Wednesday 13 May 2015

"Have courage and be kind": Why Cinderella is more than a damsel in distress...

Hi all,

With live action fairy tales being announced one after another this year, it seems that Disney-mania has sparked all over again. The geniuses of story telling are always finding new ways to draw us into the fairy tale world that some of us never want to leave, from the animated movies of Cars and Finding Nemo, to the musical creations of Frozen and Tangled.
But the new live action Cinderella hit a nerve with some people who claim the story is more about how women are passive and quiet until they are saved by a man, and this is hardly a good idol for young girls. And it is to those thinkers that I want to write this blog, because for me Cinderella has always been my princess and these are the reasons why:  
  1. She had to marry a man to make her life change, how old fashioned of her. Well, look at the time her story was written in. When Grimm and Anderson wrote their tales women were very much defied by their status below men. You had to marry to be free of your family or live a life alone. So yes she has to marry a prince but that doesn't make her have less worth, it just means she has to go a different way about it than we do now. Just because this is how she had to do it then doesn't make it a blueprint for life, it just shows that you should try find happiness and be free of upset and pain. 
  2. But she just sticks around and gets badly treated, she seems to suggest this is an ok way of life? To that regard I say this; Honestly have you never done anything for someone you love that leaves you worse off than before? Cinderella makes a promise to her father and wanted to make her family work even though they were ungrateful and unkind. She is loyal in the face of adversity but when she reaches her breaking point she leaves. I think in that regard she is possibly the most human of all of the princesses, and shows that she is not an unbreakable saint, she has a limit and when they push her over it, she leaves.
  3. And we all don't have fairy-godmothers who help us in our times of need? No we don't, but some people have faith which guides them, some have the stars and astrology, and some make decisions based on a flip of a coin; all Cinderella's fairy-godmother does is facilitate her decision to go to the ball (admittedly by using magic but that doesn't make it any less valid) and it teaches that having a little bit of belief in anything, even if you just believe you can do anything you want, it is both important and worthwhile to do so. 
  4. So in this magical world where mice turn to men and glass slippers are comfy; we are supposed to believe that there is a message we can live by in this movie? Yes you are. The message is the thing that Cinderella herself lives by and that is "To have courage and be kind". You don't have to serve, marry or wish on anyone to be able to do that. And at the end of the day, if you can have courage to do scary things and be kind to everyone you meet, then you will probably achieve your goals or dreams - label them as you wish. 
So the blonde, blue eyed, beauty in the pretty dress is not relatable to most people, but the message transcends cultures and lives, and that is the power of fairy-tales and Disney. If you disagree then let me know in the comments - but please be kind, this is a space for discussion not hate.

And also I love the pretty dress and the handsome prince - because a girl can dream! (Although I would hark back to the old Cinderella and if I had a choice my dress would be pink)

Hope you are all well, 

Lots of Love, 
Amber xx