History Main / CinderellaPlot

-->--- '''Creator/GailCarsonLevine''', speaking about ''Literature/EllaEnchanted''.

* ''Geekerella'' by Ashley Poston (#1 in the ''Literature/OnceUponACon'' series) has the exact same story, but centered around a modern day FanConvention. Elle Wittimer is a {{Geek}} into the fictional sci-fi show ''Starfield'' she and her late parents watched together, while the prince is actually the actor playing Prince Carmindor for the upcoming movie, Darien Freeman. The "ball" Elle wants to attend is the cosplay contest of a ''Starfield'' convention that her [[FantasyForbiddingMother stepmother]] (who has burned through the insurance money to support her failing wedding business and is trying to sell the house) thinks is a waste of time, and her twin stepsisters push her around; one, Chloe, destroys her costume to prevent her from being in the cosplay contest and steals her tickets so she and Cal can try and meet Darien. Elle even gets to the ball in a pumpkin--that is, the food truck she works at called "The Magic Pumpkin"--and leaves one of her cosplay shoes behind, which Darien eventually returns to her at the country club she's been forced to work at after quitting the food truck by her stepmother. The chapters are occasionally interspersed with scripts from the ''Starfield'' show and movie.

* ''Geekerella'' by Ashley Poston (#1 in the Once Upon a Con series) has the exact same story, but centered around a modern day FanConvention. Elle Wittimer is a {{Geek}} into the fictional sci-fi show ''Starfield'' she and her late parents watched together, while the prince is actually the actor playing Prince Carmindor for the upcoming movie, Darien Freeman. The "ball" Elle wants to attend is the cosplay contest of a ''Starfield'' convention that her [[FantasyForbiddingMother stepmother]] (who has burned through the insurance money to support her failing wedding business and is trying to sell the house) thinks is a waste of time, and her twin stepsisters push her around; one, Chloe, destroys her costume to prevent her from being in the cosplay contest and steals her tickets so she and Cal can try and meet Darien. Elle even gets to the ball in a pumpkin--that is, the food truck she works at called "The Magic Pumpkin"--and leaves one of her cosplay shoes behind, which Darien eventually returns to her at the country club she's been forced to work at after quitting the food truck by her stepmother. The chapters are occasionally interspersed with scripts from the ''Starfield'' show and movie.

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' episode "Finsterella" takes place after the events of ''WesternAnimation/RugratsInParis: The Movie'', where Chas marries Kira and Kimi becomes Chuckie's stepsister. After Chas tells the babies the story of ''Cinderella'', Angelica tells Chuckie that he has a stepmother and a stepsister just like Cinderella does, and decides to start calling him "Finsterella". Tommy tries to assure Chuckie that Kira and Kimi are nice to him, and not mean like Cinderella's stepmother and stepsisters, but Chuckie starts to believe Angelica is right when he overhears Kira rehearsing her lines for a play about the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe and sees Kimi [[BabySeeBabyDo copying Angelica's behavior when she plays a game where she copies whoever she sees]]. Chuckie also has a dream where he really is Finsterella, and has to do chores for Angelica and Kimi while they get to go to a party. By the end of the episode, Chuckie finds out the truth about Kira and Kimi, who both love him very much and are happy to be a part of his family.

* ''Film/ACinderellaStory'' sets the story in the modern day. The Cinderella is Sam Montgomery, who's stepmother forces her to do all the house chores as well as slave away at her family's diner. She falls for the Prince, who in this case is school football player Austin, and they communicate through online messages before Austin ever learns who she is. In addition to her stepfamily, she's also tormented by the school's AlphaBitch and is working mostly to save up money and move out.
* ''Film/ACinderellaStoryOnceUponASong'' pulls a few twists on the story. Katie dreams of being a recording artist, and is coerced into using her musical talents to help her stepsister fool the Prince, this time a boy at her performing arts school named Luke. She also has a stepbrother, who eventually sides with her when he decides that she's the only one in the family who cares about him.
* ''Film/AnotherCinderellaStory'' tells the story of Mary Santiago, an aspiring dancer adopted by a woman named Dominique to do her and her daughter's housework. The Prince is a famous musician named Joey Parker, moving back to the city with his best friend. They meet at a MasqueradeBall, and Mary loses her Zune, which Joey retrieves and uses to find her. The plot continues after he discovers who Mary is, as the stepfamily continue to conspire against her and ruin her new relationship and dancing aspirations.

* ''Film/EverAfter'' is a version of the Cinderella story about a courageous young woman, Danielle de Barbarac, who is orphaned within mere days of her widowed father remarrying. She's left to the care of her mentally abusive stepmother, though at least she has the family servants who still love her, and one of her stepsisters is a kind and sympathetic person. Instead of a fairy godmother, this iteration sees her assisted by ''UsefulNotes/LeonardoDaVinci''.

* ''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouseClubhouse'' did this in one episode where Minnie has a dream where she's "Minnie-rella". Clarabelle plays the FairyGodmother, Goofy is the coachman, and Minnie had to use various Mouseketools to help progress the story.

Here's the basic run-down. Cinderella is a girl with a WickedStepmother and two spoiled stepsisters. She's forced to be a slave to her stepfamily, and has no real means of escaping this life. When there's news that the kingdom's prince is throwing a ball, her stepmother forces her to stay home from it, but either through the use of magic or ingenuity, she disguises herself (sometimes getting TheMakeover) and attends. The prince dances with her and falls for her, but to get home on time, she's forced to run away from him before he can learn who she is. In her haste, she leaves behind something, often a GlassSlipper, which the prince finds. Searching the kingdom, he uses the slipper to discover which girl he danced with. Cinderella is found by the prince, and they get married. Variations on the story exist; sometimes she has a father, sometimes she has a FairyGodmother, and sometimes she has animal friends. Sometimes the story is told in a modern setting rather than a fantasy one, and sometimes there's other characters beyond the core cast. Regardless, this basic plot usually remains the same, and is a broad enough template to work in a variety of situations.

* The rock band Music/{{Cinderella}} unsurprisingly used a Cinderella plot in one of their earliest music videos, for the song "Shake Me." At the beginning of the video, the heroine's two stepsisters gloat about how they're going to the Cinderella concert while she has to stay home because she didn't finish her chores. But when she's alone again the poster of the band on her wall comes to life and magically whisks her away to the concert, providing her with a sexy LittleBlackDress and a front row seat. The video ends with her leaving with the band after the concert, while her stepsisters can only watch enviously from behind a barricade as the limo drives away.

* The episode "Thomas and the Fairy God Engine" of the ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends Storytime'' podcast revolves around Sir Robert throwing a costume ball at his castle, with all the engines invited to dress up and join a grand parade for a chance to win a special gold crown. Thomas gets covered in coal dust from filling up the coal hoppers, and is unable to get back in time to dress up due to being too considerate to turn down Salty's request that he listen to a story. After the other engines leave, Thomas's Fairy God Engine appears and rewards Thomas's kindness by turning him into a knight engine with a necklace of feathers around his funnel and two golden trumpets in place of a whistle, then gives him the usual warning about leaving before midnight. Thomas arrives at the ball and wins the parade, but is forced to leave the ball before he can claim his prize, losing his necklace in the process. The Earl finds the necklace and, seeing that it's made only to fit one funnel, searches Sodor for the engine who's funnel it fits, before finding Thomas at Tidmouth and giving him the crown.

* The episode "Thomas and the Fairy God Engine" of the ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends Storytime'' podcast revolves around Sir Robert throwing a costume ball at his castle, with all the engines invited to dress up and join a grand parade for a chance to win a special gold crown. Thomas gets covered in coal dust from filling up the coal hoppers, and is unable to get back in time to dress up due to being too considerate to turn down Salty's request that he listen to a story. After the other engines leave, Thomas's Fairy God Engine appears and rewards Thomas's kindness by turning him into a knight engine with a necklace of feathers around his funnel and two golden trumpets in place of a whistle, then gives him the usual warning about leaving before midnight. Thomas arrives at the ball and wins the parade, but it forced to leave the ball before he can claim his prize, losing his necklace in the process. The Earl finds the necklace and, seeing that it's made only to fight one funnel, searches Sodor for the engine who's funnel it fights, before finding Thomas at Tidmouth and giving him the crown.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/WabbitALooneyTunesProduction'' episode "Cinderporker", Elmer Fudd reads a version of Cinderella with Porky as the servant; Sylvester, Pete Puma and Claude Cat as the stepfamily and Petunia as the princess. Porky is forbidden to go to the royal ball, but his fairy "duckmother" "a cross-dressing Daffy) gets him smartened up in a disco suit, platform shoes and an Elvis wig, then gives him a sportscar in order to get to the ball. Porky dances with Petunia and wins her heart, but is forced to flee as the spell only lasts ten minutes, leaving behind one of his platform shoes.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/WabbitALooneyTunesProduction'' "Cinderporker", Elmer Fudd reads a version of Cinderella with Porky as the servant; Sylvester, Pete Puma and Claude Cat as the stepfamily and Petunia as the princess. Porky is forbidden to go to the royal ball, but his fairy "duckmother" "a cross-dressing Daffy) gets him smartened up in a disco suit, platform shoes and an Elvis wig, then gives him a sportscar in order to get to the ball. Porky dances with Petunia and wins her heart, but is forced to flee as the spell only lasts ten minutes, leaving behind one of his platform shoes.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/7c9cc4a7_dee6_43db_8f2a_5e80d7f0a224.jpeg]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Muppet Babies|1984}}'' episode, "Pigerella", the babies become impatient waiting for lunch, so Scooter and Skeeter sneak snacks from the kitchen against the wishes of both Nanny and Piggy. When Piggy tries to return the snacks to the kitchen, [[PossessionPresumesGuilt Nanny assumes that she was the one who snuck the snacks]], makes her clean the kitchen by herself as punishment, and has Scooter and Skeeter supervise her. As Piggy cleans the kitchen, she complains that she's being treated like Cinderella, and an ImagineSpot occurs where Piggy is "Pigerella", Nanny is the wicked stepmother, and Skeeter and [[DraggedIntoDrag Scooter]] are the wicked stepsisters. In the end, the other babies help Piggy clean up the mess and explain to Nanny that the mess was their fault, not Piggy's, so Nanny rewards them with a fruit salad for lunch.

* ''Literature/MrMen'': In "Little Miss Shy and the Fairy Godmother", Little Miss Shy is invited to go to Little Miss Splendid's ball. A fairy godmother gives her beautiful glass slippers. At midnight, just when Little Miss Splendid announces that Little Miss Shy is going to receive a prize, the slippers turn back to normal, so Little Miss Shy runs off in shame. Little Miss Bossy and Little Miss Naughty try to put on the glass slipper, but they don't fit either of them. They only fit Little Miss Shy, and as such, Little Miss Shy is given pretty ballet slippers.
* The second story in the ''Westernanimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' book "Once Upon a Spongebob" parodies "Cinderella". Spongebob is forced to get Squidward ready for Sandy's fancy party, but is forbidden to go himself. A "fairy krab-mother" (a cross-dressing Mr. Krabs) turns a Krabby Patty into a coach pulled by jellyfish, turns Gary into a coachman and turns Spongebob's rags into a fine suit before warning him to be back by midnight. Spongebob karate-dances with Sandy until midnight, then leaves his pants behind as he flees the treedome.