Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine (largely a comparison with the movie adaptation, I fear)

[meganbmoore]

Ella of Frell is a normal girl who lives in a normal fairy tale kingdom.  There are ogres, fairies, gnomes, dwarves, elves, terrible people just waiting to be evil stepmothers and stepsisters, and, of course a handsome prince, Charmont, who will soon need a bride.  It's also, unfortunately, cursed with Lucinda, a fairy who gives out horrible gifts that ruin lives, but who is also too powerful for anyone to stop.  Lucinda's gift to Ella was obedience.  No matter what the order is, if Ella is directly told to do something, verbally or in writing, no matter how cruelly or kindly it's meant, she has to do it.

I've seen the movie adaptation with Anne Hathaway and Hugh Dancy.  A few times.  It isn't the world's best movie, but it's solid fun.  Mock me if you will, but I also love the song and  dance numbers.  The movie, however, pretty much rewrites the entire thing as an adventure, with the confident, collected, driven Ella and her extremely modern sensibilities showing the stuffy but kind and chivalrous prince the beauty of equal rights for all.  (Hey, for two hours, my inner thirteen-year-old thinks it's just great.)  In the movie, the curse is shown to be an inconvenience, and a horrible way to live, but all in all, Ella's life isn't that bad.  In comparison, at least.

The book, however, is very, very different.  Ella is the book is awkward and clumsy, and while she's far some ninny with low self-esteem, she grows into the confident and collected girl she starts as in the movie.  In addition, when the two are compared, Ella's curse in the movie is a cakewalk.  Because she can only obey even commands not seriously meant, she's disliked by teachers at school for obeying commands literally, as opposed to the spirit of the words.  When Hattie and Olive, daughters of an acquaintance of Ella's father, learn her secret, they turn Ella into their maid.  In many ways, Hattie's malice is far less horrible than Olive's commanding idea of friendship.  While Hattie  makes demands out of spite and cruelty, she leaves Ella alone unless she's bored or wants something.  Olive, however, is lonely and unliked, and she realizes that a friend she can command is a friend she can do anything with, who can never ignore her or not talk to her and give her what she wants.  Unlike Hattie, there's no malice in Olive's actions, but her selfish nature makes Ella a complete slave to her whims.  When their mother marries Ella's father, they reveal Ella's secret, and Ella literally becomes a scullery maid in her own home.  Very honestly, they made Ella's life so horrible that I kept exclaiming about how I couldn't believe how terrible they made her life to Cali.

Then, of course, there's Ella's romance with Char.  The movie plays off the "spirited girl with forward thinking ideas shows closeminded prince the error of his ways" trope.  I like this trope.  *points to Ever After*  In the book, however, Ella and Char's relationship builds over a long period, including a courtship by letters, growing from friends to more, and it's as she falls in love with Char that Ella finally realizes how truly horrible her curse is, because in her sheltered life of school and home, no real harm can be done to anyone but her.  However, in the larger world outside-especially as the wife of the future king-she could be used to influence and control others, especially her husband.  In the movie, Ella is able to free herself by rejecting an order to kill Char.  In the book, she is ordered to do something she wants to do, but rejects the order because doing so would cause harm to someone she cares about.  By refusing to allow anyone else to to suffer her fate by proxy, she's able to reclaim her own life, a much more impressive feat than conquering the easily identifiable villain.

Anyone have opinions on Levine's other books?  I first noticed her when I saw her new book, Ever, st the bookstore, but considering how cruel (in all the best ways) she was to her main character in Ella Enchanted, I almost fear what she'll do in a romancve between a god and a mortal.

Comments

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the movie is kind of what happens when you toss the book and Ever After in a blender and watch them go. Ella Enchanted the book and Ever After are, imo, both better than Ella Enchanted the movie, but I'm still very fond of the movie.