Cinderella

Cinderella. A Disney classic. A well-known and adored Princess. Most commonly attributed with THE Prince Charming.

I just re-watched this film, and still LOVE it at my age (24 hours off turning 19!). But I don't believe there's such a thing as 'too old for Disney'. And I do think there are good moral teachings for us all to learn from this Disney classic. Foremost, that it is important to stay sweet, kind and humble despite the awful people you may be around - whether this be in the work-place, friendship circles, in passing in your to day-to-day lives. You shouldn't stoop to their level, but rise above it. Don't let them crush your dreams. If I could sing like 'Cinderella' I'd keep on singing, but in stead I link this to Vivian Green's saying, "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain". So I strongly believe it is a good message to encourage people to make the best of their situation, and in Cinderella's case, it all works out in the end.

However, contrary to this, we don't all have Fairy Godmothers or singing animals to save us from wicked people. So to another extent, people still need to learn to stick up for themselves and not get walked all over....otherwise they could end up locked in the attic in rags forever!

Disney does send a contradictory message when at first Cinderella prides herself in the fact that they can never take her dreams away, then moments later she tries to change Bruno's (the dog's) dreams! So while the original premise is, in my opinion, a beautiful and poignant point, Disney immediately undermine and discard this point. You could argue that Bruno is a dog and Cinderella a person, but when the animals are treated so human-like and are, in truth, Cinderella's only friends, I hardly see it as fair to disregard Bruno's dreams.

Cinderella fell in love without realising it was the Prince. This shows she's not after a title, just someone to love and to love her back, which is only natural when considering she's in such an unloving environment at home, and contextually, at this time, the way for a woman to leave her family was to marry a man. Yes, in a modern day story she could get a job and move out to her own apartment, but Cinderella was released on 15th February 1950, a time with different expectations for women.

Here you can find a version of the Grimm Brother's original story.
This is a more gruesome tale, involving bleeding feet and pecked out eyes. The sorts of things you won't find in any of Disney's films. But another notable difference is that in the Grimm version, a hazel tree and a white bird play the role Disney allocates to a Fairy Godmother. This tree grows from a twig Cinderella's father gave her, is nourished with her tears and located above her mother's grave. From here, her wishes are granted. This tree is a connection between Cinderella and her mother. A connection that Disney never acknowledges. In the original, the father also still lives, and he too treats Cinderella badly. While in the original tale, the step-sisters were beautiful on the outside but ugly on the inside, Disney are know for making the 'evil' characters ugly. This gives child viewers the simplistic and false sense that pretty people are good, and ugly people are bad, which may not be the best message!

An interesting point about this film, in relation to an article I recently read, is that 60% of the dialogue is from women, beaten only by Sleeping Beauty and Brave, compared to more modern films, such as The Princess and the Frog with less than 25% or Frozen with only 41%.  My dad actually sent me this article, shortly before a similar one was assigned for my class. Researchers feel that this occurs because male is considered the norm. So , considered generally, if Disney seeks a shopkeeper or village people, it will be men who play these roles and hold the speaking roles. So while you may see female characters on screen in the background, it could be the case of 'seen but not heard'. Researchers are still looking into the effects this may have on young children and speech development. So, while modern era Disney portrays women in more empowered roles, they're not quite giving them enough to say, and the gender equality divide still needs some more work.

There are many more modern Cinderella spin offs. My personal favourite of which is the 1998 Ever After: A Cinderella Story, which if you have not yet seen, I highly and wholly biasedly recommend. I have not yet re-watched these, though I have already seen all but the latest live action version with Lily Collins, and I do intend to view these again shortly.