Cinderella was my first fairy tale. It was the one that we had a video of, and I watched it often. When my sister was three or so she went through a Cinderella phase and would watch it over and over. Now a little cousin of mine is going through the same thing.
It's the story that's been through countless convolutions and revolutions and remakes and updates. And it's been blamed for teaching girls to just sit around and not try to improve your life. Even The Cheetah Girls sang about it: "I don't want to be like Cinderella, sitting in a dark, cold, dusty cellar, waiting for somebody to come and rescue me. I don't want to be like someone waiting for a handsome prince to come and save me. No, no, no no, no. I'd rather rescue myself." I guess those words were the first Id' heard about not wanting to be like Cinderella.
And yet it's classic.
Yes, Cinderella is a passive heroine. She lets herself be pushed around by her stepmother and stepsisters even though she is the daughter of the man who used to own the house. Apparently, he was a lord since her stepmother is announced as Lady Tremaine.
She obviously lives in France. Most of the names are French and it's Madame Tremaine.
She is gentle beyond all reason, although she hates the town's clock. "Old killjoy!"
She tries to see the good in everything. She even tries to see the best in Lucifer, that terrible cat.
Probably, the coolest part of her life is that she's got little birds and mice that do everything for her. They help her dress in the morning; they make her bed; and they help her shower. That's awesome. I'm not a big animal fan, but I could certainly learn to love animals who waited on me.
Cinderella dreams about something wonderful, but she can't tell us what it is because it's a wish and won't come true if she reveals it. So technically, we don't know what her dream is. We presume it's about romance but who knows, maybe she was dreaming about her stepmother suddenly being nice to her or something.
After her stepsisters ruin her dress, she sobs in despair and says, "It isn't true. It's just no use. No use at all. I can't believe--not anymore. There's nothing left to believe in" while the theme song is playing in the background so she's responding to the song. She realizes that no matter how big she dreams, her step family will always crush her dreams. But it's interesting to note that in spite of this, not all of her faith is gone because as her fairy godmother says, "If you'd lost all your faith, I wouldn't be here." Her faith in her dreams and her hope helped to redeem her situation. Furthermore, when she sees her new ball gown, she says, "It's like a dream--a wonderful dream come true."
Side note: I always loved her pink dress more than the ball gown and thought she looked prettier in it. It took a couple of years to come to like the ball gown better.
Who knows if she's looking for romance really?. The only reason she wanted to go to the ball was because it would be "completely wonderful." That's completely natural. I mean, who doesn't want to go to a royal ball? I'd love to at least once.
Cinderella cares about love not being royal. She doesn't realize the man she met at the ball is the prince and yet she loves him anyway. Of course, when she finds out he's the prince, she's completely shocked.
Now, the main thing about Cinderella is that she supposedly just sits there. But, in a way, I completely understand that. I mean, back when this story was written, women didn't have the same rights that they do today. If she had left her home, where was she going to go? She couldn't just rent an apartment and get a job. It wasn't that simple. And this movie is set in the past, so it makes sense that Cinderella would act this way. Plus, psychologically, she must've needed lots of help. In real life, that girl would've needed years of therapy to deal with the psychological torment her stepmother and stepsisters gave her.
Which is why I agree with modernizing the story to make Cinderella more proactive in her own escape.
Maybe that's why Disney decided to make Cinderella more active in the second and third movies. I kind of like the second one, and the third movie isn't horrible. But I just can't get over the fact that they completely changed the story. And I also don't like that they reduce love to a feeling of "Oh he touched my hand and I felt something. It's love!!" Um . . . no. Definitely not. Sure, the couples in fairy tales fall in love really fast, but that whole "touching the hand" thing is just pushing it. Besides, Cinderella and the prince fell in love spent some hours together, not just a moment.
Conclusion: I love Cinderella, and I want these beds.
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