Name : Ayu Nuri Fransiska

NIM : 16020154018

The analysis of Fabula and Sjuzet Aspects in The Movie

“Ever After: Cinderella Story (1998)”

Ever after Cinderella movie is a movie packed with fabula and suzet aspects indeed.
Distinguishing between the concepts of fabula (or story) that is, the temporal-causal sequence
of narrated events which comprise the raw materials of the work, and sjuzet (or plot) as the
way in which these materials are formally manipulated (Bennett, 2003:19). The fabula can be
seen in this ever after movie, because it is inspirited by the Cinderella tale which has the
temporal story. It means that this story always connects with a poor girl who lost her lovely
family (father and mother). Besides, she also lost her freedom, because her step mother and
her two step sisters always force her to be a servant every day after her father death. Then, to
change her poor life, Cinderella will meet a prince without unexpected event and she will be
a princess to live happily with her prince in the end.
Beside fabula, there is a sjuzet aspect here which means the plot of ever after movie
is manipulated differently from the usual story by the narrator in particular scenes. In the
beginning of this scene we can see that the Cinderella in this movie, Daniel De Barbarac, just
lives with her father, Auguste De Barbarac, without exposing her mother. When Auguste
marries again with his new wife, Barones Rodmilla, he suddenly dies with no clear cause.
This situation makes Daniel lives so bad because she should force to be a servant to her step
mother and two step sisters who named Marguerite and Jacqueline. Luckily, the interesting of
this movie is one of her step sisters who named Jacquelline does not treat her so bad, because
she still has sympathy to Daniel. It could be seen when Daniel is flogged by her step mother
because she does not allow her another step sister, Margueritte, to borrow her mother`s dress,
Jacqueline comes to Daniel`s room and helps to medicate her. A prince in the contemporal
Cinderella story has a few occasion to meet a Cinderella. In contrary, in this movie, a prince
who named Henry II from France, as if showing it is in the sixteenth centuries of France, has
many several times to meet Daniel as Cinderella freely. It could be seen by the scenes Daniel
caughts Henry for stealing his father`s horse in her backyard, Daniel tries to release an old
man from prisoner because of his debt, and they become falling in love, when Daniel invites
Henry to visit Gypsy’s community. The portray of Cinderella is not feminist, sometimes she
little bit goes be a masculine to against rude things. For instance, she bravely hit one of her
step sister eyes, Margueritte, when she takes her mother`s dress without Daniel`s permition,
and she also fights to a strange man who kidnaps her, because her step mother cannot settle
her debt. Besides, even the magic is not presented in this movie as the Cinderella’s helper,
there are her loyal servants and her best friend, Gustave, who can help Cinderella
successfully meets her prince to the party.

In brief, the movie ever after Cinderella has the fabula aspect which means it is
inspirited with the old tale of Cinderella, but it is not similar at all in the particular scenes that
have been created by the narrator. The differentiations which are presented can sign to the
public that this movie is not bounded by the contemporal story, so the sjuzet aspect comes on
this. Both aspects are also helped mainly with a hero`s action like the fourth stage of 17
Stages of the Hero’s Journey in Joseph Campbell’s theory, crossing the first threshold which
means hero leaves its known world and ventures into the unknown. It could be seen when
Henry II refuses the matchmaking that does by his royal family to marry with a Spaniel
princess, he decides to run away from his castle bringing his father`s horse. In that case, it is a
main scene that Henry`s bravery can take him to meet Cinderella and they face the conflict
each other till they can get married happily ever after.