A Cinderella Story: Film Adaption Growing up as a child, fairytales were often told by our parents as a means of entertainment. However, fairy tales are much more than just a form of entertainment. Fairytales provide a socializing function, in the sense that they teach us how to behave, creates strong interpersonal ties that bring our families together, have an educational function, and helps solidify a cultural identity. In addition, fairytales provide didactic functions, which is teaching a moral lesson within the story. In this paper, I will analyze Mark Rosman's Cinderella Story starring Hillary Duff and Chad Murray as a contemporary film adaption of the classical literature Cinderella also known as the Little Glass Slipper by Charles…show more content… The film starts off with a classical linguistic cue "Once upon a time in a faraway kingdom".(A Cinderella Story, 2004) Sam lived a perfect childhood with her widowed father in California. Until her father fell in love with Fiona (Jennifer Coolidge), who he later married. One day an surprised earthquake killed her father leaving Sam with Fiona and her two stepsisters Brianna (Madeline Zima) and Gabriella (Andrea Avery). Sam became a slave to Fiona after her father's death, working at the Diner. Sam a straight A student is faced with many challenges at work, but also at school with the popular kids, like Shelby (Julie Gonzalo). The only positive in Sam's life is her anonymous text messages with her secret admirer. Little does she know that her admirer is Austin Ames (Chad Murray) the quarterback of the high school football team and most popular boy at…show more content… Throughout Rosman's film, we see that he depicts a version of Cinderella which is far more relatable for contemporary society today. Rosman's adaptation is structured around the story of Sam a young high school student who is considered a nobody at school and a slave to her stepmother at home. Throughout the film, we see Sam being mocked and intimidated by those inferior to her at school. Sam feels like an outsider living in a different reality. We see this when Sam is hesitant to reveal herself at the dance to her secret admirer Austin. Out of fear that Austin may not accept who Sam is she leaves him guessing. She further keeps him guessing when Austin asks why he has never seen her at school before. She then says "maybe you were looking but not really seeing".(A Cinderella Story, 2004) This quote exemplifies how Sam comes from a different world than Austin, in terms of social status. This ties in with contemporary pop culture today. As many teens, today are given these labels or status in school. They tend to feel inferior to those who are considered popular or higher than them in ranking. We see a similar connection in Rosman's adaptation with