella and the film Three Wishes for Cinderella stand in the Czech and Norwegian context these days?
This question will be answered in the final Chapter 5, the purpose of which is to offer a reflection on the success of the film in both the Czech and Norwegian context and to uncover why it has become a Christmas phenomenon in the two countries. The author will evaluate the current popularity of the film in Norway and the Czech Republic and investigate if new variants of the Cinderella story have entered/are about to enter the Czech and Norwegian context.
The thesis is a case study which can be defined as an empirical method which ‘investigates a contemporary phenomenon in depth and within its real-world context, especially when the boundaries between the phenomenon and the context may not be clearly
7 evident.’2 Moreover, the thesis is complemented by general methods of analysis and comparison. All the research is grounded in relevant literature which is introduced in the beginning of the corresponding chapter so that the author provides insight into the theoretical propositions which guide the analysis.
1.1 Literature review The literature about Cinderella tale is vast; however, the majority of the texts are popular literature. The first extensive and thorough investigation of Cinderella (and of the folktale in general) was performed by Marian Roalfe Cox in her Cinderella: three hundred and forty- five variants of Cinderella, Catskin and, Cap O’ Rushes, Abstracted and Tabulated with a Discussion of Medieval Analogues and Notes which was published already in 1893. Cox’s work remains unsurpassed and is an important source of information also for this thesis. This work was extended in 1951 by Anna Birgitta Rooth and her Cinderella Cycle which brings a new typology of the tale variants. This book is a suggestion for further reading; nevertheless, I do not work with it as Rooth does not discuss the Czech variants of the tale. Later, in 1982, both of these studies were complemented with Alan Dundes’ Cinderella: a casebook which presents selected variants of the tale and offers comments on them. The Cinderella story by Neil Philip is also interesting; however, it is designed as a reading-book. Neither Dundes nor Philip deal with the Norwegian and/or Czech variants. Finally, the Aarne-Thompson-Uther classification system and Vladimir Propp’s Morphology of the folktale is essential for studying any fairy tale, including Cinderella.
The above mentioned texts concern the Cinderella fairy tale in general. There is no work focused directly on comparing the Norwegian and Czech variants. In addition, the only book which academically deals with the film Three Wishes for Cinderella is a Czech publication of the same name (Tři oříšky pro Popelku) written by Pavel Skopal et al. in 2016 on the occasion of the film’s restoration. The book contains also a short chapter by Sara Brinch which is devoted to film’s popularity among Norwegians. This thesis shall work in dialogue with the publication and complement its findings. The goal of the thesis is therefore to fill in the gap in the literature and hopefully to contribute to literature, folklore and film studies.
2 YIN, Robert K. Case Study Research and Applications: Design and Methods, p. 15.
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2 Historical genesis of the Cinderella fairy tale
This chapter presents the theoretical background of studying fairy tales and explores the tradition and variants of the Cinderella tale in the Czech and Norwegian context. Firstly, I am going to define a fairy tale. Subsequently, I will deal with the folklore studies literature, notably the Cinderella fairy tale will be classified in the Aarne-Thompson-Uther system; Vladimir Propp’s approach will be also presented. Finally, the specific variants from the Czech and Norwegian tradition will be presented and compared.
2.1 Theory Firstly, it is important to define a fairy tale. There are a lot of definitions; however, even some of the most accepted ones are not applicable to Three Wishes for Cinderella. For example, Stith Thompson names as one of the characteristics the fact that ‘humble heroes kill adversaries’3; however, nobody dies in the Czech Cinderella film story, which does not mean it is not a fairy tale. I find more appropriate definition by Alexander Haggerty Krappe who defines a fairy tale as a ‘continued narrative … centring on one hero or heroine, usually poor and destitute at the start, who, after a series of adventures in which the supernatural element plays a conspicuous part, attains his goal and lives happy ever after’.4 Moreover, the terms ‘fairy tale’, ‘folktale’ or simply ‘tale’ are in literature often used interchangeably and I am going to do the same.5
Furthermore, the problem of invention and origin of a fairy tale shall be tackled. In general, there are two theories of origin which try to explain similar features of fairy tales across countries. The first one is that there is an initial point of origin for any fairy tale. From this point the fairy tale has spread further. The other one, on the contrary, suggests that fairy tales come from common human experience and hence they can have many different origins. There is an ongoing debate about which of the theories is correct.6 Nevertheless, the purpose of the thesis is not to find the origin of the Cinderella fairy tale in the Czech and Norwegian
3 THOMPSON, Stith. The Folktale, p. 8. 4 KRAPPE, Alexander Haggerty. The Science of Folklore, p. 1. 5 Propp in his Morphology of the Folktale considers a fairy tale a subtype of a folktale, please see below. The fact that Cinderella is a fairy tale therefore justifies using the term folktale too. If the reader is interested in the differences in terminology, I would like to suggest f. e. BOTTIGHEIMER, Ruth. Fairy Tales: A New History. New York: State University of New York Press, 2009. ISBN 1438425244. as a further reading. 6 CARRUTHERS, Amelia. Cinderella – And Other Girls Who Lost Their Slippers, p. 2.
9 context. Fairy tales are based on oral tradition which is much older than the written one on which the thesis focuses.
As mentioned earlier, the most useful tools for analysing and classifying a fairy tale are Propp’s morphological analysis and the Aarne-Thompson-Uther classification system which are briefly described and explained in relation to the thesis’s goals.
2.1.1 The Aarne-Thompson-Uther classification system
This catalogue of folktale types is often referred to as the ATU Index. The system was invented by Antti Aarne, a Finish folklorist, which is the reason why the classification is often called the Finish School. Aarne’s work was later enlarged by Stith Thompson. The last expansion of the system was made by Hans-Jörg Uther. The catalogue called The Types of the Folktale is used by scholars together with The Motif-Index of Folk-Literature, a six volume catalogue of folklore motifs by Thompson. The classification of Cinderella is shown below and it will be applied to Three Wishes for Cinderella in chapter 3:
510A Cinderella. (Cenerentola, Cendrillon, Aschenputtel.) A young woman is mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters [S31, L55] and has to live in the ashes as a servant. When the sisters and the stepmother go to a ball (church), they give Cinderella an impossible task (e.g. sorting peas from ashes), which she accomplishes with the help of birds [B450]. She obtains beautiful clothing from a supernatural being [D1050.1, N815] or a tree that grows on the grave of her deceased mother [D815.1, D842.1, E323.2] and goes unknown to the ball. A prince falls in love with her [N711.6, N711.4], but she has to leave the ball early [C761.3]. The same thing happens on the next evening, but on the third evening, she loses one of her shoes [R221, F823.2].
The prince will marry only the woman whom the shoe fits [H36.1]. The stepsisters cut pieces off their feet in order to make them fit into the shoe [K1911.3.3.1], but a bird calls attention to this deceit. Cinderella, who had first been hidden from the prince, tries on the shoe and it fits her. The prince marries her.7
Subsequently, the motifs named (the letters and numbers in the brackets) in the type’s definition can be found in The Motif-Index of Folk-Literature. The Cinderella type has therefore following motifs:
7 UTHER, Hans-Jörg. The Types of International Folktales: A Classification and Bibliography, Based on the System of Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson, p. 293-4.
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S31 – cruel stepmother L55 – stepdaughter heroine B450 – helpful birds D1050.1 – magic clothes N815 – fairy as helper D815.1 – fairy nurse as helper D842.1 – magic object found on mother’s grave E323.2 – dead mother returns to care for neglected baby N711.6; N711.4 – prince sees heroine at ball and is enamored; prince sees maiden at church and is enamored C761.3 – tabu: staying too long at ball; must leave before certain hour R221 – heroine’s three-fold flight from ball; after meeting the prince at a ball (church) flees before identification is possible F823.2 – glass shoes H36.1 – slipper test; identification by fitting off slipper K1911.3.3.1. – false bride’s mutilated feet; in order to wear the shoes with which the husband is testing the identity of his bride, the false bride cuts her feet. She is detected.8
In other words, the ATU system offers a definition and motifs of a given tale. Later, it will be tested whether the fairy tale film Three Wishes for Cinderella complies with the requirements.
2.1.2 Morphology of the folktale by Vladimir Propp
Vladimir Propp analysed 100 Russian fairy tales which were collected by Alexander Fyodorovich Afanasyev. On the basis of the analysis, he identified the structure which is common to all (Russian) fairy tales. According to Propp, every fairy tale has 31 functions. A function is an act of a character which is a stable and constant element in the tale, and it does not matter how and by whom it is performed. The sequence of the functions is always identical; however, not all functions have to appear in a given tale. Moreover, Propp points out that characters in a tale, even though varied, often perform the same actions. In general,
8 THOMPSON, Stith. Motif-Index of Folk-Literature: A Classification of Narrative Elements in Folk-Tales, Ballads, Myths, Fables, Mediaeval Romances, Exempla, Fabliaux, Jest-Books, and Local Legends. All 6 volumes.
11 all fairy tales are of one type in regard to their structure for Propp. Morphology itself means a description of the tale according to its components and their relationship to each other and to the whole. In other words, it is possible to study forms of tales in the same way as organic formations.9
The author limits his research to fairy tales by which he means tales classified as ATU tale types 300-74910. As Cinderella is type 510A, his functions shall be applicable to the thesis. In chapter 3, I will demonstrate the functions on the plot of Three Wishes for Cinderella.
According to Propp, a fairy tale begins with an initial situation. Subsequently, the functions are following:
1) Absentation (one of the members of a family absents himself from home); 2) Interdiction (an interdiction is addressed to the hero); 3) Violation (the interdiction is violated); 4) Reconnaissance (the villain makes an attempt at reconnaissance); 5) Delivery (the villain receives information about his victim); 6) Trickery (the villain attempts to deceive his victim in order to take possession of him or his belongings); 7) Complicity (the victim submits to deception and thereby unwittingly helps his enemy); 8) Villainy (the villain causes harm or injury to a member of a family); 9) Meditation, the connective incident (misfortune or lack is made known; the hero is approached with a request or command; he is allowed to go or he is dismissed); 10) Beginning counteraction (the seeker agrees to or decides upon counteraction); 11) Departure (the hero leaves home); 12) The first function of the donor (the hero is tested, interrogated, attacked, etc., which prepares the way for his receiving either a magical agent or a helper); 13) The hero’s reaction (the hero reacts to the actions of the future donor); 14) Provision or receipt of a magical agent (the hero acquires the use of a magical agent); 15) Spatial transference between two kingdoms, guidance (the hero is transferred, delivered, or led to the whereabouts of an object of search); 16) Struggle (the hero and the villain join in direct combat); 17) Branding (the hero is branded); 18) Victory (the villain is defeated); 19) The initial misfortune or lack is liquidated; 20) Return (the hero returns); 21) Pursuit (the hero is pursued); 22) Rescue (rescue of the hero from pursuit); 23) Unrecognised arrival; 24) Unfounded claims (a false hero presents unfounded claims); 25) Difficult task (a difficult task is proposed to the hero); 26) Solution (the task is resolved); 27) Recognition (the hero is recognised); 28) Exposure (the false hero or villain is exposed); 29) Transfiguration (the hero is given a new appearance); 30)
9 PROPP, Vladimir. Morphology of the Folktale, p. 19-24. 10 Ibid., p. 19.
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Punishment (the villain is punished); 31) Wedding (the hero is married and ascends the throne).11
Moreover, Propp introduces seven dramatis personae and their spheres of action:
Villain (8, 16, 21); Donor/provider (12, 14); Helper (15, 19, 22, 26, 29); Princess (a sough-for person) (19, 17, 28, 27, 30, 31); Dispatcher (9); Hero (10, 11, 13, 31); False hero (10, 11, 13, 24).12
It is possible that the spheres of action exactly correspond to the character; however, one character can be involved also in several spheres of action, or on the contrary, a sphere of action can be distributed among several characters.13
To sum up, Propp’s fairy tale has given functions and dramatis personae; however, some of them may be absent. The author himself states that a storyteller is free in choice of those functions which he omits or which he uses. This means that there are deviations which do not create new compositional system or new axes.14 Nevertheless, I would like to mention that the system of analysis was developed on the basis of Russian fairy tales. According to Propp, already the tales of Brothers Grimm present a less pure and stable form of the ‘absolutely authentic’ tale than the Afanasyev collection.15 The film Three Wishes for Cinderella is therefore expected to be deviating even more.
Finally, I would like to devote a few words to Propp’s critique of the Finish School. For Propp, the task of classification itself is problematic. The author points out that Aarne numbers themes (i.e. types) and places them into categories. For example, the third category is a supernatural task and the fourth is a supernatural helper. Propp raises the question what if a supernatural task is resolved by a supernatural helper? Obviously, there is no clear-cut
11 PROPP, Vladimir. Morphology of the Folktale, p. 26-65. 12 Propp does not use the numbers of functions to mark the dramatis personae’s spheres of action, however, I believe that in this way, the analysis is more understandable to the reader. 13 PROPP, Vladimir. Morphology of the Folktale, p. 79-81. 14 Ibid., p. 112, 108. 15 Ibid., p. 100.
13 division. Propp therefore states that themes (types) are closely related to each other and that Aarne does not take into account the transference of elements.16
2.1.3 Sources of the analysis
It was stated above that I am not searching for the origins of the Cinderella tale. Nevertheless, a few words about the topic shall be mentioned. The genre of fairy tales became popular in France in the 17th century. In that period, Charles Perrault recorded the Cinderella fairy tale (1697). The Grimm brothers were later the first collectors who wanted to preserve the tales in the style in which they were told in the national context, the German one. Their collection also contains a Cinderella story – Aschenputtel (1812).17 Parallels to the German Grimm brothers are Božena Němcová in the Czech context and Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in the Norwegian context. The subsequent chapters about the Czech and Norwegian tradition deal with their collections.
Perrault’s variant of the Cinderella story, even though very influential, is not the first one to be written down. For example, Thompson writes about a Chinese literary variant of Cinderella from the ninth century.18 The earliest variant in Europe is the Cat Cinderella (La Gatta Cenerentola) published between 1634 and 1636 by Giambattista Bastile. The vast majority of Cinderella fairy tales come from the 19th and 20th centuries.19
The two most prominent variants are perhaps the German one by Brothers Grimm and the French one recorded by Perrault (the worldwide famous Disney variant uses Perrault’s motifs). Nevertheless, these two variants contain elements that are not common for the Czech and Norwegian variants. Such elements are, for example, a fairy godmother, a magical tree which grows on mother’s grave, etc. Therefore, I will deal with the Czech and Norwegian traditions below.
The inevitable sources of the analysis are naturally the national collectors Němcová, Asbjørnsen and Moe. However, I would like to emphasise the work of Marian Roalfe Cox: Cinderella: Three Hundred and Forty-Five Variants, which has been of great help for the analysis and comparison of the two national traditions.
16 PROPP, Vladimir. Morphology of the Folktale, p. 8-11. 17 CARRUTHERS, Amelia. Cinderella - And Other Girls Who Lost Their Slippers, p. 3-5. 18 THOMPSON, Stith. The Folktale, p. 126. 19 PHILIP, Neil. The Cinderella Story, p. 7.
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Cox’s work was commissioned by the Folklore Society and published in 1893. The book is the first thorough investigation on scientific lines of a fairy story and its variants whatsoever. The author analyses the Cinderella tale and its variants around the world; however, her definition of a Cinderella tale is broader than ATU 510A (note that ATU system was not developed yet). Cox divides her 345 variants of the Cinderella fairy tales into five categories: A) Cinderella, B) Catskin, C) Cap o’Rushes, D) Indeterminate, E) hero tales.20 When taking ATU into consideration, we can determine that Cox’s type A corresponds to ATU 510A, the type which this thesis works with. On the contrary, Cox’s type B (Catskin) and C (Cap o’Rushes) correspond to ATU 510B and I am not going to analyse their Czech and Norwegian variants. Moreover, Cox’s type D which represents a mixture of the types 510A and 510B is not represented due to the scope of the thesis. Finally, there is the type E, male Cinderellas, which can be to a certain degree looked upon as ATU 511A (The Little Red Ox) or simply as a hero variant of 510A. I would like to investigate whether male Cinderellas have tradition in the Czech and Norwegian context. Therefore, the analysis of the Czech and Norwegian tradition is derived from Cox’s types A; however I touch also type E.
2.2 The Czech tradition
The main source of analysis for the Czech traditions shall be the Cinderella story as recorded by Božena Němcová, the Czech writer of the National Revival movement. The script writer of Three Wishes for Cinderella, the story which is the best known to the Czech public these days, states in the film that the story is based on Němcová’s Cinderella variant.
Božena Němcová recorded three variants of the Cinderella fairy tale in two collections. Firstly, she wrote O Popelce (Cinderella) and O třech sestrách (The Three Sisters), published in Národní báchorky a pověsti (The National Stories and Legends) between 1845 and 1848. Later, between 1857 and 1858, Němcová published O Popelušce (Cinderella) in Slovenské pohádky a pověsti (Slovak Fairy Tales and Legends).
It is important to mention that Němcová was not only a collector of verbal folklore but especially a creator of the fairy tales. Václav Tille, who devoted 20 years to Němcová’s biography, underlines that Němcová was aware of the fact that her magic fairy tales were not the same as folk tales. Her narration style is characteristic. Even though she made changes in
20 COX, Marian Roalfe. Cinderella: Three Hundred and Forty-five Variants of Cinderella, Catskin, and Cap O'Rushes, Abstracted and Tabulated, with a Discussion of Mediaeval Analogues, and Notes, p. xxiv.
15 what she heard, especially she refined the rough folk style and humour, and she wrote the tales in the mood the narration awakened in her.21
Below, I am going to present the three tales, i.e. to summarise the story, analyse the form (plot) and mark the motifs according to ATU system in them.
2.2.1 Božena Němcová: O Popelce (Cinderella)
Story: Poor parents have three daughters: Kasala, Adlina, and Popelka. Father decides they shall get rid of them and says to his wife he will take them to the forest. Because Popelka is sleeping in the kitchen, she hears their conversation and knows about their plans. In the morning, she runs to an old lady to ask for an advice. The lady gives her an advice under the condition she will not bring her sisters back with her. She gives Popelka a ball of threads to find the way home. Popelka comes back with her sisters; the lady gives her another advice under the same condition. This time, Popelka pours ashes to find the way. The sisters come back together, and the lady is angry that Popelka is not returning alone. On purpose, she gives her peas this time. Father takes the sisters to the forest again; however, they cannot find their way home because doves have eaten all the peas.
Popelka climbs a pine tree and sees a castle. The sisters go there and find out that an ugly woman and a cannibal live there together. They promise they will do anything to be allowed to stay. That happens; however, the sisters are tired of the situation after some time and decide to kill the couple. Afterwards, they become the ladies of the castle. Nevertheless, Kasala and Adlina are mean to Popelka who has to do all the work.
The local prince announces a ball. The older sisters go there but they would not take Popelka with them. While cleaning, the heroine finds a key which opens three secret rooms with three coffers and three dresses inside of them (a white dress, a rose-coloured one trimmed with silver, and a blue one). The wealth includes also a white horse on which Popelka rides to three times three balls. The prince falls in love with Popelka; however, she always leaves early. At the third ball, the prince orders the stairs to be smeared by resin so that Popelka cannot escape. She manages to run away but she leaves a golden slipper on the staircase.
21 TILLE, Václav. Božena Němcová, p. 87.
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The prince announces that the girl to whom the shoe fits will become his wife. The slipper is small. The older sisters tighten their feet to be smaller; however, the shoe fits only to Popelka and she becomes prince’s wife. Popelka tells her sisters about the wealth in the basement. They break there; however, there are cats which claw and disfigure them. Popelka is kind and helps them. She helps also her poor parents and takes them to the castle.22
Form: This is Němcová’s longest Cinderella tale variant (15 p.). The length is not due to thorough descriptions; on the contrary, the story itself takes up the scope, partly because many motifs are repeated three times as is common in the genre. The storyteller presents the tale in the third person narration and often uses direct speech. The characters are ambivalent, which is not a general fairy tale feature (on the contrary, fairy tale characters are often good or bad and nothing in between). For example, it is not very clear why the older sisters are mean to Popelka as the stepfamily motif is missing. Especially the heroine is a complicated figure. She is kind but often also naïve. She might seem harmless; however, it was her idea to kill the cannibal and his wife even though it was not necessary. The setting is unknown (the story takes place in ‘old times’, at unspecified places and even the characters, except for the three sisters, do not have names).
ATU motifs: Despite the Cinderella title, the story does not comply with many of the ATU motifs. Firstly, there is no cruel stepmother (S31). On the contrary, we could say the father is far crueller than the mother. Furthermore, the birds are not being helpful (B450), they ate the peas that were supposed to help the sisters to find the way home, and there are no fairy helpers (N815). On the other hand, the second half of the tale complies well with the given motifs. There are magic clothes (D1050.1), the prince falls in love with Cinderella at the first sight at the ball (N711.6), but she needs to leave early (C761.3). The ball is repeated three times (R221) and at the last occasion, Cinderella loses her slipper (F823.2; although it is not made of glass). Cinderella is recognised by the slipper test (H36.1), while her sisters mutilate their feet in vain (K1911.3.3.1). For comparisons, see the overview of the presence/absence of the ATU motifs in the three Němcová’s variants in the table below, p. 22.
Generally, it can be said that the magical number three is strong in this variant: the father takes daughters to the forest three times, the sisters walk around the castle three times, and there are three magical rooms with three coffers and three dresses because there are
22 NĚMCOVÁ, Božena. O Popelce.
17 going to be three balls. After all, the sisters are three, too. The ‘power of three’ is not typical for Cinderella per se; it is a common feature of fairy tales.
Furthermore, I would like to point out certain similarities with the variant by Brothers Grimm which is beyond the scope of the thesis. These similarities occur in regard to the sisters who are less brutal than the Grimm brothers present them. Firstly, I have in mind the mutilation of sisters’ feet; in the Czech variant, there is no blood as they do not cut parts of their feet. Secondly, the sisters are punished by animals. While in Němcová’s variant, they are attacked by cats, the sisters get blind because doves peck their eyes in the German variant.
Which motifs were used in the film Three Wishes for Cinderella will be discussed in chapter 3. Nevertheless, so far it is clear that this variant of the Cinderella tale was not the main source of inspiration. Note that this variant is not captured in Cox’s work.
2.2.2 Němcová: O třech sestrách (The Three Sisters)
Story: There are three sisters Baruška, Dorotka, and Anuška. One day, father goes to a market. Baruška and Doruška want only luxurious goods but Anuška just asks for anything what grazes his hat. Father comes across a nut tree and plucks three nuts. Anuška hides them in her bosom, but when she bends down to dip water from the well, the nuts fall into the water. She is crying but suddenly a frog shows up, fetches the nuts and reveals that there are dresses in the nuts.
On Sunday, everyone heads to the church but Anuška stays home working. She opens one of the nuts. There is a rose-coloured dress trimmed with silver. She goes to the church where the prince falls in love with her. Anuška leaves before the mess ends. The same happens three times, however, on the last occasion, the prince orders to place branches at the entrance, so that the beautiful lady cannot escape. Anuška escapes; however, she loses her golden slipper. Outside, there is a beggar who tells the prince where the lady lives.
The prince goes to the house and says that the one to whom the shoe fits shall become his wife. Baruška and Dorotka let their mother to cut off parts of their feet so that they can wear the shoe. Nevertheless, prince’s dog tells the truth. The prince wants to see all the girls in the house. Father brings Anuška to whom the shoe fits. The heroine becomes prince’s bride. When the couple leaves, the mother makes the father to bring nuts also for the other
18 daughters. He does so; however, when they open the nuts, there are three-ell-long snakes that strangle them. The father moves to the palace.23
Form: The second variant has a similar form. The narration is in the third person; the story takes place in an unknown past and place. Nevertheless, we can say that the storyline is more direct with fewer episodes (and the story itself is also shorter, about 10 p.). Dialogues are even more frequent. Furthermore, the difference is that the characters’ attributes are crystal clear: Anuška is kind, polite, hard-working, and good in all aspects, while her sisters and mother are lazy, mean and prideful. Finally, the prince is less authoritative than in other variants (‘Here is my hand, if you like me, come with me.’, p. 251).
ATU motifs: Compared to the previous Cinderella variant, the cruel stepmother is absent as well. It is the heroine’s mother who abuses her. Nevertheless, this time, the father is not cruel at all, on the contrary. In both of the variants, the heroine has two older sisters. Other common features are magic clothes (D1050.1), the early departure (C761.3), which repeats three times (R221), the lost slipper, golden also in this variant (F823.2), the slipper test (H36.1), or false brides (K1911.3.3.1). Moreover, the magical number three is also strongly represented, for example, the snakes are three-ell-long. Last but not least, the rose-coloured dress trimmed with silver appears in both of the Czech variants.
The most notable difference is that the meetings with the prince do not take place at a ball but in a church (motif N711.4 instead of N711.6). This variation is common as it is described also in the ATU classification. Moreover, it can seem that the mutilation of feet of the false brides and their punishment is more brutal than in O Popelce, getting closer to the Grimm brothers’ variant. Furthermore, the characters of animal helpers are introduced: the frog helps Anuška and the dog helps the prince. Nevertheless, the helpful birds (B450) do not occur. Finally, this variant presents the three nuts that are characteristic for the film, which is clear already from its Czech and Norwegian title.24
Even though the heroine in O třech sestrách, Anuška, is not called Cinderella, it is obvious that the tale is ATU 510A. Later, we will see that this is not the only case. Unlike the
23 NĚMCOVÁ, Božena. O třech sestrách. 24 The film’s official title in English is Three Wishes for Cinderella; however, in both Czech and Norwegian, it would be literally translated as Three Nuts for Cinderella. For more details see chap. 3 and 4.
19 previous variant, O třech sestrách is recorded in Cox’s collection as variant 125, the only Bohemian variant.25
2.2.3 Němcová: O Popelušce (Cinderella)
Story: Popeluška has a kind father but a mean stepmother and stepsister Dora. One day, the father goes to a market and asks his daughters what he shall bring to them. Dora asks for luxurious goods but Popeluška asks only for whatever hits his face on the way. His face is hit by a twig of a nut tree and he brings it to Popeluška. The heroine would like to go to the church with the others on Sunday; however, her stepmother forbids her to go, and mixes millet grains with ashes and gives her the task to separate them. Popeluška accidently drops the nuts into a well. A frog raises the nuts and tells her to open one of them. Popeluška finds a dress like the sun inside. Suddenly, six doves appear. Three of them carry out the task (separate ashes and millet grains) and the other three help her to dress up. She goes to the church covered in fog. Everyone looks at the beautiful girl, including the prince who falls in love with her. Popeluška leaves early.
This is repeated three times.26 The prince wants to meet her and he tricks her – when Popeluška disappears in the fog, she steps into resin and loses her golden slipper. The prince visits every house with the slipper and says that he will marry the one to whom the shoe fits.
When he comes to the heroine’s house, the stepmother cuts Dora’s toe so that she can wear the shoe. Nevertheless, a cock says there is another girl. Prince insists on seeing her. The prince and the heroine leave the place together with the father, accompanied by the cock and the helpful doves. The stepmother and stepsister are to be left alone.27
Form: The form is typical of Němcová. There are minimum descriptions and direct speech prevails. The style is original because even though the narration is written in Czech, the dialogues are kept in a Slovak dialect. This Cinderella variant is the shortest (7 p.) and does not contain any unnecessary ramification. The setting is unknown, and the characters have black-and-white characteristics.
25 COX, Marian Roalfe. Cinderella: Three Hundred and Forty-five Variants of Cinderella, Catskin, and Cap O'Rushes, Abstracted and Tabulated, with a Discussion of Mediaeval Analogues, and Notes, p. 420-422. 26 On the second Sunday, Popeluška shall separate poppy seeds from ashes and she wears a dress like the moon. On the third Sunday, she shall separate linseed from ashes, and she wears a dress like stars. 27 NĚMCOVÁ, Božena. O Popelušce.
20
ATU motifs: This is the first variant which introduces the motifs of cruel stepmother (S31, L55) and her daughter. Moreover, for the first time, the motif of helpful birds (B450), both the cock and doves, is presented in the Czech (and Slovak) tradition. The magic clothes (D1050.1) are hidden in the nuts the heroine got from her father just like in O třech sestrách. However, the task of separating millet grains from ashes is new to us (this is not an ATU motif; however, we will encounter it in the film analysis). We can also point out that the rose- coloured dress trimmed with silver is missing for the first time.
Other motifs such as N711.4/6, C761.3, R322, F823.2, H.36.1 and K1911.3.3.1 remain the same. Furthermore, in all Němcová’s variants, the lost slipper is golden, not made of glass as the ATU classification suggests. On the contrary, the motif of fairies as helpers (N815) is not common in the Czech context. Nevertheless, it can be said that the magical number three is not so strong in the O Popelušce variant. Finally, this is the only variant where the motif of punishment is missing. The stepmother’s and her daughter’s punishment is only to be forever alone, while in other variants, the characters might be blinded or even killed.
As noted earlier, the last variant of the Cinderella tale written by Němcová comes from a different collection, Slovak Fairy Tales and Legends. Nevertheless, I consider the tale to be a part of the Czech tradition.28 This shall be of no surprise, taking into consideration that by that time, both the Czech lands and Slovakia were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The fairy tale can be also found in the Cox’s collection as variant 8829, although it might be difficult to find as it is placed to the Hungarian tales (Slovakia, unlike the Czech lands, was part of the Hungarian part of the monarchy). Note that even though Cinderella’s dresses may seem to refer to ATU type 510B which is called The Dress of Gold, Silver, and of Stars, the tale O Popelušce is not similar to the type besides of the dresses and I therefore see no reason not to place it under the type 510A.
For comparison of the ATU motifs in Němcová’s Cinderella variants, see the table below:
28 The Czechs and Slovaks are very close nations both linguistically and culturally. The similarities by far exceed the differences. At the given time, both of the languages were in the process of codification and the idea of Pan-Slavism was strong. For better understanding of the situation, I recommend, for example, KAMUSELLA, Tomasz. The Politics of Language and Nationalism in Modern Central Europe. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. ISBN 978-0-230-55070-4. 29 COX, Marian Roalfe. Cinderella: Three Hundred and Forty-five Variants of Cinderella, Catskin, and Cap O'Rushes, Abstracted and Tabulated, with a Discussion of Mediaeval Analogues, and Notes, p. 331.
21
ATU motifs O Popelce O třech sestrách O Popelušce S31 (cruel stepmother) - - X L55 (stepdaughter heroine) - - X B450 (helpful birds) - - X D1050.1 (magic clothes) X X X N815 (fairy as helper) - - - D815.1 (fairy nurse) - - - D842.1 (object on mother’s grave) - - - E323.2 (dead mother returns) - - - N711.6 (ball) X - - N711.4 (church) - X X C761.3 (tabu) X X X R221 (three-fold flight) X X X F823.2 (glass shoes) X X X H36.1 (slipper test) X X X K1911.3.3.1. (mutilated feet) X X - Source: The author of the thesis
Individual motifs were presented under each fairy tale variant. Nevertheless, I would like to emphasise certain characteristic which become clearer from the table. Firstly, it is worth stating that O Popelušce complies with the ATU motifs the most. Even though it is the only variant where the false bride’s mutilation of feet is missing, it is also the only variant which presents the ill-treating stepfamily and helping birds. Secondly, four motifs do not appear in any of Němcová’s variants. These are those connected to fairies and Cinderella’s dead mother.30 Finally, when comparing the ATU motifs, the impression of (di)similarity of the variants might be changed: when we focus only on the story, O třech sestrách and O Popelušce seems very similar (for example, in both of them, there are the three nuts, the helping frog, the story takes place in the church, heroine’s sister is called Dorotka/Dora, etc.), and O Popelce appears to be different (it is the only variant with the cannibal or expulsion to the forest). Nevertheless, when we concentrate only on the ATU motifs, it is actually O Popelce and O třech sestrách which are almost identical (only the motif of meetings at the ball/church is changed), while O Popelušce stays aside.
Besides Němcová’s variants, I have found another Slovak variant (although it is categorised as Hungarian) in Cox’s collection; it is variant number 32.31
30 While fairies are key helpers in the French variants (and American thanks to Disney), Cinderella receives help from her dead mother in the German variants. 31 In Cox’s book you can also read about a Moravian variant (No. 70); however this must have been a mistake. Cox writes that the tale comes from Litauische Volkslieder und Märchen book, as the title (Lithuanian Folk Songs and Fairy Tales) suggests, there are no Moravian tales in the book. The given tale is called Von dem Mädchen, das eine Hexe zur Stiefmutter hatte and Cox states it is translated from Moravské národní pohádky
22
2.2.4 Pavol Dobšinský: Popeluša
Dobšinský collected Slovak folk tales and he published them in eight volumes in Prostonárodné slovenské povesti (Popular National Slovak Tales) between 1880 and 1883. Dobšinský writes that he got the tale about Popeluša (Cinderella) from Andrej Caban, a priest who spoke the Nitra dialect. The story has many similarities with Němcová’s variant O Popelce (our first variant)32:
Story: In Dobšinský’s variant, the three sisters do not come from a poor family. On the contrary, they are daughters of the king. Their mother dies, and the king marries again. The king loses his kingdom in a war he waged because of his new wife and has to become forest- ranger. Stepmother ill-treats the girls and makes the father abandon his daughters in the forest. At this point, the story begins to look like the one by Němcová. Popeluša overhears their conversation; however, she does not go to an old lady’s house; she consults her sisters. They have an idea to take balls of thread to find their way home. This is repeated. On the third occasion, the stepmother understands their trick and hides all the thread. The girls discuss the possibilities, and (unlike Němcová’s Popelka) they reject grains because birds would eat them. They decide to take ashes; however, the wind scatters the ashes and the sisters are left in the forest. The older sisters abuse heroine because the ashes were her idea and begin to call her Popeluša.
A one-eyed giant finds the girls and takes them to his beautiful castle, where he and his ugly wife want to eat them. Like in O Popelce, the girls kill them and live in the castle. The older sisters begin to abuse Popeluša again. One day, they go to the town where the king announces he wants to get married. There is a ball; the sisters stay there for a month. Meanwhile, when sweeping the castle, Popeluša finds two rooms with dresses and a treasure. When her sisters go to the ball for the third time (always for a month), Popeluša secretly goes too. The king falls in love with her; however, she leaves early. This is repeated, but this time she loses her slipper during the flight. The young king says he will marry the one to whom the shoe fits. The slipper does not fit anyone at the ball. Then he meets Popeluša and she says
a pověsti (Moravian National Fairy Tales and Legends) written by F. M. Vrána. I have searched in the original book; however, there is no such tale. On the other hand, I would like to note that Vrána has also a fairy tale The Three Sisters. Nevertheless, it is not of type 510A. 32 I point to Němcová’s variant directly in the story summary.
23 it is her slipper. They get married and they learn that her stepmother died, and her dad lives not far away.33
Form: Even though the storyline is almost identical to Němcová’s O Popelce, the form is quite different. Dobšinský’s variant is by far the longest and the most developed, and has a lot of episodes and digressions. Moreover, there is less emphasis on dialogues and more on descriptions. Nevertheless, the narration is also in the third person and the setting is typical of fairy tales (unknown place and time).
ATU motifs: Despite the similarities, there are significant differences, some of them making the tale more corresponding to the ATU classification, some of them less. Firstly, unlike the Czech variant, the Slovak Popeluša has a cruel stepmother (S31, L55). On the other hand, the motif of mutilated feet is not present (K1911.3.3.1), and the sisters in the Slovak variant are not punished at all; on the contrary, they even get their husbands too. Regarding the same motifs, the magic clothes (D1050.1) are obtained in the same way, the prince is enamored at a ball (N711.6), the heroine needs to leave early from the ball (C761.3), she loses her slipper (F823.2) and the slipper test is present (H36.1). In both of the variants we can observe the absence of motifs of helpful birds (B450), fairy helpers (N815) or, for example, a magic object found on mother’s grave (D842.1).
Last but not least, the similarity of Němcová’s and Dobšinský’s variant might not be coincidental (a result of a common folk tradition) as Dobšinský’s variant was written 35 years later. It is likely that Dobšinský (and the priest who told him the tale) knew Němcová’s variant and maybe developed it (for example, while Němcová’s Popelka uses peas to find her way from the forest, Dobšinský’s Popeluša already learnt that birds could eat them and uses ash instead). Nevertheless, this is only my speculation.
Finally, even though there is no Cox’s type E, male Cinderella, in the Czech lands or Slovakia, I would like to draw the reader’s attention to a more modern Czech fairy tale which can be classified as type E. The fairy tale is called O Popelákovi (Cinderella Boy) and it was written by Josef Lada, a Czech painter and writer, and published in the book Nezbedné pohádky (Naughty Tales) in 1946. Lada took traditional well-known fairy tales and turned them ‘inside out’. O Popelákovi is turned inside out, gender speaking. The hero of the tale,
33 DOBŠINSKÝ, Pavol. Popeluša.
24
Popelák, has two older brothers, Bronislav and Karel. One day, the princess arranges a ball at the palace. The stepmother asks the sons what they want to bring from the market. Popelák asks only for whatever touches her hat, and he gets hazelnuts. When his stepmother and brothers leave for the ball, Popelák has the task of separating peas from lentils. What is new in the tale is the motif of a dream. Popelák dreams that there are nice dresses in the hazelnuts, and the dream comes true. There is also a horse. Popelák goes to the ball three times but he leaves before the forbidden hour. On the last occasion, the princess lets the doorsill to be glued. Popelák loses his large slipper. The shoe does not fit anybody but Popelák. They get married.34 The motif of punishment is missing.
This male Cinderella variant is not a folk tale; it is an artificially created fairy tale which uses the motifs of its traditional variant(s). By presenting this ‘naughty tale’, I do not intend to place it on the same level like Němcová’s or Dobšinský’s Cinderellas. The purpose is rather different: the Czech (and Slovak) tradition has more Cinderella variants which were collected in about the same time. I suppose that almost a hundred years later, Josef Lada had chosen to turn inside out the variant he assumed was the most wide-spread or accepted. It is therefore important to notice which motifs he chose to use (for example, the hazelnuts, the separating of grains, the horse) and which he chose to omit (the whole forest and living at the cannibal/giant’s castle, etc.). It can be stated that Lada drew inspiration from O třech sestrách and O Popelušce; however, he incorporated also features from the other variants (for example, the horse or the trickery of having the exit glued).
2.3 The Norwegian tradition
While the Czech tradition is strongly based on Němcová’s work, the Norwegian tradition is grounded in the work of folklore collectors Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe, namely in their book Norwegian Folktales (Norske Folkeeventyr).
There can be found much more Cinderella variants in Norway than in the Czech lands. Cox writes about 20 variants of her type A (ATU 510A) in Norway35. Out of these, 16 are collected by Asbjørnsen and/or Moe. Nevertheless, I am not going to analyse all of them. The reason is not only practical, due to the scope of the thesis, but especially functional as the individual tales do not have the same position in the Norwegian tradition. To explain,
34 LADA, Josef. O Popelákovi. 35 Cox’s variants 11,12,13,14, 15,30,33, 77,78,79,80,81,82,83,84,85,86,87,110,121.
25
Asbjørnsen and Moe published Norwegian Folktales in 1843. The collection included a variant of the Norwegian Cinderella named Kari Trestakk. In 1852, the second edition of the book was published, which can be these days referred as the scientific edition because it contains notes at the end of the book presenting many other Norwegian variants of Kari Trestakk, some of them being quite unlike the ‘main’ variant. While research of these variants may be interesting for scholars these days, they are not well-known variants to the general public simply because in the following editions, they are not represented. Therefore, I give a prominent place to one Kari Trestakk variant. Nevertheless, I would like to point out to certain characteristics of the other variants.
Furthermore, I do not claim that there are more Cinderella variants in Norway than in Czechia. It is possible that they are only better mapped. For example, Ørnulf Hodne catalogued Norwegian tales according to the AT system and he presented 71 Norwegian variants of AT 510 AB – Kari Trestakk.36
2.3.1 Asbjørnsen: Kari Trestakk
The 1852 edition, on which I base the analysis, states which tale was collected by whom. Kari Trestakk (literally Kari Tree-Skirt) main variant, as the authors themselves call it, was collected by Asbjørnsen from people in Røyken (tale No. 19).
Story: A widow king has a daughter, and he marries again. In king’s absence in war, the princess’s stepmother and stepsister ill-treat the heroine. They beat her and do not give her food. The princess cries; however, an ox helps her and tells her to take a tablecloth from his ear which serves up food and wine. The stepmother cannot understand why the heroine looks good without food and sets a maiden to spy on her. When the king returns, the queen knows about the magic ox already. She pretends to be ill and pays the doctor to say that only ox’s flesh can cure her. The princess and the ox run away.
They come to a forest of copper. The ox tells the princess not to touch anything in the forest because a three-headed troll lives there. The princess accidentally tears off a leaf, the princess hides it, however, the troll appears, and the ox has to fight him. The ox wins. This is repeated in a forest of silver (with a six-headed troll) and of gold (with a nine-headed troll). When the princess and the ox come to a castle, the ox asks her to cut his head off and put
36 HODNE, Ørnulf. The Types of the Norwegian Folktale, p. 116-119.
26 treasure of copper, silver and gold in it. She shall go to the castle, dress in a wooden cloak and call herself Kari Trestakk37. Kari does so and she gets a job at the castle.
On Sunday, Kari brings to the prince water for his bath, but when he hears the noise from her clothing, he gets angry and throws the water over her. Then she goes to the church, but first she goes to the ox’s head: a man appears and gives her dresses and a saddle of copper. Kari is the most beautiful in the church, and the prince falls in love with her. When asked where she comes from, she says from Bath-land. This is repeated three times. The second time, after the prince dismisses Kari with a towel, she meets him in the church wearing a dress of silver, saying she is from the Towel-land. The third time, when the prince dismisses Kari with a comb, she meets him in the church wearing dress of gold, saying she is from the Comb-land. However, the last time, the prince lets the entrance of church to be spread with resin and Kari loses her shoe of gold.
The prince announces that he will marry the one to whom the shoe fits. Many girls try in vain, till heroine’s stepmother brings her daughter and the shoe fits. When they are going to church, a bird reveals that there is blood on bride’s shoe because she cut parts of her foot to fit the shoe. All castle maids have to try the shoe, and it fits Kari who takes off the wooden cloak. Kari and the prince get married.38
Form: The fairy tale is quite long, like the longest Němcová’s tale O Popelce, i.e. 15 pages. However, just like O Popelce, the length is not given by thorough descriptions, but by the rich storyline. The absence of descriptions may suggest that the author truly recorded the story as he heard it and did not embellish the tale (comp. Dobšinský’s long descriptions on the contrary). Moreover, the tale is long due to the characteristic fairy tale three-time repetitions.
The setting is unknown like in other fairy tales. The narration is in the third person and even though it contains direct speech, it is not so common compared to Němcová’s variants. Even though most of the characters are black-and-white (the bad stepmother, stepsister, and trolls vs. the good ox), which is typical of fairy tales, the main character Kari Trestakk is difficult to understand, mainly because of her relationship to the prince. The
37 In English Katie Woodencloak. Note that Cox presents the English translation of Kari Trestakk in Norske Folkeeventyr as one of the variants. It is her variant 30. George Dasent translated the tale in his book Popular Tales from Norse Mythology (1888). He named the heroine Katie Woodencloak, i.e. he changed the name from Kari to Katie, probably to raise the feeling that the heroine has a common name. See the variant in Cox, p. 204- 5. 38 ASBJØRNSENS, Peter Christen and Jørgen MOE. Norske Folkeeventyr, p. 98-112.
27 prince is being mean to her, dismissing her because of her noisy clothing, however, she is determined to be with him. The prince seems to be superficial (he was glad when he found his bride, and even gladder when he found out she was a princess, p. 112).
ATU motifs: At the first sight, Kari Trestakk tale does not seem as ATU 510A – Cinderella to the reader. Nevertheless, if we look for the individual motifs, we will find out that it complies with the type just as Němcová’s variants. In fact, the tale has eight motifs of the type39. The motifs which are present are the cruel stepmother (S31), the stepdaughter heroine (L55), magic clothes (D1050.1), the meetings with the prince in church (N711.4), the three- fold flight (R221), the lost shoe (F823.2), the slipper test (H36.1), and the stepsister’s mutilated foot (K1911.3.3.1). When compared to the table with Němcová’s tales motifs, Kari Trestakk has the most in common with O Popelušce; although Kari Trestakk is missing the motifs of helpful birds B450 and tabu (C761.3); on the other hand, Němcová spared the false bride of mutilated feet ((K1911.3.3.1).
It is important to note that the motifs that are missing in all the Czech and Slovak variants are the same as those we do not find in the Norwegian variant, namely fairies (N815, N815.1), a magic object on mother’s grave (842.1) and the mother’s return (E323.2).
For comparison with the Czech versions, I add a table of the ATU motifs in Kari Trestakk:
ATU motifs Kari Trestakk S31 (cruel stepmother) X L55 (stepdaughter heroine) X B450 (helpful birds) - D1050.1 (magic clothes) X N815 (fairy as helper) - D815.1 (fairy nurse) - D842.1 (object on mother’s grave) - E323.2 (dead mother returns) - N711.6 (ball) - N711.4 (church) X C761.3 (tabu) - R221 (three-fold flight) X F823.2 (glass shoes) X H36.1 (slipper test) X K1911.3.3.1. (mutilated feet) X Source: The author of the thesis
39 For comparison, Němcová’s O Popelce has seven ATU 510A motifs, O třech sestrách also seven, while O Popelušce nine.
28
Moreover, there are many motifs in Kari Trestakk we remember from the Czech tradition, which are not the ATU motifs. For example, the shoe made of gold and not glass, the trickery of smearing resin at the entrance to stop the heroine, or the magic horse. We also know the dresses made of copper/stars, silver and gold from O Popelušce.
Furthermore, Kari Trestakk seems to be composed of more tales. Most notably, the first half of the tale does not resemble a Cinderella tale as we encounter a magic ox and fighting trolls for the first time. In fact, the ATU system reveals which tale was probably added to the storyline. It is AT 511A The Little Red Ox (although the ox is blue in the Norwegian version) which shall contain 1) the helpful ox, 2) spying on the ox, 3) a flight, and 4) a magic horn; the motifs comply too40, although the hero is male not female. Note that Uther in his development on the AT system abolished AT 511A and included it under 511 One-Eye, Two-Eyes, Three Eyes41.
Finally, the reason why the reader might find difficult to see Kari Trestakk as Cinderella is simply because there is not the motif of cinders and the heroine is therefore not called Cinderella; on the contrary, her name refers to wood. Nevertheless, the heroine of O třech sestrách was also not named Popelka (Cinderella) but Anuška.
2.3.2 Other Norwegian Cinderella variants
As noted already, there can be tracked many Norwegian Cinderella variants; however, I do not place great emphasis on them because they are not well known to the Norwegian public. Some of them can be found as notes to Norske Folkeeventyr42; however, most of them come from an unpublished collection by Moltke Moe43 analysed by Cox. I present some of the common characteristics below:
The ox appears in more variants (for example, Cox’s variant 82, 85); however, the heroine often receives help from a cat (Cox’s variant 11, 84, 121). The helper can be also a troll (variant 81), a fish which fulfils wishes (No. 86) or birds (No. 78). Another source of help can be a lime tree (No. 15, 77, 81) or an object on mother’s grave (No. 33, 82, 87),
40 For deeper comparisons see THOMPSON, Stith. The Types of the Folktale: A Classification and Bibliography, p. 178-179. 41 UTHER, Hans-Jörg. The Types of International Folktales: A Classification and Bibliography, Based on the System of Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson, p. 296. 42 ASBJØRNSENS, Peter Christen and Jørgen MOE. Norske Folkeeventyr, p. 414-421. 43 The son of Jørgen Moe.
29 a motif we know from the ATU system. Moreover, it is interesting to note that meetings with the prince never take place at a ball but always in the church44. Subsequently, in some of the variants, we encounter the motif of separating grains from ashes (No. 12, 81 87), and in one of them (No. 80), she is even called Cinderella, Aaskepot, although Cox writes that the tale is ‘apparently a mixture of a read tale and a tale learned orally’45.
I would like to emphasise two variants. Firstly, it is Kari Træstak46 from Bygland because it is the most similar to the Czech tradition. The heroine is ill-treated by her stepmother and stepsister, she is forbidden to go to the church, must separate grains from ashes instead, cries by the well, receives dresses, meets the prince three times in the church, the stepsister cuts her foot but is revealed, and the prince marries the heroine.
The second one is Lindedronningen (The Lime Tree Queen)47. I would like to emphasize this variant because it is the only one in the Norwegian and Czech tradition which presents the motif of a fairy (N815). The fairy lives in a lime tree and provides the heroine with a dress and also a carriage she uses to go to the church. The motifs of a fairy and a carriage are better known in the French tradition and became famous thanks to Disney.
Last but not least, Cox states in her preface that one can always detect Cinderella elements in works of the most diverse character. In particular, she writes about a Norse mythology figure Aslaug (also called Kraka or Crow in English). The author presents the abstract of the story from the Volsunga Saga and Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok48. She concludes that it is unnecessary to point out the striking parallels; however, at this point I do not agree. The similarities can be found only in the heroine’s life conditions as she is a princess ill- treated by the people she lives with. In fact, if the story should be classified by the ATU system, it would be type 875 The Peasant's Wise Daughter49.
44 This may be due to the socio-cultural conditions of poor Norway in that time. 45 COX, Marian Roalfe. Cinderella: Three Hundred and Forty-five Variants of Cinderella, Catskin, and Cap O'Rushes, Abstracted and Tabulated, with a Discussion of Mediaeval Analogues, and Notes, p. 323. 46 COX, Marian Roalfe. Cinderella: Three Hundred and Forty-five Variants of Cinderella, Catskin, and Cap O'Rushes, Abstracted and Tabulated, with a Discussion of Mediaeval Analogues, and Notes, p. 147. (No. 12); Can be found in ASBJØRNSENS, Peter Christen and Jørgen MOE. Norske Folkeeventyr, p. 416. 47 COX, Marian Roalfe. Cinderella: Three Hundred and Forty-five Variants of Cinderella, Catskin, and Cap O'Rushes, Abstracted and Tabulated, with a Discussion of Mediaeval Analogues, and Notes, p. 148. (No. 15); Can be found in ASBJØRNSENS, Peter Christen and Jørgen MOE. Norske Folkeeventyr, p. 420-421. 48 COX, Marian Roalfe. Cinderella: Three Hundred and Forty-five Variants of Cinderella, Catskin, and Cap O'Rushes, Abstracted and Tabulated, with a Discussion of Mediaeval Analogues, and Notes, p. xxxvi-xl.; I suggest Cinderella in Old Norse Literature by Jonathan Y. H. Hui as further reading. 49 Kraka shall come to the king neither clad nor unclad, neither fed nor unfed and alone, yet with company. Czech readers may recognise this story from Němcová’s Chytrá horákyně; the Grimm brothers have this tale in their collection too.
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2.3.3 Norwegian Cinderella hero tales
In the Czech tradition, there were no male Cinderellas in the traditional fairy tales. Even though Josef Lada wrote such a tale, it is not a folk tale. On the contrary, in the Norwegian tradition, we can find three Cinderella hero tales, two recorded by Asbjørnsen and Moe in the notes of Norske Folkeeventyr and one recorded by Moltke Moe.
The first one, from Gudbrandsdal, is very similar to the main variant of Kari Trestakk: a hero ill-treated by a troll receives help from an ox, a girl spies on them, they flee through copper, silver and gold forests, and the hero wins a princess as a prize. The second one, from Hardanger, proceeds similarly, with the difference that when the hero cuts the ox’s head, the ox becomes a prince and they go to the castle together. Finally, Moltke’s variant is different because both the hero and the ox die in the fight with trolls and there is not happy ending50.
As noted earlier, these variants are not well-known to the Norwegian public. On the other hand, I would like to draw the reader’s attention to one special figure of the Norwegian tales – Askeladden. The fairy tales about Askeladden do not have anything in common with the character of Askepott (Cinderella in Norwegian); however, the similarity of the names might have an effect on Cinderella’s later acceptance by the general public. Askeladden is a well-known and popular character that appears in six fairy tales in Norske folkeeventyr (as main tales, not in notes)51. Askeladden is seemingly dumb and spends too much time by the fireplace; however, he always wins the princess and a half of the kingdom. Such a character is common is many national tales. In the Czech tradition it is Hloupý Honza (Dumb Honza; collected by Božena Němcová in National Stories and Legends as O Hloupém Honzovi). To conclude, a character associated with ashes is Askeladden for the Norwegians; Askepott was imported to Norway, as only Kari Trestakk remains a Norwegian fairy tale ATU 510A.
50 COX, Marian Roalfe. Cinderella: Three Hundred and Forty-five Variants of Cinderella, Catskin, and Cap O'Rushes, Abstracted and Tabulated, with a Discussion of Mediaeval Analogues, and Notes, p. 437, 334. (No. 319, 320, 334); The first two can be found in ASBJØRNSENS, Peter Christen and Jørgen MOE. Norske Folkeeventyr, p. 415, 418. 51 These are 1. Askeladden and the Good Helpers; 2. Askeladden Who Stole the Troll’s Silver Ducks; 3. Per, Pål, and Espen Askeladd; 4. Redfox and Askeladden; 5. Askeladden Who Made The Princess Accuse Him of Lying; 6. Askelladen The Boy Who Had an Eating Match with a Troll.
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3 Analysis of the film Three Wishes for Cinderella
This chapter is devoted to the analysis of the Cinderella film adaptation – Three Wishes for Cinderella52 which has become a cultural phenomenon in both the Czech Republic and Norway. The purpose of the chapter is to answer the research questions 2 (‘Does the Czech film Three Wishes for Cinderella deviate from the Czech and Norwegian tradition of the Cinderella tale?’) and 2.a. (‘If so, which aspects are different?’). To do so, the chapter is divided into three subchapters: firstly, the theory of adaptation will be briefly discussed; secondly, an analysis of the film will be presented; subsequently, the ATU motifs and Propp’s functions will be applied on the film story; and finally, the film adaptation will be compared to the Czech and Norwegian tradition.
3.1 The theory of film adaptation For a long time, film adaptations have been considered as pure imitations of much more valuable literature works. Literature on screen is affected by prejudices even nowadays and critics are still concerned with the issue of fidelity. Certainly, we all have heard that books are of higher quality than films. Many people still believe that while literature cultivates our personality and improves our imagination, films are only a form of relaxation. Many directors have gone to this losing battle with the same results – film causes harm to literature and can never be on the same level.53
As Petr Bubeníček points out, many texts devoted to film adaptations are too focused on appraisal of the direct relations between the film and the literary work it is based on. Such an evaluation is closely connected to the expectations that film shall be faithful to the original. However, we cannot compare what is not comparable in this manner: film and literature are two different media. Film has multiple layers: the language used by literature is just part of the experience which is formed also by image, music, and other components. This leads to the conclusion that film adaptation can never resemble the literary work it is based
52 Both the Czech and Norwegian title literary means Three Nuts for Cinderella (Czech: Tři oříšky pro Popelku; Norwegian: Tre nøtter til Askepott); however, the English translation replaced the nuts with wishes. To be consistent, I am going to use the original translation to English. 53 Comp. BUBENÍČEK, Petr. Filmová adaptace: hledání interdisciplinárního dialogu.
32 on. Last but not least, film adaptors often do not use a single source of inspiration and borrowings.54
These are important ideas which I would like to keep in mind when analysing the film Three Wishes for Cinderella. Of course, one of the main goals is to assess whether the film is (di)similar to the Czech and Norwegian tradition in terms of motifs; nevertheless, none of the Cinderella variants is the original one, and therefore the common and wrong approach of evaluating a film on its fidelity is not even an option. Moreover, I do not expect that general public would compare the film to any of the ‘original’ variants either as the tales are no longer a sought-after reading. On the contrary, I expect that the film adaptation will be extended. After all, both the Czech and Norwegian variants are usually about ten pages long and if we demanded accuracy, the film could hardly be over an hour. This corresponds to the idea that film-makers often have more sources of inspiration, which will be evident from the film analysis.
One of the most prominent theorists of film adaptation, Linda Hutcheon, also dismisses the ‘fidelity criticism’. She argues that adaptation is repetition, however, repetition without replication. After all, the verb ‘to adapt’ does not mean copy, but to adjust, to alter and to make suitable. This approach does not mean that the adaptation should not be seen in the context. The author asks what exactly is recast or transformed from the ‘original’ to the adaptation. While some argue that it is the ‘spirit’, ‘tone’ or ‘style’, for Hutcheon these are subjective terms. She suggests three main elements which are adaptable: themes, characters and separate units of the story.55 These shall be discussed further in the thesis as well, although Hutcheon’s themes are looked upon as ‘motifs’. I conclude that themes and motifs can be used interchangeably in this case: Hutcheon mentions themes such as a magical task or revelation; these could very well be the ATU motifs.56 Characters’ attributes were discussed in the literary tradition and will be compared to the film characters. Separate units of the story are the individual moments in the storyline which viewer can recall in the film adaptation from the literary tradition (these are discussed in the chapter Comparison of the film and the Czech and Norwegian tradition). In adaptation, plot ordering, pacing or point of view can be changed and cause major differences.57
54 BUBENÍČEK, Petr. Filmová adaptace: hledání interdisciplinárního dialogu, p. 7-12. 55 HUTCHEON, Linda. A Theory of Adaptation, p. 6-11. 56 And in fact, they are: motifs H1000-H1199 are Nature of Tasks; regarding revelation can be mentioned f. e. motif D1445.1 Revelation of magic secret. Comp. THOMPSON, Stith. Motif-index of folk-literature. 57 HUTCHEON, Linda. A Theory of Adaptation, p. 11.
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At the end of her book, Hutcheon comes back to the question of adaptations’ appeal. Adaptations often connote negative rhetoric; however, people keep producing them, watching them and studying them. After all, the question ‘why is Three Wishes for Cinderella popular in both Norway and Czechia?’ was the driving force when I started to write this thesis. Hutcheon resorts to a biological parallel – ‘adaptation is how stories evolve and mutate to fit new times and different places.’58 In this line, Bubeníček concludes that film adaptation can raise new questions, for example, gender or political ones59. In the case of Cinderella, the focus on the gender issues shall be not omitted.
3.2 Film analysis
3.2.1 Historical background
The screenplay for Three Wishes for Cinderella was written by František Pavlíček and the film was directed by Václav Vorlíček. The film is not solely a Czechoslovak production; the Barrandov Film Studio cooperated with the Eastern German studio DEFA. Nevertheless, the screenplay was already finished when the cooperation was settled, and therefore the film is not influenced by the Grimm Cinderella tradition. The film is a product of the ‘Czechoslovak Normalization cinematography’. In the early 1970s, many screenwriters who wrote high- quality scripts could not work for the Barrandov Studio because of their pro-reform political activities during the Prague Spring of 1968. If their work was to be published, it had to be covered by other, approved artists, who put themselves into danger of prosecution if the real authorship would transpire. This is the case of Three Wishes for Cinderella. If we have a look at the opening credits, we will not find Pavlíček’s name – it states that the story is based on motifs of a fairy tale by Božena Němcová and that the screenplay is written by Bohumila Zelenková and Václav Vorlíček (min. 1:3060). Bohumila Zelenková is a Czech screenwriter and script editor who provided her signature on cooperation agreements because Pavlíček was a forbidden author. As Lukáš Skupa points out, it is not clear how much influence Pavlíček had on subsequent changes in the script. The largest changes were made because of the decision to shoot the film in the winter as the screenplay was prepared for Cinderella’s
58 Ibid, p. 176 59 BUBENÍČEK, Petr. Filmová adaptace: hledání interdisciplinárního dialogu, p. 20. 60 When referring to the film, I state the minute of the given moment in the film. As a reference to the original Czech version of the film Three Wishes for Cinderella, I use the version restored by the National Film Archive (NFA) in 2015 – Three Wishes for Cinderella [Tři Oříšky pro Popelku] [Netflix – media service provider]. Director Václav VORLÍČEK. Czechia: NFA, 2015. 84 min.
34 adventures in the summer61. Pavlíček published his script for the film in 2003 and the differences will be briefly discussed in the corresponding chapter.
Initially, the director of the film was to supposed to be Jiří Menzel; however, he did not go through the required ‘self-criticism’ and according to the script editor Ludvík Toman, he did not show much interest in the film62. The script was therefore given to Václav Vorlíček. The shooting began in December 1972 and it was finished in March 1973. The opening night took place at the Sevastopol cinema on 16 November 1973. At that time, the Czech public knew already many film adaptations of the Cinderella fairy tale. There was the old Czech adaptation from 1929, the Soviet version from 1947, and even the American Disney adaptation (1950), even though it was introduced twenty years after its production. Moreover, the newest Czechoslovak adaptation was just a few years old – from 1969. Nevertheless, the public was not tired of the Cinderella story; in fact, Three Wishes for Cinderella had a great success, not only in Czechoslovakia but also abroad. In October/November, there was the annual Filmfórum film fair in Brno where traders used to purchase Czechoslovak films. Even though the film was sold to nine countries, Norway was not among them. The Norwegians purchased the film a year later and the film was introduced in Norway during the Czechoslovak Film Days in 1975.63
3.2.2 Analysis of Three Wishes for Cinderella
Even though the main focus is on the story of the film Three Wishes for Cinderella in comparison to the Czech and Norwegian tradition, I believe that a brief film analysis could be valuable.
In my analysis, I drew inspiration from a guidebook to the analytical process written by Radomír D. Kokeš, Film Analysis. In the first chapter, To Observe, Kokeš presents the analytical tool and its three components: narrative, style and the fictional world. The narrative component consists mainly of the story and plot. Subsequently, the style refers to aesthetic
61 SKUPA, Lukáš. Pohádka před kamerou, pohádka za kamerou. Produkční historie filmu Tři oříšky pro Popelku, p. 24-27. 62 Jiří Menzel was considered a problem artist for the Normalisation regime at that time. If such artists wanted to be active, they had to demonstrate their self-criticism, i.e. declare their loyalty to the regime. Toman claimed that Menzel did not go through this process and that they agreed that Menzel is not a suitable director for the film. Nevertheless, Menzel himself stated that it was not a matter of agreement. Comp. SKUPA, Lukáš. Pohádka před kamerou, pohádka za kamerou. Produkční historie filmu Tři oříšky pro Popelku, p. 26. 63 SKUPA, Lukáš, Pavel SKOPAL, Radomír D. KOKEŠ, Petr BEDNAŘÍK, Sara BRINCH, Martin ŠRAJER and Steffen RETZLAFF. Tři oříšky pro Popelku, p. 183-192.
35 techniques, for example, how the camera is used (the bottom/top view, the length of the shot, etc.) but also the so-called mise-en-scène, i.e. everything in front of the camera, such as the environment, state properties, costumes, colours, or lighting. The style refers also to film editing and sound (spoken word but also music). Finally, the fictional world is represented by the space-time continuum of the work; the author distinguishes a character’s inner microworld and a sub-world which has to be shared by at least two characters.64
Kokeš himself applied the structure of his analytical tool on the film Three Wishes for Cinderella in a chapter of a book of the same name. In the component of fictional world, the author discusses Cinderella’s and the prince’s sub-worlds which can be divided into the private (Cinderella and animals, the prince and his friends) and non-private (Cinderella and her step-family, the prince and the royal family) layers. The private sub-worlds of the characters are becoming more and more interconnected as the film approaches its climax. The narrative component can be divided into the top and bottom lines (authorities vs. Cinderella and the prince) which correspond to the fictional world. Both of the components are seen in comparison to the previous Cinderella film adaptations. The component of style is characteristic by layering the space; the author focuses on technical components of the film, for example, the work with camera and editing. In other words, the three components are grounded in the principle of layering. 65
The author’s tool was an important source of inspiration to me; however, my brief analysis is adjusted to the goals and purposes of the thesis. I am going to discuss the basic aspects which are visible to the layman viewer the most: that is the plot, characters, environment, music, and costumes.
Firstly, I am going to summarise the story in the same way as it was conducted in the analysis of the Czech and Norwegian literary tradition. The narration is chronological. Even though the film does not have a narrator (in comparison to other Cinderella variants, comp. to Kokeš), the viewer, unlike the characters, gets a full knowledge of what is happening, , i.e. the film does not use a point of view of one of the characters, rather the camera is omnipresent and we get to see the whole picture. Moreover, the introduction of the film substitutes the narrator very well: everybody at the farm is getting ready for the arrival of the royal family and we understand the attributes of the characters; then Cinderella is talking to
64 KOKEŠ, Radomír D. Rozbor filmu, p. 13-43. 65 KOKEŠ, Radomír D. Tři argumenty pro Popelku: analytická východiska k porozumění jejímu úspěchu, p. 58- 86.
36 her horse Jurášek and we learn what happened in the past (it has been three years she got the horse from her father; however, she is forbidden to ride him, from min. 5:30); finale explanations are mediated via Cinderella’s dialogue with her stepmother (min. 7:45, her father who loved Cinderella died and the stepmother inherited the property). As the story is based on Božena Němcová’s Cinderella variants which are rather short (10 to 15 pages), the film’s storyline is not complicated and the film itself is only 84 minutes long. In fact, the film-makers emphasise long shots with minimum editing and characteristic music by Karel Svoboda, for example, Popelka riding her horse Jurášek in the forest (min 15:35-16:55, track Motive I – Introduction) or the final scene where Popelka and the prince are leaving the farm on their horses in the snow-covered countryside (1:21:42-1:24:18, track Kdepak, ty ptáčku, hnízdo máš).
Story: The royal family arrives to a farm on their way to the palace where a ball of which purpose is to find a bride for the prince is going to take place soon. Everybody at the farm is getting ready for their arrival, especially the cruel landlady and her daughter Dora who invite themselves to the ball. Meanwhile, the landlady’s stepdaughter, Popelka, must separate peas from ashes; she receives help from doves and enjoys herself with her friends – horse Jurášek and owl Rozárka. The heroine meets the prince and his friends in the forest, and they chaff each other.
The landlady and Dora are preparing for the ball and they send a groom for shopping. Popelka asks the groom, Vincek, for whatever what hits his nose on the way. The prince shoots a nest down and the nest hits Vincek’s nose. In it, there are three hazelnuts. On advice of the wise owl Rozárka, Popelka opens the first nut with a hunter’s dress. Wearing the dress, she meets the prince in the forest again and wins a ring in a hunting contest.
The landlady and Dora are going to the ball but Popelka must separate lentils from maize. The doves help her, and she opens the second nut with a beautiful rose-coloured ball dress. At the ball, the prince dances with Dora; however, when Popelka arrives, the prince falls in love with her. He would like to marry her, but instead of accepting, the heroine gives him a riddle and leaves. The prince runs after her, Popelka loses her shoe on the way. The prince arrives to the farm and says he will marry the one to whom the shoe fits. Dora and her mother arrive from the ball and soon understand the beautiful princess was Popelka. They tie her up and Dora pretends to be Popelka. The prince wants to give her the shoe; however, the landlady seizes it and the ladies leave the farm in a carriage. The prince follows them, their
37 carriage falls into a pond, and the prince sees that it is not his bride. When the prince comes back to the farm, Popelka is already waiting for him in the wedding dress which was in the third and last nut.
For a closer comparison of the story of the literary variants and the film, see subchapter Comparison of the film and the Czech and Norwegian tradition. I present also comparison to the original screenplay written by František Pavlíček as the story was slightly changed by the director, Václav Vorlíček.
Secondly, I would like to pay attention to the character’s attributes as these seem to have undergone the largest changes compared to the Němcová’s variants, undoubtedly contributing to film’s popularity both in Czechia and abroad.
Characters: The main character, Cinderella (performed by Libuše Šafránková), in Czech Popelka, is rather different from any of Němcová’s variants. In O třech sestrách and O Popelušce, Cinderella is the typical fairy tale heroine – a good, kind, polite, and hard- working girl. The O Popelce variant is different as its heroine is very complicated and ambivalent; in fact, the character is illogically depicted (she kills the cannibals but lets her sisters, who could not survive without her, bully her). Nevertheless, it can be said that in general, Němcová’s Cinderellas are passive and if a miracle would not happen, they would not be able to change their situation. Last but not least, the film Cinderella is the only Czech Cinderella who is an orphan which certainly fuels her emancipation (note that in O Popelce and O třech sestrách, the heroine has both birth parents; in O Popelušce, she has a step- mother but her birth farther is in the picture).
Popelka in Three Wishes for Cinderella is everything but not passive. She rides a horse and shoots from a crossbow; in fact, it is her who initiates the action and takes decisions (for example, she joins the hunter’s contest, min. 43). She is just as kind and hard- working as in the literary variants, but she can be also quick-tempered and brave – for the first time, we can see a Cinderella who shows her defiance towards the stepmother (‘leave father alone, he left you the whole farm, forests and mill’, min. 7:48; most importantly, she does not comply with the landlady’s interdictions – to ride Jurášek or go to the ball). In many aspects, Popelka resembles a modern girl, she is independent (although it is only implied in the film, Popelka gets from the cords herself) and emancipated (when the prince says he has chosen the bride at the ball, she replies that he forgot to ask her if she would want him, min. 1:05:00).
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These characteristics were intentional as the letter on dramaturgic explication describes: ‘In practice, this means that Cinderella is not the traditional, timid, wronged passive poor thing who was struck by fortune when a perfect gentleman – prince – falls for her; Cinderella is a cheerful, courageous, sensitive and dexterous girl.’66 The main character offers a strong feminist impetus; this is something which can explain the film’s popularity, also in Norway, the country renowned for gender equality.
Subsequently, the character of prince (performed by Pavel Trávníček) evolves throughout the story: at the beginning, he is rather irresponsible (he does not take seriously his responsibilities, spends a lot of time with his friends, opposes his parents and the tutor), although not reckless (when Popelka steals his horse, he wants her to jump off because she might get hurt, min. 21:20). However, then he falls in love at the ball and when Popelka runs away, he leaves everything behind to find her. He is not as authoritative as in the literary variants (namely O Popelce), or he may have been (the already mentioned scene when the prince tells her he has chosen his bride), but love changes him (when she repeats the riddle, everybody screams ‘our Popelka!’ and the prince says ‘and also mine, if you want me’, min. 1:21:23). It is important to mention that Popelka did not receive the three nuts thanks to destiny; in fact, it was thanks to the prince who shot them down when Vincek was passing (min. 34). The prince, just like in any Němcová’s variants, does not have a name (in the original script, Popelka asks about his name but this scene does not appear in the film).
The landlady represents the typical cruel stepmother who torments Popelka after her father’s death. The heroine’s stepsister, Dora, is an immature and spoilt girl. On the other hand, there are many people who favour Popelka, namely the groom Vincek but in fact all the workers at the farm. The royal couple is very kind; however, the king would like the prince to take his responsibilities more seriously and the queen moderates the tension between them, taking the situation humorously. The prince has also two reliable friends, Kamil and Vítek, and a very patient tutor.
Last but not least, the film has several animal characters, all of them being Popelka’s friends and helpers. These are namely the horse Jurášek, owl Rozárka, dog Tajtrlík, cat Mourek, and also doves who help Popelka to separate grains from ashes.
66 Letter from Ota Hofman to Ludvík Toman, June 1972; SKUPA, Lukáš, Pavel SKOPAL, Radomír D. KOKEŠ, Petr BEDNAŘÍK, Sara BRINCH, Martin ŠRAJER and Steffen RETZLAFF. Tři oříšky pro Popelku, p. 204-205.
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Thirdly, the environment, in which the film takes place, leaves a strong impression on viewers. As typical for the fairy tale genre, the film takes place in unknown settings – fictional time (which can be narrowed down by the costumes, see below) and place. More precisely, the story takes place at the farm, the royal palace and most notably outdoors, especially in the forest. While the indoor scenes may be seen as a place of duty for the main characters (the farm for Popelka and the palace for the prince), the nature gives them freedom and a refuge for meetings.
Probably one of the most important factors is the winter snow-covered landscape which contributed to the fact that the film has become a Christmas tradition in both Czechia and Norway. While the decision to shoot in winter can be considered as one of filmmakers’ greatest ideas, the reason was in fact more practical – to abide by the conditions of the coproduction. In fact, the winter shooting caused several troubles to the film crew: the winter of 1972/1973 was lacking snow and the filmmakers had to search for new shooting locations and import both natural and artificial snow67. Furthermore, the script had to be changed because of the environment as the film was planned for the summer; for example, Popelka’s helper, frog Jenička, was replaced by owl Rozárka. I am going to discuss these changes in the subchapter about the original screenplay by František Pavlíček.
In line with the environment, the costumes capture the viewer’s attention. This shall not concern only the beautiful dresses from the three hazelnuts, although these represent well Popelka’s journey from a housemaid in a colourless dress to the princess in a shining wedding dress, i.e. via the dresses for hunting and the ball. The costumes were designed by Theodor Pištěk who created dresses in the style of ‘moderately updated Renaissance’68. Nevertheless, looking at the make-up, we can determine the film is from the 1970s (especially given the eye-lines). The filmmakers used similar colour tones – muffled shades of dark colours which create a great effect in the interaction with the snowy backgrounds. The only exceptions in the dark costumes are the dresses for the ball. Especially Droběna’s blood-dress gives a strong impression.
67 SKUPA, Lukáš. Pohádka před kamerou, pohádka za kamerou. Produkční historie filmu Tři oříšky pro Popelku, p. 29-31. 68 SKUPA, Lukáš, Pavel SKOPAL, Radomír D. KOKEŠ, Petr BEDNAŘÍK, Sara BRINCH, Martin ŠRAJER and Steffen RETZLAFF. Tři oříšky pro Popelku, p. 168.
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Finally, I would like to write a few lines about the sound, i.e. speech, music and foley effects, in Three Wishes for Cinderella. This is going to become an important factor in the Norwegian version; therefore, it is important to mention it here. The spoken word is natural, the only character which purposely gives a comical impression (because of the tone of the voice but also movements and costumes) is the tutor (‘Noble Lords, what about the learning?”, min. 32:30). Furthermore, most of the characters are played by Czech actors, the exceptions being the royal couple and the stepmother performed by German actors – these are dubbed in the Czech version and sometimes, the viewer can tell because the lips and the sound do not match perfectly (for example, especially in the first scene when the landlady talks to Dora but no sound appears or when she screams at the subjects to hurry up, min 2:35).
The strongest impression is made by the music composed by Karel Svoboda and played by the Film Symphonic Orchestra (conducted by Štěpán Koníček). The lyrics were written by Jiří Štaidl and the songs are sung by Karel Gott – which can also be one of the reasons for the film’s popularity among the Czech public.
The individual tracks can be divided into three groups69 – Motif I, Motif II, and other music. The Motif I is connected to actions performed by Popelka. The music is characteristic with ringing and humming, and the motif has many variations (Popelka a Jurášek; Popelčin těžký úděl; Tanec Popelky s princem; Finále I). The Motif II is connected to the situations where the prince appears, such as the melody from Kdepak, ty ptáčku, hnízdo máš, and it also appears in many variants (Popelka-myslivec; Nejlepší střelec; Popelka prchá z plesu; Finále II). By other music, I mean music which corresponds to the situation: these can be cheerful melodies when the doves help Popelka (Přátelé Holoubci I, II) or playful melodies when the prince runs after Popelka (Hon na Popelku I, II, III). Moreover, there are rumbling melodies connected to the cruel stepmother (Macecha – popel a hrách; Zrada, pronásledování a trest), and finally majestic melodies connected to the royal family (Odjezd královského průvodu; Královský ples). The choice of distinct musical instruments, such as pipes, corresponds well to the goal – updated Renaissance.
All of the tracks represent non-diegetic sound with three exceptions: the music at the ball (tracks Královský ples and Tanec Popelky s princem – Motiv I., in the film from min.
69 I refer to the original album Tři oříšky pro Popelku (original soundtrack) published by Supraphon. I keep the names of the tracks in Czech for easier tracing. SVOBODA, Karel. Tři Oříšky pro Popelku. Filmová hudba – komplet. [Spotify – media service provider]. Czech National Symphonic Orchestra. Prague: Supraphon A.S., 2018.
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54:20), Cinderella washing laundry in the brook while singing (track Popelčin těžký úděl I. – Motiv I., min 28:20) and the prince and his friends imitating the ball in the forest (track Motiv preceptora a hodina tance; min. 31:35). Nevertheless, even these three are a combination of the diegetic and non-diegetic sound, for example, the characters sing, but the orchestra is playing in the background. In other words, the only pure diegetic sounds remain the spoken word and the sound of some objects (and animals), for example, the harness bell on Vincek’s wagon (min. 28).
3.2.3 Comparison to the published screenplay
As noted earlier, František Pavlíček published the screenplay for Three Wishes for Cinderella in 2003.70 Firstly, I would like to point out the main differences between the published screenplay and the film as we know it today.
To start with, I would like to mention that while in the opening credits of the film it is stated that the story is based on a fairy tale by Božena Němcová, Pavlíček writes that the screenplay is based on motifs of Božena Němcová’s fairy tales (p. 105), referring to more than just one variant of the fairy tale. It is therefore obvious that the author was aware of the various variants and drew inspiration from them. It is unclear why this was changed in the film; however, it is possible that Vorlíček was not aware of the other variants. In an interview, Vorlíček said that Pavlíček completely deviated from Němcová. Subsequently the director describes the variant O Popelce71 which is indeed the most different from the film storyline (namely the episodes in the forest and in the cannibals’ castle). As it will be shown in the chapter about comparison of the literary tradition and the film, Pavlíček connects motifs from all three variants.
The changes itself are not significant, most of them are due to the shooting taking place in winter instead of summer. For example, in the film, Cinderella in the hunter’s dress is shooting down cones, but in the screenplay, these are apples (p. 149). The heroine also repeatedly sings a song about a green olive tree, which was removed (Olive, olive, green olive/tell me, green olive/what my beloved doing; p. 144). Or in the film, the prince and his
70 PAVLÍČEK, František. Tři oříšky pro Popelku: tři filmové pohádky, p. 102-196. 71 SKUPA, Lukáš, Pavel SKOPAL, Radomír D. KOKEŠ, Petr BEDNAŘÍK, Sara BRINCH, Martin ŠRAJER and Steffen RETZLAFF. Tři oříšky pro Popelku, p. 167.
42 friends suggest they should roll Cinderella into thorns, the screenplay suggest they should soak her in a water hall (p. 125).72
It is not surprising that all the lines are not the same; however, it is interesting to note that Pavlíček had the enchantment ‘fog behind me, fog in front of me’ (p. 162) in the original text which comes from the variant O Popelce where the heroine uses it to disappear on her horse unseen in a fog73. It is also interesting that Pavlíček’s Jurášek is black (p. 111) since Němcová writes about a white horse and the filmmakers decided for a white horse too.
Subsequently, differences can be found in regards to characters; particularly, the film adds two comic characters – the prince’s tutor and a huge lady called Droběna (the name could be translated as Petite Lady) at the ball. When the prince is going for his dance partner without looking, he stops by Dora; Popelka sees them dancing from the window and is disappointed and sad (p. 159-160). Both the tutor and Droběna are amusing, and the film- makers probably decided to add them to lighten the storyline. They are not present in any of the literary variants.
Moreover, Popelka may seem a little less independent at the end of Pavlíček’s adaptation. The heroine does not get from the stepmothers cords by herself; it is the doves that help her. Moreover, she does not open the last nut with the wedding dress; the owl Rozárka does it for her (p. 190-191). In general, the end of the screenplay presents more of the supernatural – when the prince finds out that Dora is a false bride, it is Popelka’s ‘voice from nowhere’ which brings him back to the farm (p. 192-193); in the film, the prince follows the owl Rozárka.
From historical documents, namely letters from Ota Hofman to Ludvík Toman, it is clear that some changes were made in the script. I presume that the published screenplay is not the original text, but the latest version written by František Pavlíček; additional changes were made by the director. Let me explain why I came to this conclusion:
In the first letter, Hofman writes that ‘the author read the comments of the Prague Ideological Art Council and made extensive adjustments to the screenplay. She removed the
72 In Czech, this sounds similar: vyválet v trní vs. vymáchat v tůni. 73 NĚMCOVÁ, Božena. O Popelce, p. 103.
43 inorganic motif of masquerade…’74 Indeed, Pavlíček firstly mentions a carnival (p. 128) which is changed into a ball later in the screenplay. In another letter, Hoffman writes that the fall of the stepmother and Dora into a pond was added75; this is something already contained in the published version (p. 186). Moreover, the letter uncovers other changes we would not have the slightest idea about – the most important being that due to the shooting in winter instead of summer, the character of the helpful frog Jenička was replaced with the owl Rozárka. This is very important because the helper frog appears in two Němcová’s variants – O třech sestrách and O Popelušce. To conclude, the published screenplay seems to be a working version from the time when the decision to film in the winter was taken. In fact, Pavlíček does not mention snow once, he writes about shooting down apples and Popelka is singing about green olives; however suddenly, the landladies fall into a frozen pond.
3.3 Application of ATU motifs and Propp’s functions ATU motifs
ATU motifs Three Wishes for Cinderella S31 (cruel stepmother) X L55 (stepmother heroine) X B450 (helpful birds) X D1050.1 (magic clothes) X N815 (fairy as helper) - D815.1 (fairy nurse) - D842.1 (object on mother’s grave) - E323.2 (dead mother returns) - N711.6 (ball) X N711.4 (church) - C761.3 (tabu) X R221 (three-fold flight) ? F823.2 (glass shoes) X H36.1 (slipper test) X K1911.3.3.1. (mutilated feet) - Source: author of the thesis
74 Letter from Ota Hofman to Ludvík Toman, June 1972; SKUPA, Lukáš, Pavel SKOPAL, Radomír D. KOKEŠ, Petr BEDNAŘÍK, Sara BRINCH, Martin ŠRAJER and Steffen RETZLAFF. Tři oříšky pro Popelku, p. 204. 75 Letter from Ota Hofman to Ludvík Toman, November 1972; SKUPA, Lukáš, Pavel SKOPAL, Radomír D. KOKEŠ, Petr BEDNAŘÍK, Sara BRINCH, Martin ŠRAJER and Steffen RETZLAFF. Tři oříšky pro Popelku, p. 211-2.
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The table above shows the presence of the ATU motifs in the film Three Wishes for Cinderella. The (di)similarities are going to be discussed in the following chapter. Here, I would like to point out that the modern adaptation complies with the Cinderella definition well. Eight of the motifs are present; I put a question mark to one of them – the three-fold flight (R221): in the traditional variants, the three meetings of Cinderella and the prince take place at three balls. In the film, the main characters meet three times, but on different occasions (in the forest, at the ball, and at the farm). I personally see it as a feature of modern adaptation and believe that the motif is in fact present. On the other hand, the motifs which are not present are those that are not common for the Czech tradition – i.e. fairies (N815, D815.1; common for the French tradition) and help from the dead mother (D842.1, E323.2; common for the German tradition). Finally, the motif K1911.3.3.1. of mutilating feet is missing; the Czech Dora runs away with the slipper rather than to mutilate her feet.
Propp’s functions
In this section, I would like to apply Propp’s system of functions and dramatic personae on the film adaptation Three Wishes for Cinderella. As noted in the theory, even traditional tales collected by Brothers Grimm were not perfectly suitable for the analysis according to Propp. It shall be therefore of no surprise that it is not possible to apply every function or dramatic personae on the storyline. Nevertheless, especially when it comes to the definition of characters, Propp’s system is still applicable.
Firstly, I would like to present the dramatic personae in the film Three Wishes for Cinderella. Propp presents seven of them. The only persona missing in the adaptation is the ‘dispatcher’ as it corresponds to only one function, no. 9, which is missing as well. The other dramatic personae are:
1. Villain – the stepmother (namely function 16); 2. Donor – Vincek: the person who gives Cinderella the three magic nuts; alternatively, the prince can be seen as the donor, as he is the creator of the destiny – i.e. he shoots the nuts which fall on Vincek (function 14, alternatively also 12); 3. Helper – all the animals: in terms of functions especially the horse Jurášek (15, 29) but also the owl Rozárka (15); regardless of the functions, the birds help Cinderella separate ashes from various grains, and the dog Tajtrlík can be referred to at least as a supporter;
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4. Princess – the sought-after character is the prince (27, 28, 30, 31); 5. Hero – Cinderella; 6. False hero – stepsister Dora (especially function 24).
Theoretically, the prince could therefore have two dramatic personae – the princess and the donor – which is in line with Propp’s interpretation. This interpretation would open the possibility of more functions which will be explained below. Moreover, the idea that the characters are creators of their own destiny certainly belongs to modern approaches; traditionally, the destiny was in hands of the supernatural or the god(s).
Subsequently, I would like to focus on the functions of the fairy tale. Propp presents 31 functions of a fairy tale. While he does not insist that all of them shall be present in every tale, he believes that their order should be fixed. When applied on the film storyline, I have found 11 functions in the film. This amounts to more than a third of the functions presented in Three Wished for Cinderella. Moreover, other functions are at least implied. While to some the number might seem rather unimpressive, I find it remarkable that the system is possible to apply on a modern fairy tale.
I summarised the presented functions in the following table. The first column indicated the number of Propp’s function, the second its name; subsequently, I describe the reference in the film.
Nr. Name Description 1 Absentation Cinderella’s parents are absent 2 Interdiction C. is forbidden to go to Jurášek, must separate peas from ashes 3 Violation C. goes for a ride with Jurášek 14 Magic agent C. received the magic nuts from Vincek 15 Guidance Rozárka encourages C. to open the nuts, Jurášek accompanied C. to the ball 21 Pursuit Stepmother and Dora pursuit C. after the ball 22 Rescue C. frees herself 24 Unfounded claims Dora pretends to be C. 27 Recognition The shoe fits C. 28 Exposure Dora is exposed 29 Transfiguration C. arrives in the wedding dress
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30 Punishment Stepmother and Dora are left in the pond 31 Wedding The wedding is implied
The table shows that especially the beginning and the end of the fairy tale correspond to Propp’s traditional system. The film introduces the viewer to a known situation and finishes with an expected end. While this framework may be comforting to the recipient, the main part of the story is innovative and customised to the new times. This complies with the theory of adaptation: while the audience enjoys the repetition, the story is adjusted and altered. This alternation causes that while it might be impossible to fit the new adaptations into old systems, the main characteristics are still there. For example, when assessing the ATU motifs in the film, the three-flight fold (R221) does not occur as we know it; however, if we are open-minded to alternations, we will find the motif in the film: the three ball/church meetings are replaced by three meetings on three different occasions (with the huntsman in the forest, with the princess at the ball, and with the bride at the homestead). The same can be said about the functions. The table names functions which are certainly there; however, if we let our imagination run riot, more functions can be detected.
For example, as I stated in the dramatic personae analysis, the prince can be seen not only as the ‘princess’ but also as the ‘donor’. In such case, we could also incorporate functions 12, 13 and 17. Function 12 is the first function of the donor who tests the hero. This could be interpreted in the first meeting of the prince with the huntsman – he tests him how well he can shoot. Subsequently, the function 13 called the hero’s reaction would refer to Cinderella shooting the raptor and cones (min. 42:50-44:50).
The largest gap between the story line and Propp’s system is due to absence of functions four to 13. In the film, the gap is filled with episodes from the prince’s point of view, for example, his discussions with his parents or adventures with his companions Vítek and Kamil. The traditional fairy tales, at least those discussed, do not present the life of the sought-after person, the prince.
The scope of the thesis does not allow to apply the Propp’s system on all of the Cinderella variants discussed; however, the missing functions might be well applied to the tale of Kari Trestakk (the stepmother trying to kill the magic bull; the journey through the forests of coper, silver and gold) or O Popelce (the stepmother trying to expel the daughters,
47 the repeated journey back home). This shows Propp’s functions would be even more applicable on the literary tradition, both Czech and Norwegian.
3.4 Comparison of the film and the Czech and Norwegian tradition In this chapter, I am going to compare the film Three Wishes for Cinderella to the Czech and Norwegian literary tradition of the tale. Firstly, I am going to discuss the presence of the ATU motifs in the variants: the three Němcová’s variants, the Norwegian variant and the film. Subsequently, I am going to deal with other themes and motifs that are present in the variants but do not fit the ATU framework.
ATU motifs O Popelce O třech sestrách O Popelušce Kari Trestakk the film S31 - - X X X L55 - - X X X B450 - - X - X D1050.1 X X X X X N815 - - - - - D815.1 - - - - - D842.1 - - - - - E323.2 - - - - - N711.6 X - - - X N711.4 - X X X - C761.3 X X X - X R221 X X X X ? F823.2 X X X X X H36.1 X X X X X K1911.3.3.1. X X - X - Source: The author of the thesis
Quantitatively speaking, O Popelce and O třech sestrách comply with the ATU system the least with seven motifs present, the main reason being the absence of the stepfamily motifs. Subsequently, Kari Trestakk has eight motifs present. The highest number of nine motifs out of 14 (technically 15 but N711.6 and N711.4 are exclusive; the meetings happen in the church or at a ball) have O Popelušce and the film Three Wishes for Cinderella. The important fact is that any of the motifs related to the French and German traditions, N815, D815.1, D842.1, E323.2, i.e. fairies and the help from Cinderella’s mother, do not appear in any of the variants. ATU-motifs speaking, the film is the most similar to the Slovak Němcová’s variant O Popelušce, the only exception being the change of the place of meetings, the ball and the church respectively.
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Nevertheless, the ATU motifs are not the only frame of reference. Even though the variants may look similar based on this criterion, they may have many other important differences. Below, I am going to present the individual literary variants to the film.
O Popelce
One does not have to conduct a deep analysis to conclude that O Popelce is the most remote variant to the film. This is due to the lack of the episodes in the forest (the father leaves his daughters three times in the forest to get rid of them), at the cannibals’ castle (the girls being tired of serving to the cannibals and subsequently killing them) or the secret place with three rooms with three coffins and three dresses. On the other hand, the film contains many other motifs from this variant. Most importantly, it is the ball – all the other analysed variants place the meetings in the church – which Cinderella shall not attend. Moreover, the variant describes one of the dresses as rose-coloured and trimmed with silver. Such a dress is present also in O třech sestrách and in the film. Since this is also the only variant which has the character of the white horse, although not named as Jurášek, it is clear that the inspiration is drawn from this variant. Finally, the attentive viewer could suggest that both the literary and the film Cinderella climbs a pine tree: in the film, Popelka talks to the prince from the treetop (min. 45:30); in the literary variant, Popelka climbs the tree to find a place to go and spots the cannibals’ castle (p. 98). Last but not least, we get the motif of peas and ashes; however, in this variant they shall not be separated by the stepmother’s order, but they shall be a way to return from the forest.
O třech sestrách
Němcová’s second variant is closer to the film in many ways: namely, it presents the motif of the three nuts. While in the film, Popelka asks Vincek to bring her whatever hits his nose, Anuška asks her father to bring her whatever grazes his hut. Nevertheless, the father is more active than Vincek: he actively plucks the nuts while Vincek is sleeping in the carriage and it is the prince who shoots the nuts down, and they fall on Vincek. Furthermore, one of Anuška’s sisters is called Dorota; Dora, who we know from the film, is a variant of this name. Last but not least, this variant presents the animal helpers – Anuška receives help from a frog and the prince receives help from his dog. From the film analysis, it is clear that Pavlíček used the character of a helpful frog, Jenička; however, this was replaced with the owl Rozárka due to the shooting taking place in the winter. The helpful dog can be
49 represented by Tajtrlík. Furthermore, this variant contains the reference to the rose-coloured dress trimmed with silver just like the previous variant and the film. As for differences, we can mention meetings taking place in the church and the prince’s trickery so that the heroine cannot escape (placing branches at the entrance). In fact, in the previous version, the prince tried to trick the heroine too – smearing resin on the stairs.
O Popelušce
The last Němcová’s variant presents other motifs we know from the film: firstly, it is the motif of separating ashes from various grains; secondly, it is the helpful doves; and thirdly, it is the enchantment ‘fog behind me, fog in front of me’ Pavlíček used in the screenplay, although the film-makers removed it. Moreover, the variant presents other motifs similar to O třech sestrách. These are namely the three nuts, the character of a helpful frog and the name of Popeluška’s only stepsister – Dora. Furthermore, just like in the other variants, the prince tried to trick the heroine (with resin on the stairs). On the other hand, this is the only Němcová’s variant where the rose-coloured dress trimmed with silver does not occur.
In general, it is interesting that all the Czech (and Slovak) literary traditions present the lost slipper to be made of gold, but this motif is not used in the film. Moreover, all of them present trickery on the prince’s side – he places resin or branches at the entrance so that the heroine cannot escape; this is absent in the film: the modern prince wants to win Cinderella’s heart by fair means. On the other hand, two of Němcová’s variants (O Popelce and O třech sestrách) describe the ball/church dress as rose-coloured and trimmed with silver; this is present in the film not only visually, but Popelka describes them loud so that the viewer could not be mistaken (min. 50:50). Obviously, the strongest motif which is not an ATU-motif is the three nuts which are known already from the original film title. The helpful frog would have the same position if it would not have been replaced with the owl. Finally, the magical number three is more strongly represented in the literary traditions, both Czech and Norwegian, than in the film. This is given by the adaptation of the story to a modern viewer.
Kari Trestakk
It shall be of no surprise that Kari Trestakk is the most remote Cinderella variant compared to the film as the film is not based on the fairy tale. This is especially due to the episodes with the magic ox beating trolls in the forests of copper, silver and gold. There are still similarities
50 between the Norwegian fairy tale and the film; however, most of them can be expressed in the ATU-motifs (the stepmother/stepdaughter motifs, the magic dress, the lost slipper, and the slipper test). It is interesting that other motifs that are identical in the Czech and Norwegian literary tradition, such as the fact that the slipper is made of gold or that the prince tries to trick the heroine, do not appear in the film and therefore cannot be looked upon as shared motifs. Nevertheless, Kari, just like the film Popelka, rides a magical horse. Moreover, Kari’s second dress is silver (from a leave of the corresponding forest), while Popelka’s second dress is the mentioned rose-coloured dress trimmed with silver.
4 Analysis of the Norwegian version of Three Wishes for Cinderella
This chapter focuses on the Norwegian version of the film Three Wishes for Cinderella – Tre nøtter til Askepott. Firstly, I am going to discuss the origin of the Norwegian version, including the origin of the Norwegian translation. Subsequently, I would like to pay attention to the voiceover, both as a technique and more specifically in the case of this film. Finally, I am going to compare the Czech and Norwegian version of the film. This chapter shall answer the question How is the Norwegian and the Czech version of the film Three Wishes for Cinderella different? The premise is that the differences may affect the viewer’s general impression which again can affect the popularity of the film and its status of a cultural phenomenon. Neither the comparison nor the question of the Norwegian translation has been explored before; therefore, I believe that it may be of value.
4.1 Historical background Nowadays, the Norwegians watch the film Three Wishes for Cinderella, just as the Czechs do, at Christmas. Nevertheless, it has not been like this from the start. In Czechoslovakia, the film was not intended to be a Christmas TV film; after all, the shooting was supposed to take place in the summer. In a similar manner, the film was not introduced in Norway as part of the Christmas programme. The Norwegians could see the film for the first time on 3 January 1975, not in the cinema but on television, the NRK public TV. They did not have to wait for rebroadcasting for a long time. NRK put the film on its programme already for 1 May 1975.
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Sara Brinch presents a hypothesis that the film with a strong and independent Cinderella may have been chosen due to the fact that 1975 was announced by the United Nations as the International Women’s Year.76 Regardless of the reason why the film was chosen, its rebroadcasting itself cannot secure its popularity. I truly believe that the strong female character is one of the factors why the film has become popular in Norway. If the film would not meet a certain level of success, it would not be presented in cinemas (January 1978) and by no means would it be presented as part of the Christmas programme (December 1978).
The origin of the Norwegian translation is going to be discussed later; however, now I would like to emphasise that the film was presented firstly with subtitles and later with dubbing. The Norwegian dubbing is very specific. It uses the technique of voiceover – while the Czech sound is kept on the background, one person, Knut Risan, provides the voice to all of the characters in the film. This creates a rather bizarre experience which is not common in Norway. There is a chapter devoted to the voiceover below. Importantly, the film has become a cultural phenomenon in its voiceover version – this is the version which the Norwegian TV has broadcast since December 1978. Besides the TV, Norwegians gained access to the film for the first time in 2005, when it was published on DVDs, again with the voiceover. Last but not least, even after the film restoration in 2015, the Norwegian version preserves the voiceover.
Before analysing the differences and the Norwegian version itself, I believe it is important to tackle the question of the Norwegian translation.
4.1.1 The question of the Norwegian translation
The origin of the Norwegian version is rather unclear. Especially the question who and from which language translated the script remains unanswered. Nevertheless, in the following paragraphs, I would like to explain why I believe that there have been two variants of the Norwegian translation: possibly both originated from an English translation; however, one of them might have also been translated from Czech. Moreover, I suggest that German was not used at all.
As stated above, the film was introduced for the first time on 3 January 1975 by NRK which has been the only broadcaster of the film to this day. Subsequently, the film was
76 BRINCH, Sara. Jako pohádka: Popularita filmu Tři oříšky pro Popelku u norského televizního publika, p.115.
52 showed one more time in the same year – on 1 May. The Norwegians had another opportunity to see the film again no sooner than in January 1978, this time in cinemas. Finally, in December 1978, the film became a part of the Christmas TV programme for the first time.77
There are no doubts that the film was presented with the Czech sound and Norwegian subtitles in cinemas in January 197878. I am almost sure that these subtitles were created from the English dialogue list. In the National Library of Norway, there are several period documents which were provided by Československý film in English. Most importantly, the film subtitles were created by Per Aamot who at that time translated most of the films from English.79 Furthermore, the film’s title suggests that the film was translated from English. Nowadays, the Norwegians know the film as Tre nøtter til Askepott (Three Nuts for Cinderella); however, in 1978, the film was presented as Askepotts tre ønsker (Cinderella’s Three Wishes) which corresponds to the official English translation – Three Wishes for Cinderella.80
I would assume that the previous TV broadcasting (January and May 1975) was with Aamot’s subtitles and the second variant with Knut Risan’s voiceover was not presented before the Christmas 1978.81 This could be confirmed by news articles suggesting that the voiceover was created no sooner than in 197882. On the contrary, Sara Brinch claims that Risan recorded the voices in summer 1974 and the first broadcasting was already with the voiceover.83 None of the possibilities can be ruled out with certainty as I came across also other dates, such as the voiceover being made in summer 1975 (which would still be after the first two broadcastings) or even in 1973 (which is very unlikely as the film had its premiere in Czechoslovakia in December of that year).
77 This timeline can be created based on newspaper articles and other documents archived in National Library of Norway. Sara Brinch presents the same timeline: BRINCH, Sara. Jako pohádka. Popularita filmu Tři oříšky pro Popelku u norského televizního publika, p.107-110. 78 Based on period posters deposited in the National Library and newspaper articles, for example, Toja (full name unknown), Aktiv Askepott, where the author writes that children who just started going to school are allowed to watch the film; however, they cannot read fast enough to follow the Norwegian translation. ‘After all, only few can speak Czech’, it is stated in the article. 79 ROGNLIEN, Jon. Norsk på billigsalg. 80 Comp. f. e. BYE, Arne. Den glade Askepott. 81 This would suggest that that film gained certain popularity among the Norwegian public even without the voiceover which without doubts enhanced the film’s success. See further discussion in the chapter Timeless phenomenon. 82 F. e. BRÅTHEN, Jennifer. «Tre nøtter til Askepott» kåret til tidenes julefilm. 83 BRINCH, Sara. Jako pohádka. Popularita filmu Tři oříšky pro Popelku u norského televizního publika, p.111.
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The question is who prepared the dialogue list for Knut Risan. The first possibility is that the voiceover is based on Aamot’s translation from English which was spiced up by Risan’s improvisation, while it might also very well be translated from Czech. As the original manuscript for the voiceover is not available, it is hard to tell how much Risan improvised. In several interviews, Knut Risan states that he was not even supposed to create the voiceover for the film – he came to the studio to dub another film; however, the script was not ready yet, and therefore producer Svein Lange suggested Three Wishes for Cinderella instead. ‘I was not only the storyteller, but I also had to improvise all the lines. It was an emergency measure.‘84 Risen did not see the film in advance and he simply read the lines as the scenes were coming. He stated that the voiceover was done in a few hours.85
The differences between the Czech and Norwegian versions of the film shall be discussed later. Here, I would like to present a few arguments which suggest that the script for the voiceover was certainly not based on the German version and might be derived from the Czech original.
Firstly, even when not considering the translation itself, it is clear that the Norwegian version builds on the Czech one: in the background of the Norwegian voiceover, we can hear the Czech dialogues, the songs are kept in Czech (unlike in the German version where all the songs are only instrumental) and the opening credits are in Czech as well.
Moreover, the translation of the character names points to the Czech origin. Besides Cinderella’s name which is customised (Popelka in Czech and Askepott in Norwegian), all the other main characters’ names remain in Czech, for example, the horse Jurášek (which is named Nikolaus in the German version) but also the owl Rozárka, the cook Róza, the farm worker Vincek, prince’s friends Kamil and Vítek. Nevertheless, when the characters speak of ladies coming to the ball, the names are translated. In the Czech version, they speak about the noble lady from Černý les (Black Forest) which is translated as ladies from Schwarzwald in Norwegian (German for the Black Forrest; min. 51:1586). At this point I assumed that the German would use the lady of Schwarzwald too; however, in German, they say Ihre Hoheit Fürstin von der Weihe which supports the theory that the Norwegian translation is based on the Czech script. Similarly, the baroness from Krásná Hůrka is baronka z Krásné Hůrky in
84 SUNDBYE, Bodil. Historien om et eventyr. 85 ØSTTVEIT, Karine. En ekte Askepotthistorie. 86 When referring to the Norwegian version of the film, I state the minutes according to the original DVD: Three Wishes for Cinderella [Tre nøtter til Askepott] [DVD]. Director Václav VORLÍČEK. Norway: NRK, 2005. 82 min.
54
Czech; in German, it is translated as Baronin von Eckenstein and in Norwegian, surprisingly Risan uses a corruption of the Czech word – Krasna Burka (enke etter baron på Krasna Burka, min. 29).
I believe that the above mentioned facts can rule out German as the source text, although both Czech and English are still possible. While the translations of names would support the argument in favour of Czech, the truth might also be that Risan tried to imitate what he heard in Czech. While sometimes he calls Cinderella’s stepsister [ˈduːra] which would be the Norwegian pronunciation of Dora (for example, min 22), in other cases he uses the Czech pronunciation [ˈdora]. Similar thing happens in min. 7: Czech language has seven cases, including the vocative. The cook is called Róza; however, when the stepmother talks to her, she uses the vocative case – Rózi. Curiously, Risan says Rózi as well.
The question of the origin of the Norwegian translation of the script will probably remain open. Maybe it is not so important whether the script was translated from Czech or English’ the most important is that the Norwegian producers decided to present it as a solely Czech production87, not even Czechoslovak and not at all as a coproduction with Germany. The Norwegian media have often presented the film as only Czech to this day.88
4.2 Voiceover Theory Voiceover is a very peculiar audio-visual translation technique. Compared to dubbing and subtitles, voiceover has not attracted attention of many scholars. In line with that, it is very hard to define the term89. I came across many definitions according to which Risan’s voiceover would in fact not be a voiceover. Therefore, I would like to present a very simple definition. Voiceover is ‘any spoken language not seeming to come from images on the screen’.90 There are many types of voiceover and any more precise definition seemed to me as unfitting in one way or another. For example, we can distinguish between third-person voiceover and the so-called narrator character (first person voiceover). Moreover, the voice
87 The first available mention about the film comes from the magazine Programbladet (1974, No. 52, p. 86, available at National Library of Norway) where the film is presented as Czech, produced in Prague. 88 For example, when the media introduced the Norwegian remake ‚based on the Czech original‘. Comp. TVEDTEN, Hilde Marie. Nå kommer ny «Tre nøtter til Askepott». 89 Comp. FRANCO, Eliana, Anna MATAMALA a Pilar ORERO. Voice-over Translation: An Overview. Audiovisual Translation: Language Transfer on Screen. 90 Definition by John Harrington cited from FRANCO, Eliana, Anna MATAMALA a Pilar ORERO. Voice-over Translation: An Overview, p. 18.
55 can be narrated over images or over the original speech; in other words, the voice can be a narrator, creating the images (i.e. describing what the viewer sees), or a translator, not adding further information. There are also other characteristics; however, these often include exceptions: the voiceover performers are usually invisible, voiceover usually starts a few seconds after the original speech, and sometimes the voiceover ends before the original speech91.
Voiceover therefore remains a term with a lot of space for interpretation. It is used for various purposes in various contexts. Scholars agree that while in West Europe or America voiceover is used for translation of factual genre, such as documentaries on nature and travelling, news, political debates or interviews, in East Europe voiceover is applied to all genres, films included92. While in documentaries and other factual contributions, voiceover is often used to enhance authenticity93, I believe that in fictional genres such as films or series, this can hardly be the case.
However, in Norway (as a Western country) dubbing and therefore voiceover is unusual. In general, the Norwegians use subtitles for audio-visual translation. Nevertheless, production for children is often dubbed in order to be available to the target viewers. Sara Brinch writes that in the 1970s, it was common that a voice narrated a story while using specific voice tones to enliven the dialogues94. On the other hand, in Czechia, viewers are used to dubbing. This translation technique has had a long history in the country and is rooted in the Czech film tradition.95 In fact, most of the programmes on Czech TV are dubbed even today. Nevertheless, voiceover is as strange to the Czechs as it is to the Norwegians, and it is usually used for foreign documentaries and in the news. The country which is famous for the voiceover technique is namely Poland where fiction production is often presented by a narrator.96
Audio-visual translation, just like any other translation, shall comply with the literary translation. However, details can and must be modified in order to preserve the overall impression, story and psychological continuity. This can be done for example by modifying some facts to get closer to the target country. Moreover, some elements such as wordplay,
91 Audiovisual Translation: Language Transfer on Screen, p. 132; FRANCO, Eliana, Anna MATAMALA a Pilar ORERO. Voice-over Translation: An Overview, p. 43. 92 Ibid, p. 24-25; p. 131 respectively. 93 FRANCO, Eliana, Anna MATAMALA a Pilar ORERO. Voice-over Translation: An Overview, p. 134. 94 BRINCH, Sara. Jako pohádka. Popularita filmu Tři oříšky pro Popelku u norského televizního publika, p.111. 95 Comp. WALLÓ, Olga. Specifická forma překladu: dabing, p. 114-115. 96 FRANCO, Eliana, Anna MATAMALA a Pilar ORERO. Voice-over Translation: An Overview, p. 9, 131.
56 nicknames or sayings are difficult to translate no matter the medium (dubbing, subtitles or even a book).97 These shall we come across also in the Risan’s voiceover.
Knut Risan’s voiceover If voiceover itself is peculiar, the voiceover in Tre nøtter til Askepott is peculiar even more. Knut Risan is an invisible performer and the voiceover is in the first person over the original Czech speech.
Most importantly, Risan’s voiceover is not a narration or commentary, the performer acts the individual voices of all the characters – i.e. he reads the translated dialogues, probably spiced up by his own improvisation. Firstly, this stands in contrast to the English voiceover: I believe that Gabriel Woolf who performs the English voiceover is a narrator/commentator. The voiceover is in the third person (Cinderella said…) and Woolf does not read the dialogues but rather describes what is happening in the individual scenes98. Secondly, as Sara Brinch suggests, if voiceover occurred in Norway in the 1970s, it would have this form – with a narrator. However, Risan’s voiceover in Tre nøtter til Askepott is different; the story is not explained, and the performer dubs the individual lines over the original speech. Interestingly, Knut Risan’s son, Olav Risan, said in an interview in 2019, that his father should have been a narrator, as it was common. Nevertheless, when the narration was finished, NRK asked Risan if he could try also the individual voices. Olav Risan continues that his father improvised and dubbed all the voices. He did not think that the television would use the voiceover; however, they called a year later and said that his performance will be broadcast.99 We cannot be sure how the voiceover was created as NRK does not have the information100 and Knut Risan passed away in 2011; however, the truth is that the performance remains a rather unusual experience.
To identify individual characters, Risan changes his voice for every character. For example, when he dubs the tutor, his voice is reedy; when dubs Cinderella, his voice is soft and kind, maybe even effeminate; the king’s voice on the other hand sounds a little
97 WALLÓ, Olga. Specifická forma překladu: dabing, p. 116-118. 98 For example, when the kitchen boy breaks a bowl and the stepmother enters the kitchen and asks who did it, in the original, Cinderella says: ‘I did it, mother’; however Woolf explains: ‘Cinderella took the blame because she knew that otherwise the kitchen boy would be beaten.’ This clearly implies that Woolf is not only a translator but a commentator/narrator. Comp. min. 4:30. The film seems to be available only on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f7XWEgVc7w&t=197s 99 GRØNNEBERG, Anders. Skulle aldri ha alle stemmene. 100 I have communicated with NRK via e-mail; however, they stated that the only information in the archive is that the film was produced by Svein Lange.
57 authoritative. The timing of the voiceover is also worth mentioning. According to theory, voiceover often starts/ends before/after the original speech. This is very hard to identify in Risan’s voiceover because the timing varies, often the Norwegian dubbing comes even before the Czech original starts. This is probably because nobody spoke Czech in the studio and some of the dialogues go very fast. Most importantly, the lines are shortened and many of them are simply left out. In the next chapter, I am going to present some differences between the Czech and Norwegian version of Three Wishes for Cinderella.
Last but not least, Risan’s voiceover is in Norwegian media often mentioned as the reason why the film Tre nøtter til Askepott became popular as a Christmas tradition in Norway. Many Norwegians speak of Risan as the ‘Christmas voice’. This is due to the fact that besides the voiceover, Knut Risan also plays the king in the film Journey to the Christmas Star (Reisen til Julestjernen) and a florist in Christmas in Cobbler Street (Jul I Skomakergata).101 Nevertheless, it seems that the film Three Wishes for Cinderella was known to the Norwegian public already for a few years with subtitles. I believe that NRK would not create the voiceover if the film would already did not gain a certain level of success. Nevertheless, Knut Risan’s performance clearly contributed to the film’s popularity.
4.3 Comparison of the Czech and Norwegian version of the film In the next few paragraphs, I would like to present the differences between the Czech and Norwegian versions of Three Wishes for Cinderella. I have divided them into several groups in order to provide a comprehensive overview.
The first sign is simplification. As already mentioned above, many dialogues are shortened or simply removed. This can be seen already in the prologue where the whole farm is preparing for the arrival of the royal family. The purpose of the scene is to show what the life at the farm is like – the house lady is imperious and hard-and-fast to the workers but overprotective of her daughter Dora. This is shown by short dialogues: when a farm boy takes a cake, she screams at him to put it back; she screams at everybody to hurry up and complains that everything is being done in the last moment; when she rams into another farm boy who is carrying blocks of wood, she shouts at him to pick them up and disappears, ‘I really do not know why I sustain you!’. On the other hand, when she and Dora walk over mud, she tells her daughter to be careful not to dirty her slippers and not to get cold. In
101 Ibid. The same mentioned Sara Brinch, p. 111.
58 a similar way, it is shown that Cinderella is kind to animals when she talks to the dog, Tajtrlík. This scene takes a little over five minutes. This whole time, the Norwegian voiceover does not appear. While the scene is very graphic and I am sure that Norwegian viewers understand that the stepmother is bossy, the picture is still quite bizarre. This is because the Norwegian version removed also the original Czech speech which means that the characters are moving their lips, but no sounds, neither Czech nor Norwegian, can be heard.
Similarly, many lines in the film are not interpreted/translated in the Norwegian version; however, the original speech remains in the background. Taking into consideration that the voiceover is not narrative, this can sometime cause uncertainty about what is happening. For example, it is not very clear from the Norwegian version that the stepmother and Dora invited themselves to the ball (min. 23102), or why the prince is looking for his dance partner with closed eyes at the ball (min. 53).
In line with simplification, some scenes are also shortened, and one scene is removed. It is the scene where the prince and the other noble men are hunting a fox (Czech version min. 40-41). In the Czech version, the prince shoots and laughs loud, then there is the fox which tries to take out the arrow, a man grabs the fox by her tail, everybody rejoices, the prince jumps down the horse, puts a twig on fox’s wound by his sword (a hunting ritual), and places the sword back into the scabbard, and the man congratulates the prince by shaking his hand. In the Norwegian version, already the laughter is removed, and so is the picture of the suffering fox and the hunting ritual. The final cut does not make much sense as the prince is holding the crossbow while riding a horse and suddenly, he is standing with a sword in his hand.
This scene was removed because it was thought to be too ‘harmful’ for children in Norway. This scene is also the reason why the film is marked as ‘censorship red’ in the historical documents. Interestingly, the German side of the coproduction also wanted to remove the scene. In the end, it was decided to keep the scene in both the Czech and German versions.103
Moreover, as dialogues sometimes go fast or the characters interrupt each other and speak at the same time, when listening to the voiceover, it is not clear who is speaking. For
102 If not stated otherwise, minutes are in correspondence to the Norwegian version in this chapter. 103 SKUPA, Lukáš, Pavel SKOPAL, Radomír D. KOKEŠ, Petr BEDNAŘÍK, Sara BRINCH, Martin ŠRAJER and Steffen RETZLAFF. Tři oříšky pro Popelku, p. 187.
59 example, the prince and the king speak at the same time (min. 24, similarly min. 31, see the example at the end of the chapter).
Subsequently, the translation contains some mistakes; nevertheless, these do not change the meaning or the impression of the film. For example, in Czech the prince refers to a princess that she is at least 30 years old; in Norwegian, it is 40 years (min. 29); or the left side becomes the right (min.19). When Cinderella asks her stepmother if she could go to the ball even though she has work to do (min. 47), in Czech she says: ‘I can make it by the morning’ while in Norwegian: ‘I can do it tomorrow’, which is something the Czech Cinderella would not dare to tell her stepmother.
The Norwegian version also encountered the difficult elements mentioned by Olga Walló such as wordplays, sayings and nicknames which are often used in the Czech language. For example, when Cinderella pours milk to the cat, Mourek, she asks if the cat can drink it all. In Czech, the Cinderella answers for the cat ‘Hrrravě, prrravda’ which can be translated as ‘easily, right’. The rattling ‘R’ with an accent resembles cat’s purring. This is obviously something which cannot be translated. Risan goes nicely around it when Askepott says ‘I think you’re going to be purring’ (Du kommer til å male det av deg, tror jeg; min. 11). Similarly, the Czech version plays with the verb ‘střílet’ which means both ‘to shoot’ and ‘to deride’ (min. 30).
The prince has many nicknames for Cinderella, such as neopeřené kuře (featherless chicken), cácorka (a small bird, in the figurative sense a fast girl), pískle (featherless baby bird) or ještěrka (lizard). Moreover, Droběna’s name is not translated (min. 53); it is actually not even kept in Czech, and it is left out. Czech ‘drobný’ means ‘puny’, that is something the character embodied by the fat actress is not.
As for sayings, can we mention ‘až naprší a uschne’, literally translated as ‘when it rains and dries out’ which means ‘never’ (min. 20); or ‘koukat jako sůva z nudlí’, literally ‘to stare as an owl from noodles), meaning to be wide-eyed (1:10:00 min.). Obviously, these cannot be translated; however, the Norwegian voiceover does not present any Norwegian sayings throughout the film. Interestingly, there is one phrase which is identical in Czech and Norwegian: ‘to give a basket’ (in Norwegian ‘gi noen kurven’, in Czech ‘dát někomu košem’) which means to refuse marriage (min. 1:5:00).
One of the changes to customise the film to the Norwegian culture is not to refer to Cinderella as a ‘little girl’ but a ‘child’. This is probably because the Norwegians do not wish
60 to suggest that a boy could do more than a girl. For example, when the prince asks Cinderella if she could shoot down the cones (min. 44), she answers: ‘Where I come from, a little girl can do it’ while in Norwegian she states that a child could do it.
Last but not least, I believe that many quips are (unintentionally) removed from the Norwegian version. As this happens in many dialogues, the Norwegian version is rather dry. We get the grip of what is happening, but many humorous moments disappear.104 The same goes for irony (for example, conversation between the king and the prince, min. 29). Many times, the meaning is shifted, mainly in the dialogues at the ball (1:1:0 to 1:4:0 min.); however, the point is not to describe all the differences. Instead, I would like to present an example. It is a conversation between the king, queen and prince about prince’s first ball (min. 31).
Norwegian Czech King: Do not forget to learn the dance steps King: Do not forget to learn the dance steps and do not embarrass me at the ball. When and do not embarrass me at the ball. I was your age, I wore off three pairs of Remember, (the king and the prince in shoes in one evening. (To the queen): That unison, implying that the king says it often) was before we met, of course. when I was your age, I wore off three pairs of shoes in one evening. Queen: You told me that it was the first ball you have been to. Queen: Really?
King: I cannot boast of that to the prince. King: That was before we met, of course.
Queen: He takes after you in everything Queen: But you were apologizing that you important. were dancing for the first time when you trampled my slippers. King: No! King: Obviously, I am not going to boast of that to the prince, understand.
Queen: Anyway, he takes after you in everything. In everything important.
King (horrified): No!
This short example shows how the Norwegian dialogues are shortened and simplified and that sometimes they can change the understanding of the scene. In the Norwegian version, it
104 For example, the prince’s friends Kamil and Vítek do not take the king very seriously. As an excuse, they tell the king that ‘studying is not an easy thing, I would rather say that it is uneasy’ which is translated into dry statement ‘It was difficult’ (min. 25).
61 seems that the king would not boast to his son about attending other balls prior meeting his mother, while in the original, it is revealed he actually could not dance and he found his wife already at his first ball.
To conclude, the Norwegian voiceover presents many contradictions between the audial and visual parts; nevertheless, the final product is not completely different. The voiceover does not comply with the literary translation, namely the spoken word is shortened and often left out. I would suggest that the overall impression is slightly different, namely attributes of some of the characters are not portrayed well. Importantly, many humorous moments disappear; however, I believe that this is substituted by Knut Risan’s humorous voiceover.
5 A timeless phenomenon?
This chapter aims at answering the last question: How do the fairy tale of Cinderella and the film Three Wishes for Cinderella stand in the Czech and Norwegian context these days? To be able to assess the current state, I am going to briefly discuss how the film gained its position throughout the years and when exactly it has become a part of Christmas traditions and a cultural phenomenon both in Czechia and Norway. Moreover, I am going to investigate if new variants of the Cinderella story have entered/are about to enter the Czech and Norwegian context.
5.1 Three Wishes for Popelka as a cultural phenomenon in Czechia For many Czechs, Christmas without this film would not be complete. Nevertheless, a study by Petr Bednařík shows that it has not become a phenomenon in Czechia until the turn of century. The film had its cinema premiere in November 1973, and it was broadcast on the only public channel in Czechoslovakia just a year later, on New Year’s Eve 1974. This could suggest that the film was decided to be part of Christmas from the very beginning; however, it took a while until it was broadcast every Christmas. Interestingly, on the day of first TV broadcasting, the television showed also a documentary about beer brewing in Norway as a Christmas tradition.105 One could say that it was a presage of the Czech-Norwegian Christmas bond. Similarly, in Norway, the film was rebroadcast shortly after the first time, in
105 BEDNAŘÍK, Petr. Jsou možné Vánoce bez Popelky? Televizní uvádění filmové pohádky Tři Oříšky pro Popelku, p. 89.
62
March 1975; nevertheless, it was not added to the Christmas programme that year. In the 1970s, the film was shown two more times, on Christmas Day of 1976 (however, this was on the second channel which at that time covered only a half of Czechoslovakia) and on New Year’s Day of 1979. Bednařík points out, that fairy tales were rarely presented on the Christmas TV programme until the 1980s. Therefore, this could be considered a success. In the following decade, Three Wishes for Cinderella were broadcast five times on different days but always towards the end of the year (on Boxing Day 1980, on Christmas Eve 1982, after the Christmas days of 1985, on New Year’s Day 1987, and on Boxing Day 1988).106
After the Velvet Revolution, the film was presented for the first time on the Christmas Eve 1991. In 1993 and 1994, it was presented by the successor of the Czechoslovak Television, the Czech Television (ČT). An important change happened at Christmas 1995 – the first Czech commercial TV channel, Nova, broadcast Three Wishes for Cinderella in the prime time, at 8PM. Nova showed the film one more time, on 1 January 1998, before another commercial TV, Prima, took over at Christmas 2000. However, only two years later, Nova gained the privilege again. It was actually Nova, who gave the film the status of a Christmas tradition because the TV broadcast the film every single Christmas Eve between 2004 and 2013. Thanks to this decision, the film has become a Christmas phenomenon.107
In the recent years, two important changes have taken place. Firstly, it is the fact that ČT is now the broadcaster of the popular fairy tale. Prima broadcast the film in 2014; however since 2015, ČT presented the film every Christmas until the last Christmas 2019. Secondly, we might be experiencing a new trend as the fairy tale was moved from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day in 2017 and 2019. I would suggest that this could be a permanent change as every year, ČT presents a new fairy tale of its own production in the Christmas Eve prime time.
Even though the film has moved from the Christmas Eve prime time, I believe that it is likely to stay part of the Czech Christmas. After all, the new Christmas fairy tales presented by ČT tend to be reviewed in comparison to the traditional Popelka, Three Wishes for Cinderella; therefore, this film serves as a kind of benchmark. Moreover, the viewer ratings are still rather high – when the film was broadcast on Boxing Day in recent years, about 1.6 million viewers watched it, while when it was broadcast in the prime time of Christmas Eve,
106 BEDNAŘÍK, Petr. Jsou možné Vánoce bez Popelky? Televizní uvádění filmové pohádky Tři Oříšky pro Popelku,, p. 93-97. 107 Ibid., p. 99-102.
63 the numbers were around 2.5 million.108 These numbers are still impressive109, taking into consideration that the film has been available on DVD since 2005 and on Netflix since last year.
Moreover, the prominent place of the film in Czech cinematography is emphasised by the effort to preserve, and especially to restore the film in its original conditions. First such an attempt was conducted by ČT which presented a restored version of Three Wishes for Cinderella which was based on digitally cleaned recording provided by the German distributor at Easter 2014. The aim was to present the film in ‘real colours’.110 Just a year later, in 2015, the NFA (National Film Archive) performed the restoration as well. This project was supported by the EEA Grants and the film was digitalised from the original negative. Its goal was not only to present real colours but to present the film as it could be seen and heard in 1973.111 This restoration also led to publishing of the monography Tři Oříšky pro Popelku (ed. by Pavel Skopal).
Finally, I would like to note that Cinderella is popular in the Czech Republic as the film Three Wishes for Cinderella; however, other adaptations of the phenomenon have not gained interest. Here, we can mention, for example, an epic musical of the same name directed by Filip Renč.112
5.2 Three Wishes for Askepott as a cultural phenomenon in Norway As already mentioned earlier, the film Three Wishes for Cinderella was introduced in Norway for the first time in January 1975 with the Czech sound and Norwegian subtitles not in cinemas, but on TV, namely on the public TV channel NRK. Just like in Czechia, it was showed soon after its premiere, in May of the same year. Nevertheless, unlike Czechia, where commercial TV channels took over for a while and Nova namely had a significant impact on developing the status of a Christmas tradition, NRK has been the only broadcaster of the film
108 Comp. SPÁČILOVÁ, Mirka. Pohádku Tři oříšky pro Popelku vidělo na Štěpána 1,6 milionu diváků. Or: Tři oříšky pro Popelku nejsledovanější na Štěpána. Available from: https://www.mediaguru.cz/clanky/2019/12/tri- orisky-pro-popelku-nejsledovanejsi-na-stepana/. 109 When comparing these numbers to Norway, keep in mind that the Czech population is about double of the Norwegian one. 110 Popelka v reálných barvách. Available from: https://www.ceskatelevize.cz/porady/16901-tri-orisky-pro- popelku/29238160723/7720-popelka-v-realnych-barvach/. 111 Three Wishes for Cinderella [Tři Oříšky pro Popelku] [film]. Director Václav VORLÍČEK. Czechia: NFA, 2015. 84 min. 112 SPÁČILOVÁ, Mirka. RECENZE: Renčova muzikálová Popelka je jako živá. Ale jen když mlčí.
64 to this day. Nevertheless, it was a long journey until the film became part of the Christmas traditions in Norway and started to be broadcast on 24 December at about 11AM.
While the film got to the Norwegian cinemas in 1978, still with the subtitles, it has become part of the Christmas TV programme only with Risan’s voiceover in the same year. The film entered the Norwegians screens again at Christmas 1982 and 1985 upon viewers’ request.113 Since 1990, NRK has broadcast the film every year on Christmas Eve, with one exception at Christmas 1993. The break took place because the NRK leadership thought that the viewers are ready for something new; however, this was a mistake. As Aftenposten describes: ‘the viewers took a break from preparing ribbe114 and porridge eating to call [NRK] and complain’.115 This means that Three Wishes for Cinderella has become a Christmas ritual way before it gained this status in the Czech Republic.
Sara Brinch points out that in the first decade after the turn of century, the number of viewers was between 570,000 and 600,000 which is approximately the same number of people attending the Christmas mass. In 2014, the viewer rating was at about 80% which amounts to almost a million of Norwegians.116 Taking into consideration that the population of Norway is about half a size of the Czech population, the numbers are proportional. Moreover, these numbers include only the TV broadcasting. Like in Czechia, a DVD with the film was released in 2005, and it was a success. In the first week after the release, 21,000 copies were sold, and in total, the amount is around 50 thousand.117 Last but not least, the film is available during Christmas on NRK’s website for free.118
Nevertheless, whereas the Czechs are rather preoccupied by the original version, the Norwegians seem to be more open to new adaptations: there has been a theatre play, an audio book with Risan’s voiceover, the NRK P3 radio presented a remake as part of the advent programme, not to mention many amateur remakes.119 Finally, in 2015 it was announced that a Norwegian remake of Three Wishes for Cinderella shall be made. It was supposed to be directed by Katarina Launing and based on manuscript by Kamilla Krogsveen, and it was
113 BRINCH, Sara. Jako pohádka. Popularita filmu Tři oříšky pro Popelku u norského televizního publika, p. 110. 114 Note: Norwegian Christmas dish, pork ribs. 115 ØSTTVEIT, Karine. En ekte Askepotthistorie. 116 BRINCH, Sara. Jako pohádka. Popularita filmu Tři oříšky pro Popelku u norského televizního publika, p. 118. 117 ØSTTVEIT, Karine. En ekte Askepotthistorie. 118 In 2019, from 24 to 31 December, available from: https://tv.nrk.no/program/fbua61003076 119 BRINCH, Sara. Jako pohádka. Popularita filmu Tři oříšky pro Popelku u norského televizního publika, p. 119.
65 allocated an ambitious budget of NOK 24 mil. The film titled Askepott was supposed to be ‘a new Norwegian version of the Czech film Three Wishes for Cinderella’120 The remake was to be released in winter 2017; however, as of spring 2020, it is not finished. In fact, the Norwegian Film Institute announced a similar project in 2019: film Tre nøtter til Askepott with even a larger budget of NOK 39 mil. The manuscript was written by Kamilla Krogsveen again, in cooperation with Karsten Fullu; however, the director is Cecilie Mosli. According to the description, the film should be a Norwegian reinterpretation of the Czech Christmas classic. Moreover, it states that there are too few fairy tales with female and active characters. This Cinderella is going to be different – a princess for the new millennium.121 According to the latest news (December 2019), the goal is to present the reinterpretation as a Christmas film in 2021.122
Last but not least, the restored film from 2015 was presented in Norway as well. Norwegians refused the NFA’s offer of creating a new version with dubbing and decided to keep Risan’s voiceover. This suggests that the voiceover is an important factor of the film’s popularity in Norway. The digitalised film was released also as a DVD; however, it was quickly sold out; therefore, I worked with the DVD from 2005.
To conclude and to answer the last question, the film Three Wishes for Cinderella is still very popular in both Czechia and Norway; however, it gained its position under different circumstances. In fact, in Norway, the film became a Christmas phenomenon a decade before it did in Czechia. In both the countries, the film used to be a part of 24 December traditions, in Norway in the morning and in Czechia in the evening; however, in Czechia we can observe a shift towards to moving the film to Boxing Day. Moreover, Norway, unlike Czechia, tends to create new adaptations/remakes/reinterpretations of the original. This does not necessarily mean that the new variants are going to be popular; however, it shows an interest to preserve the tradition. Moreover, the famous voiceover may also contribute to the urge for creating remakes.
In both of the countries, the only major new adaptation that entered the screen was Cinderella produced by Disney in 2015. It is based on the 1950s Disney Cinderella and it is
120 Askepott. Available from: https://www.nfi.no/tildelinger/produksjon/spillefilm/askepott. 121 Tre nøtter til Askepott. Available from: https://www.nfi.no/tildelinger/produksjon/spillefilm/tre-notter-til- askepott. 122 EGELAND, Jorunn. Derfor elsker vi «Tre nøtter til Askepott».
66 one of the many live-action reimagining of the original animated Disney films. In Czechia, the reviews were rather positive. F. e. Jan Varga writes that the film is beyond reproach123. On the other hand, in Norway the film was not such a success, f. e. Morten Nilsen labels the film as regressive, setting a bad example for teenage girls.124 Moreover, the name of the film remained Cinderella (Popelka) in Czech, while in Norway it is called Fairy Tale about Cinderella (Eventyret om Askepott), suggesting that it is another Cinderella then the one we know. The original stories by Božena Němcová and Asbjørnsen and Moe are still being published, nevertheless, it is a question how well-known they are125. Three Wishes for Cinderella remain for many Czechs and Norwegians the one and only Cinderella variant.
6 Conclusion
The presented Master thesis deals with the Cinderella tale in the Czech and Norwegian context. As Cinderella is one of the most world-spread stories, it has many variants. The Czech and Norwegian ones evince a noteworthy intersection in the film Three Wishes for Cinderella which has become a part of Christmas traditions in both the countries. This case study raises four research questions and comes with the following findings.
Firstly, I explored the historical roots of the Cinderella fairy tale in Czechia and Norway, searching for the national variants, comparing and analysing them on the basis of the Aarne-Thompson-Uther classification system and V. Propp’s functions. The national variants are represented namely by variants collected by B. Němcová in Czechia and by P. Ch. Asbjørnsen and J. Moe in Norway. Although these variants do have a similar genesis, it is important that they differ from the two most prominent traditions, i.e. the German one represented by Brothers Grimm, emphasising the help of the heroine’s dead mother, and the French one represented by Ch. Perrault, extended by the Disney variants, known for the helper fairies. The variant which complies with the ATU classification the most is Němcová’s
123 VARGA, Jan. Popelka (Cinderella) – Recenze – 60%. 124 Comp. for example a review by the largest Norwegian newspapers: NILSEN, Morten. Film: Prinsessepornografi. 125 Unlike the film Three Wishes for Cinderella. There can be found many popular quizzes about the film and its story in Norway and Czechia. This suggest that the film has gained a canonical status. In Norway comp. f. e. THUE, Lisa a Jon Marius HYTTEBAKK. Hvem er du i «Tre nøtter til Askepott»? NRK [online]. Oslo, 2018- 12-24 [cit. 2020-05-11]. Available from: https://www.nrk.no/kultur/hvem-er-du-i-_tre-notter-til-askepott__- 1.14345028; In Czechia f. e. TEST: jak dobře znáte pohádku o Popelce? Týden [online]. Prague: Empresa Media, 2009-12-24 [cit. 2020-05-11]. Available from: https://www.tyden.cz/rubriky/media/test-jak-dobre-znate- pohadku-o-popelce_152789.html
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O Popelušce variant which also corresponds to the Czechoslovak/East German film adaptation to the largest extend.
Subsequently, I dealt with the original Czechoslovak version of the film Three Wishes for Cinderella, focusing on the differences between the film and the Czech and Norwegian literary tradition. I compared not only the story but also the characters’ attributes which I believe are the main key to the adaptation’s success both in Czechia and Norway. This is due to the fact that the film-makers created an active, independent and emancipated Cinderella to whom the shoe fits and who fits herself into the modern times. This is underlined by the idea that the characters are the creators of their destiny. Even though the film is innovative and customised, it remains to be a Cinderella variant, matching the ATU classification and to a certain degree also Propp’s functions.
Thirdly, I analysed the Norwegian version of the film adaptation. I especially focused on the origin of the Norwegian translation and the famous K. Risan’s voiceover. Unfortunately, the question of translation remains open. Nevertheless, it shall be safe to say that the Norwegian script was translated from English or Czech, and certainly not from German. Importantly, the film has been presented to the Norwegian public as solely Czech which may be more significant than the origin itself. The main part of the chapter dealt with the voiceover, a translation technique not common in Norway. The Norwegian version has undergone certain changes due to Risan’s voiceover, some of them caused by the translation, although many were caused by the artist’s improvisation. Even though the voiceover is often mentioned as the reason of the film’s success in Norway, I do not believe it is the main one. Firstly, the film must have gained a certain level of popularity even before the voiceover was created. Secondly, the language is only one part of the overall experience of the film, which is formed also by other components, namely the image and music which remain the same. Also, the quips were lost in the Norwegian translation. Nevertheless, I conclude that this component was successfully substituted by the humorous voiceover.
In the last chapter, I reflected the film’s current position, and discussed how the adaptation has gained the status of a Christmas tradition in Czechia and Norway. In both the countries, TV has had an important effect on the development; while in Norway it was the public channel, in Czechia, the process was fuelled by commercial channels. Interestingly, the film has become a part of the Christmas traditions firstly in Norway and only a decade later in the country of its origin. In Czechia, we can observe a trend of moving the film from
68 the Christmas Day to Boxing Day. Nevertheless, its status is more or less the same. On the contrary, the Norwegians tend to create new adaptations and remakes of the nearly half- century-old film. Nevertheless, the heroine from Three Wishes for Cinderella remains the only true Cinderella to many Czechs and Norwegians, creating a common ground for a modern cultural and dialogue.
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7 Bibliography
ASBJØRNSENS, Peter Christen and Jørgen MOE. Norske Folkeeventyr. 2nd ed. Christiania (Oslo): Johan Dahls Forlag, 1852. BEDNAŘÍK, Petr. Jsou možné Vánoce bez Popelky? Televizní uvádění filmové pohádky Tři Oříšky pro Popelku. In: Tři oříšky pro Popelku. Prague: Národní filmový archiv, 2016, p. 86- 104. ISBN 978-80-7004-173-4. BRINCH, Sara. Jako pohádka. Popularita filmu Tři oříšky pro Popelku u norského televizního publika. In: Tři oříšky pro Popelku. Prague: Národní filmový archiv, 2016, p. 106-121. ISBN 978-80-7004-173-4. BUBENÍČEK, Petr. Filmová adaptace: hledání interdisciplinárního dialogu. Iluminace. Prague: Národní filmový archiv, 2010, 22(1), 7-21. ISSN 0862-397X. CARRUTHERS, Amelia. Cinderella - And Other Girls Who Lost Their Slippers. Alcester: Pook Press, 2015. ISBN 9781473370111. CINTAS, Jorge Díaz a Gunilla ANDERMAN, ed. Audiovisual Translation: Language Transfer on Screen. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2009. ISBN 978–0–230–01996–6.
COX, Marian Roalfe. Cinderella: Three Hundred and Forty-five Variants of Cinderella, Catskin, and Cap O'Rushes, Abstracted and Tabulated, with a Discussion of Mediaeval Analogues, and Notes. London: The Folk-Lore Society, 1893. DOBŠINSKÝ, Pavol. Popeluša. Prostonárodné slovenské povesti: Tretí zväzok [online]. Bratislava: Zlatý fond denníka SME, [2007], p. 191-196 [cit. 2019-11-30]. Available from: https://zlatyfond.sme.sk/dielo/389/Dobsinsky_Prostonarodne-slovenske-povesti-Treti- zvazok/62 FRANCO, Eliana, Anna MATAMALA a Pilar ORERO. Voice-over Translation: An Overview. New York: Peter Lang, 2010. ISBN 978-303-4303-934. HODNE, Ørnulf. The Types of the Norwegian Folktale. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1984. ISBN 82-000-6849-8. HUTCHEON, Linda. A Theory of Adaptation. New York: Routledge, 2006. ISBN 04-159- 6794-5. KOKEŠ, Radomír D. Tři argumenty pro Popelku: analytická východiska k porozumění jejímu úspěchu. In: Tři oříšky pro Popelku. Prague: Národní filmový archiv, 2016, p. 58-86. ISBN 978-80-7004-173-4. KOKEŠ, Radomír D. Rozbor filmu. Brno: Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, 2015. ISBN 978-80-210-7756-0.
KRAPPE, Alexander Haggerty. The Science of Folklore. 4th ed.. New York: Norton, 1964. ISBN 03-930-0282-9. LADA, Josef. O Popelákovi. Nezbedné pohádky. 3rd ed. Prague: Státní nakladatelství dětské knihy, 1967, p. 19-28.
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NĚMCOVÁ, Božena. O Popelce. Národní báchorky a pověsti I [online]. Prague: Městská knihovna v Praze, 2012, p. 96-110 [cit. 2019-11-29]. Available from: https://web2.mlp.cz/koweb/00/03/34/76/58/narodni_bachorky_a_povesti_i.pdf NĚMCOVÁ, Božena. O Popelušce. Slovenské pohádky a pověsti II [online]. Prague: Městská knihovna v Praze, 2012, p. 108-114 [cit. 2019-11-29]. Available from: https://web2.mlp.cz/koweb/00/03/34/76/70/slovenske_pohadky_ii.pdf NĚMCOVÁ, Božena. O třech sestrách. Národní báchorky a pověsti I [online]. Prague: Městská knihovna v Praze, 2012, p. 243-252 [cit. 2019-11-29]. Available from: https://web2.mlp.cz/koweb/00/03/34/76/58/narodni_bachorky_a_povesti_i.pdf PAVLÍČEK, František. Tři oříšky pro Popelku: tři filmové pohádky. Brno: Atlantis, 2003. ISBN 80-710-8243-0. PHILIP, Neil. The Cinderella Story. New York: Penguin Books, 1989. ISBN 01-405-9504-X. PROPP, Vladimir. Morphology of the Folktale. 2nd ed. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1968. ISBN 978-0-292-78376-8. SKUPA, Lukáš, Pavel SKOPAL, Radomír D. KOKEŠ, Petr BEDNAŘÍK, Sara BRINCH, Martin ŠRAJER and Steffen RETZLAFF. Tři oříšky pro Popelku. Prague: Národní filmový archiv, 2016, p. 249. ISBN 978-80-7004-173-4. SKUPA, Lukáš. Pohádka před kamerou, pohádka za kamerou: Produkční historie filmu Tři oříšky pro Popelku. In: SKOPAL, Pavel. Tři oříšky pro Popelku. Prague: Národní filmový archiv, 2016, p. 20-34. ISBN 978-80-7004-173-4. THOMPSON, Stith. The Folktale. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977. ISBN 0520035372. THOMPSON, Stith. Motif-Index of Folk-Literature: A Classification of Narrative Elements in Folk-Tales, Ballads, Myths, Fables, Mediaeval Romances, Exempla, Fabliaux, Jest-Books, and Local Legends. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 1932-36, 6 vols. THOMPSON, Stith. The Types of the Folktale: A Classification and Bibliography. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, 1964. TILLE, Václav. Božena Němcová. 7th ed. Prague: Družstevní práce, 1947. UTHER, Hans-Jörg. The Types of International Folktales: A Classification and Bibliography, Based on the System of Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, Academia Scientiarum Fennica, 2004. ISBN 95-141-0961-9. WALLÓ, Olga. Specifická forma překladu: dabing. Theatralia. 2012, 15(1), 113-123. ISSN 2336-4548. YIN, Robert K. Case Study Research and Applications: Design and Methods. Sixth edition. Los Angeles: SAGE, 2018. ISBN 978-150-6336-169.
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News articles Askepott. NFI [online]. Oslo: NFI, 2015 [cit. 2020-04-19]. Available from: https://www.nfi.no/tildelinger/produksjon/spillefilm/askepott BRÅTHEN, Jennifer. «Tre nøtter til Askepott» kåret til tidenes julefilm. VG [online]. Oslo, 2013-12-19 [cit. 2020-03-29]. Available from: https://www.vg.no/rampelys/tv/i/xnjgl/tre- noetter-til-askepott-kaaret-til-tidenes-julefilm BYE, Arne. Den glade Askepott. Aftenposten. Oslo, 1978-01-14. Page unknown, available at National Library of Norway. EGELAND, Jorunn. Derfor elsker vi «Tre nøtter til Askepott». Klikk [online]. Oslo: Egmont, 201912-20 [cit. 2020-04-19]. Available from: https://www.klikk.no/side2/underholdning/derfor-elsker-vi-tre-notter-til-askepott-4632256 GRØNNEBERG, Anders. Skulle aldri ha alle stemmene. Dagbladet [online]. Oslo, 2019-12- 24 [cit. 2020-04-11]. Available from: https://www.dagbladet.no/kultur/skulle-aldri-ha-alle- stemmene/71950767 NILSEN, Morten. Film: Prinsessepornografi. VG [online]. Oslo: VG, 2020-03-12 [cit. 2020- 04-19]. Available from: https://www.vg.no/rampelys/film/i/xnnb8/film-prinsessepornografi Popelka v reálných barvách. Česká televize [online]. Prague: Česká televize, © 1996–2020 [2014] [cit. 2020-04-18]. Available from: https://www.ceskatelevize.cz/porady/16901-tri- orisky-pro-popelku/29238160723/7720-popelka-v-realnych-barvach/ ROGNLIEN, Jon. Norsk på billigsalg. Aftenposten [online]. Oslo, 2007-09-27 [cit. 2020-03- 29]. Available from: https://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/debatt/i/JEP26/norsk-paa- billigsalg SPÁČILOVÁ, Mirka. Pohádku Tři oříšky pro Popelku vidělo na Štěpána 1,6 milionu diváků. IDnes [online]. Prague: MAFRA, 2017-12-27 [cit. 2020-04-18]. Available from: https://www.idnes.cz/kultura/film-televize/sledovanost-tri-orisky-pro-popelku-pohadka- vanoce.A171227_093751_filmvideo_spm SPÁČILOVÁ, Mirka. RECENZE: Renčova muzikálová Popelka je jako živá. Ale jen když mlčí. IDnes [online]. Prague: MAFRA, 2018-10-15 [cit. 2020-04-18]. Available from: https://www.idnes.cz/kultura/divadlo/tri-orisky-pro-popelku-muzikal- recenze.A181015_100748_divadlo_ts SUNDBYE, Bodil. Historien om et eventyr. Dagsavisen. Oslo, 2005-12-24. p. 38-39. Available at the National Library of Norway. Toja (full name unknown). Aktiv Askpott. Arbeiderbladet. Oslo, 1978-01-14. Page unknown, available at National Library of Norway. Tre nøtter til Askepott. Programbladet. Oslo, 1974, vol. 52, p. 86. Available at National Library of Norway. Tre nøtter til Askepott. NFI [online]. Oslo: NFI, 2019 [cit. 2020-04-19]. Available from: https://www.nfi.no/tildelinger/produksjon/spillefilm/tre-notter-til-askepott
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Tři oříšky pro Popelku nejsledovanější na Štěpána. MediaGuru [online]. Prague: PHD, 2019- 12-27 [cit. 2020-04-18]. Available from: https://www.mediaguru.cz/clanky/2019/12/tri- orisky-pro-popelku-nejsledovanejsi-na-stepana/ TVEDTEN, Hilde Marie. Nå kommer ny «Tre nøtter til Askepott». Dagbladet [online]. Oslo, 2019-02-16 [cit. 2020-03-29]. Available from: https://www.dagbladet.no/kultur/na-kommer- ny-tre-notter-til-askepott/70775699 VARGA, Jan. Popelka (Cinderella) – Recenze – 60%. Kritiky [online]. Prague: Melies, 2015 [cit. 2020-05-11]. Available from: https://www.kritiky.cz/popelka-cinderella-recenze-60/ ØSTTVEIT, Karine. En ekte Askepotthistorie. Aftenposten [online]. Oslo, 2008-12-24 [cit. 2020-03-29]. Available from: https://www.aftenposten.no/kultur/i/O3kbq/en-ekte- askepotthistorie
Audio-visual sources: SVOBODA, Karel. Tři Oříšky pro Popelku. Filmová hudba – komplet. [Spotify – media service provider]. Czech National Symphonic Orchestra. Prague: Supraphon A.S., 2018. Three Gifts for Cinderella. In: YouTube [online]. 2007-02-05. [cit. 2020-05-01]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f7XWEgVc7w&t=197s Three Wishes for Cinderella [Tre nøtter til Askepott] [DVD]. Director Václav VORLÍČEK. Norway: NRK, 2005. 82 min. Three Wishes for Cinderella [Tři Oříšky pro Popelku] [Netflix – media service provider]. Director Václav VORLÍČEK. Czechia: NFA, 2015. 84 min. Three Wishes for Cinderella [Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel] [DVD]. Director Václav VORLÍČEK. Germany: Edel, 2010. 83 min.
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8 Czech and Norwegian Summary
Komu padne střevíček: Popelka jako kulturní fenomén v českém a norském kontextu
Popelka je jedna z nejznámějších pohádek na světě. Má však mnoho variant, a proto je pro každého trochu jiná. Tato magisterská diplomová práce pojednává o pohádce o Popelce v českém a norském kontextu. Především se zabývám její filmovou variantou z roku 1973 – Tři oříšky pro Popelku – která se stala kulturním fenoménem a vánoční tradicí jak v České republice, tak v Norsku. Film je zajímavým průsečíkem norské a české kulturní tradice, který ještě nebyl pořádně probádán.
Práce je rozdělena do čtyř kapitol. Nejdříve analyzuji literární tradici pohádky o Popelce. Ta je v Norsku zastoupena příběhem o Kari Trestakk, který byl zaznamenán sběrateli lidové slovesnosti, P. Ch. Asbjørnsenem a J. Moem. V Česku je pak zprostředkována spisovatelkou B. Němcovou. K analýze jsem použila katalog Aarneho- Thompsona-Uthera a Morfologii pohádek od V. Proppa. Jednotlivé české a norské národní varianty nemají stejný původ, odlišují se však od těch nejznámějších variant – německé (od bratří Grimmů) a francouzské (od Perraulta, zpopularizované Disneym). Následující kapitola je věnována analýze filmu Tři oříšky pro Popelku, kde jsem se zkoumala příběh, postavy, prostředí, zvuk a další komponenty. Film jsem také srovnala s literární tradicí. Scénárista F. Pavlíček se inspiroval všemi třemi variantami od B. Němcové, avšak scénář je nejvíce ovlivněn slovenskou variantou. Poté jsem analyzovala norskou verzi filmu, která je ovlivněna charakteristickým voiceoverem K. Risana. Především jsem se zabývala původem překladu. Bohužel nevíme, kdo scénář přeložil, nicméně na základě výzkumu se mi podařilo vyloučit možnost, že by norský překlad vznikl z německého scénáře. Především vtipy nebyly do norštiny přeloženy, avšak humorný voiceover je vhodně nahrazuje. Je také důležité zmínit, že Risan při nahrávání voiceoveru improvizoval. V poslední kapitole jsem reflektovala současnou pozici filmu a zabývala se tím, jak se film stal vánoční tradicí v obou zemích. Je zajímavé, že v Norsku se tak stalo o dekádu dříve než v České republice.
Film je téměř půl století starý, přesto jeho hrdinka zůstává tou jedinou Popelkou pro mnoho Čechů a Norů. Film může být pokládán za jeden ze stavebních kamenů moderního norsko-českého kulturního dialogu.
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Hvem som skoen passer: Askepott som et kulturelt fenomen i den tsjekkiske og norske konteksten
Askepott-eventyret er et av de mest kjente eventyrene. Imidlertid har det mange varianter og derfor er litt annerledes for hver av oss. Denne masteroppgaven behandler Askepott-eventyret i den tsjekkiske og norske sammenhengen. Særlig er jeg opptatt av en filmvariant fra 1973 – Tre nøtter til Askepott – som har blitt et kulturelt fenomen og en del av juletradisjonen både i Tsjekkia og Norge. Filmen er et interessant skjæringspunkt for norsk og tsjekkisk kulturtradisjon som ikke har vært utforsket.
Avhandlingen er delt i fire hovedkapitler. Først analyserer jeg den litterære tradisjonen om Askepott-eventyret. I Norge er det representert av eventyrsamlerne P. Chr. Asbjørnsen og J. Moe, mens i Tsjekkia er det formidlet av forfatterinnen B. Nemcova. For å gjennomføre analysen, brukte jeg Aarne-Thompson-Uther klassifikasjonssystem og Eventyrets morfologi av Vladimir Propp. De norske og tsjekkiske nasjonale variantene har ikke lik opprinnelse. Imidlertid avviker de fra de mest kjente variantene – tysk (av brødrene Grimm) og fransk (av Perault, popularisert av Disney). Det neste kapitelet er analysen av filmen Tre nøtter til Askepott, der jeg brukte filmatiseringsteori for å analysere handlingen, figurer, miljø, musikk og andre komponenter. Jeg har også sammenliknet den litterære tradisjonen med filmen. Manusforfatteren F. Pavlicek lot seg inspirere av alle tre Nemcovas varianter, men manuset er mest påvirket av den slovakiske varianten. Etterpå analyserte jeg den norske versjonen som er preget av K. Risans fortellerstemme. Jeg var først og fremst opptatt av oversettelses opprinnelse. Dessverre kan vi ikke si hvem som oversatt manuset. Imidlertid kunne jeg utelukke at den norske oversettelsen er basert på et tysk manus. Mange vitser ble ikke oversatt til norsk i filmen, men den morsomme fortellerstemmen erstatter det godt nok. Det er viktig å nevne at Risan improviserte da han spilte inn. Det siste kapitlet reflekterte jeg over filmens nåværende posisjon og diskuterte hvordan filmen ble en juletradisjon i begge landene. Interessant nok har filmen blitt en del av julefeiringen først i Norge og bare ti år senere i Tsjekkia.
Filmen er nesten femti år gammel. Likevel er filmens heltinne den eneste Askepott for mange tsjekkere og nordmenn. Ikke desto mindre tilbyr filmen en felles grunn for en moderne kulturell dialog mellom Norge og Tsjekkia.
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