Cinderella is Evil

by Jamie Campbell, in Musings (4 Comments)

I recently published my short story Cinderella is Evil. You can read it here. Do it now before you forget and then come back here.

Done? Okay, then. By now, you should know that Cinderella is Evil is the story of Cinderella told from the perspective of one of the Ugly Stepsisters. Everything is there, the slipper, the ball, the prince, but everything is given a new meaning.

I love this story for just one reason: turning the tables on a much loved story that has been told so many times that everyone knows it by heart. But was everyone told the truth? Who asked the stepsister what happened? I love the whole idea that we only believe what we’re told, even though it might not be factual. And yes, I know fairy tales aren’t real to begin with, but they are part of our social history.

Someone famous and probably important said something once like history is written by the victors. This stuck in my head and rattled around in there, so when I think about something now, I have to ask whose truth are we believing? In the case of my story, we’ve always believed Cinderella to be the hero of the story. It was her who was being forced into slave labour, her who made the prince fall in love, and it was her that triumphed over them all. But besides her perspective, how do we know the Stepmother was so bad, the Stepsisters were ugly, and everyone prevented her from going to the ball? I found the thought interesting, which is why I just had to write Cinderella is Evil.

I wrote it in a week I was so excited about doing it. I hope everyone finds it as much fun reading as I did writing it. So my plan now is to find new perspectives on many of our treasured fairy tales. I want to find the wrongly accused, the unjustly tarred, and the unfairly portrayed. I will clear their name.

What’s your favourite fairy tale?

• Tweet