“Three Hazelnuts for Cinderella” is still a cult film 50 years after its premiere, and for many it is a Christmas staple. It is also going viral on social media. What is the fascination?
The TikTok algorithm is a thing in itself. The Chinese parent company Bytedance is extremely secretive about how it works. Even experienced social media professionals steadfastly refuse to make definitive statements about guarantees of success for TikTok.
But one thing seems to have a reliably high reach: collective sensitivities – for example through holidays. And that answers part of the question as to why a Czech-German co-production from 1973 is a long-running TikTok hit.
For many people, “Three Hazelnuts for Cinderella” is inseparably linked to Christmas. And the hashtag #dreihaselnussfüraschenbrödel now has almost 70 million views on TikTok. The short videos show excerpts from the film, dance videos to the film music by composer Karel Svoboda or fans making a pilgrimage to Moritzburg Castle near Dresden. The ball scene was created there, in which Cinderella asks the prince a riddle and then leaves the party alone.
In general, TikTok seems to be particularly fond of the ball scene: the supporting character Little Rose, who was actually shown very briefly and played by the Czech actress Helena Ruzickova, is currently experiencing late fame. The parts where she throws the prince around the room to dance are met with comments like “the best part of the whole film” or “the best person in the whole film”.
Christmas song meets techno
One factor contributing to the popularity of the Cinderella theme is a remix of “Royal Ball I” by producer Jaques Raupé together with DJ and producer Felix Harrer. There are over 27,000 creations for the song alone.
Thanks to its slow intro and the introduction of the bass, it can be used particularly well for so-called transitions. As soon as the basses are used it becomes clear: now something unexpected is happening. Users particularly like to share a video of Kermit the Frog dancing with a Santa hat. Popular text in the picture: “When the mulled wine kicks in”.
Another narrative that can often be observed in the short clips is that of Cinderella as a modern woman who doesn’t want to be told anything. This is often illustrated with the dialogue between Cinderella and her stepsister. Dora orders Cinderella to hold her train. But she replies: “I would only get your train dirty, hold it yourself.”
Independent female figure
In fact, this independent female character is already created in the script. The film does not simply use the original by the Brothers Grimm, but rather a Slavic adaptation by the Czech writer Bozena Nemcova. The screenplay for the film was written by Frantisek Pavlicek, a journalist and author whose books were banned in Czechoslovakia because of his political involvement with the Prague Spring reform movement. He wrote the screenplay for “Cinderella” under a pseudonym.
The bohemian Zuzana Jürgens explains the differences. “Although Cinderella’s father is no longer alive – unlike in the fairy tale – he is still present. He taught her a lot, such as riding and shooting,” says Jürgens. “Cinderella confronts the evil stepmother very fearlessly. This is not the case in the original fairy tale and it is not the case in other adaptations, for example in Disney’s ‘Cinderella’, which is completely fairytale-like and follows a ‘classic’ distribution of roles.”
The fact that the film is still a success today is also due to the fact that, unlike many other fairy tale adaptations, it has withstood the critical assessment of the zeitgeist. The actress Libuse Safrankova embodies a proud Cinderella who, disguised as a male hunter, outguns the prince while he is shooting and does not passively wait to finally be married by him.
Cinderella first tests whether this prince is worthy of her. A narrative that remains relatable on TikTok to this day.