In Defense of Cinderella

Cinderella is one of the most well known fairy tales in the world.  There is a version of the story in almost every culture (in grammar school we did a unit in Library class about world versions of fairy tales, guess who came up the most). Her story is beloved by millions. The young abused girl who goes on to find true love and happiness. Who would not love a story like that? A lot of people apparently. In recent years Cinderella has been labeled "not feminist" and has been accused of giving false hopes about love to young people. If you don't believe me just check out the book "Cinderella Ate my Daughter". I read that book sophomore year of high school (ironically the same year I was told "life sucks then you die" by one of my teachers) for a research paper. It was not a great paper if I'm going to be honest. My grandmother died suddenly while I was writing it so the paper did not seem that important anymore. I did get one thing out of it, people hate Cinderella. A few years back it became in trend to dislike the princesses and all things "girly". I never cared much because I'm stubborn and do not like to listen to other people. They said that Cinderella was weak. Why did she need a man to get out of the situation? Why did she let her stepmother and stepsisters boss her around? Why didn't she ever take control of her own life? Why was she so nice?  Now I'm listening and like usual I'm ready to be a brat and state why I think Cinderella is one of the strongest female characters in fairy tales and why everyone else is wrong, cause you know I'm a brat.

There are multiple versions of Cinderella, so let us start with the original. Not many people know this one. I first read it in a fairy tale book I got for twenty bucks at Barnes and Noble. I was a junior in high school at the time. Cinderella is a little girl when her mother dies and her father remarries. Like everyone knows this woman and her daughters are cruel. Well one day Cindy's dad has to go on a trip. He asks his stepdaughters and Cinderella what they want him

Mary Pickford as Cinderella in 1914

to bring back. The stepdaughters want dresses and jewels. Cinderella wants the first branch his hat brushes against. He brings back everything the girls ask for, even the branch. Cinderella plants the branch on her mother's grave and waters it with her tears (dramatic I know). The branch grows into a beautiful tree and two white doves make the tree their home. All this time Cinderella's step family continues to abuse her. When the invite to the ball arrives, Cinderella is given impossible tasks to complete. She gets help from her bird friends and asks if she may attend the ball. She is still told she cannot go. She cries at her mother's tree grave and the birds give her a dress and a pair of GOLDEN slippers. The ball lasts over three nights so, you guessed it, this happens three times and each time the prince takes an interest in Cinderella. On the last night she looses the slipper and the prince goes on his quest to find his love. When he gets to Cinderella’s house her stepsisters mutilate themselves to fit into the shoe. The two white doves tell the prince this little rhyme, "Turn and peep, turn and peep, there's blood within the shoe, the shoe it is too small for her, the true bride waits for you."in order to warn him of the sisters deceit. Eventually the prince finds Cinderella and they live happily ever after, while her stepsisters get their eyes pecked out. Great ending I know.

We must simply have courage and be kind, mustn't we?

This version of the story has been changed throughout history. The version we all know and love is Disney’s version.The one with the glass slipper, the Fairy Godmother, mice, and of course the pumpkin. I grew up loving all things Disney. The magic and the princesses were literally my life as a kid. I guess that is why I love Old Hollywood as much as I do now, the makeup and hair make those actresses look like real life Disney princesses. I still love Disney. I still go to see every female lead Disney movie in theaters. The image that pops into everyone’s head when they hear “Cinderella” is the one from 1950, well the updated version of the one from 1950 (in 1950 Cindy’s hair was auburn and her dress was closer to white than blue. She’s been re-branded over the years.) In 2015 Disney made a live action version of Cinderella. It starred Lily James as Cinderella (her name is Ella in this, but her step family gave her the name Cinderella after her father died.) ,Richard Madden as Prince “Kit”, Helena Bonham Carter as the Fairy Godmother and the amazingly talented Cate Blanchett as Lady Tremaine. The movie was fabulously shot and the actors did a wonderful job. The movie really touched me and shined a new light on Cinderella for me. With more fleshed out characters I was able to really get into it and understand Cinderella’s mentality. The mantra of the movie is “have courage and be kind”. Little Ella is told this by her mother as she is dying. Her mother says,"I want to tell you a secret, a great secret that will see you through all the trails that life has to offer. You must always remember this: have courage and be kind. You have more kindness in your little finger than most people posses in their whole body. And it has power, more than you know. And magic" She is nice and kind to everyone and to most she seems like a doormat, used by her step family. But that is not what is really going on here. Yes they use her grief to get her to do the chores, but that does not make her a weak person. Cinderella refuses to let the cruel words of those women get to her. She refuses to let the abuse make her bitter. In the 1950 version Cinderella says, “They cannot order me to stop dreaming”. She does not let them take away who she is as a person. She still hopes and loves and she still has kindness in her heart. Why? Because why not? Why should she let these people get her down? They treat her so horribly and yet in the end she still had the strength to forgive them! Maybe it seems unrealistic to us, but it doesn't have to be. In all the versions Cinderella just wants to be happy and to make others happy. She’s not a doormat, she is a steel wall covered in dogwood flowers. Cinderella is no Mulan or Merida. She did not cross the great ocean like Moana. She does not dream of the great wide somewhere like Belle, but she does see the world not as it is, but as it could be. And isn’t that what we've always wanted?

Hannah R. 1,169

Sources:

Cinderella by the Brothers Grimm

Cinderella, 1950

Cinderella, 2015