There’s been a lot of talk about Amazon Prime Video’s adaptation of the classic fairytale Cinderella. Cinderella has been a tale that has captured the hearts of children and adults alike for 70 years since Walt Disney’s animated feature in 1950. But the character of Cinderella has always been vague. And the message that Prince Charming will find her, take her away and they lived happily ever after, isn’t without its plot holes. However, no one really questions it because of its status of being a classic timeless fairytale.
But in recent years, the idea of the timeless classic princess has faded and audiences now want strong female leads that could be amazing role models for young children everywhere. So why is this new live-action Cinderella getting so much hate?
This new Cinderella challenges many patriarchal ideals that are portrayed in the original film. It shows the many different layers to women and men. The movie is packed with demonstrations of independence, ambition, ideas of marriage. We learn more about the context of women and the role they play in the story.
The theme of women’s rights and independence is central in the film. We see many new female characters in the film like Queen Beatrice and Princess Gwen, the wife, and daughter of the King. And the film expands on the characters already known to us like Ella (Cinderella) and Vivian (Stepmother). Each woman leads such a different life than the next but they all share one common struggle, they are women. All the same basis and stereotypes about women that society has in the real world apply to this fairytale universe.
Even though they are royalty the Queen and Princess are faced with the same challenges as the common women. I would dare to say that their struggles are exacerbated because of their royal status. Queen Beatrice is the wife of the King and for most of the movie, she struggles being heard on matters of any kind, even ones involving her children. But because she is the Queen she is the example that is set of all other women in her kingdom and in my opinion is the one most trapped by the standards and expectations of women. Princess Gwen wants to rule the kingdom and progress it for all people living there not just for royalty and nobility. But the King thinks she is unfit to rule because she’s a woman and for most of the film tries to force Prince Robert (Prince Charming) to marry and take the crown. The audience can clearly see that Princess Gwen is more fit to rule than her brother who even admits to Ella that the only qualification he has to be King is that his dad was King and it’s a terrible system.
Marriage is another huge theme in the film and once again is related to the real-world struggles of women. Marriage in the film, is more than a symbolic union of two people in love, in fact, it’s the opposite. Marriage is a means of survival for women because they are unable to provide for themselves in any other way. Vivian, the widowed stepmother of Ella, works tirelessly to prepare her daughters to become wives. A scene that drastically sticks out from the original movie is where Vivian is teaching her own daughters, Malvolia and Narissa, how to do housework in which they respond to “Why are we doing Cinderella work?” Vivian explains to her daughters that they too needed to learn how to do house courses in order to attract a husband wealthy enough to take care of them. This film provided more backstory to Vivian and her first marriage. I think most people assume that her first marriage ended because her first husband died but in fact, her first husband left her because she wasn’t acting like a good wife by pursuing her dreams in music. Which explains so much about Vivian’s character and the way she treats Ella.
Ella is so special in the ways that she is different from her classic counterpart. Ella is bold, daring, outspoken with dreams of being independent. Ella doesn’t want to marry but instead wants to start a seamstress business as a way of supporting herself and her stepfamily. Even when proposed to by the Prince she declines because she wants to do more than wave from a royalty box.
There are so many themes in the Cinderella film by Prime Video including toxic masculinity and queerness but none are as prominent as women’s rights and independence and marriage. This depiction of Cinderella shows her as assertive and bold. Varying differently from the classic domesticated housemaid. She’s an aspiring businesswoman whose endgame isn’t a marriage but happiness in doing what she loves and making a living off of it. This new Cinderella is a modern woman ready to lead her life on her terms without the influence of others.
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Alyssa,
What a thorough and educational review! I can tell you really had fun with this — it comes through in the writing. And you draw the reader in really well with your first two grafs (and your title!).
One place that needs more textual evidence is your third graf, though. You present some intriguing ideas and commentary, but giving examples from the movie would help, especially for someone who hasn’t seen it. It’s also a very short and abrupt paragraph, so filling it out more would help with that, too.
You give more specifics later in the review, which works much better. And you take on a tricky topic really gracefully — the difficulty of being a rich woman! That’s a hard tightrope to walk, and you do it well.
Another GREAT sentence that I think could have anchored a paragraph on its own with more of your analysis is this one: “Marriage is a means of survival for women because they are unable to provide for themselves in any other way.” What a great point! And I loved this sentence right at the end: “She’s an aspiring businesswoman whose endgame isn’t a marriage but happiness in doing what she loves and making a living off of it.”
Really thoughtful work — and a pleasure to read!
Take care,
Prof. A