The Case for Cinderella

Jenna Palme

Cinderella is under attack in contemporary American media, and I won’t stand for it.

Celebrities make headlines by announcing their children aren’t allowed to watch Cinderella because they believe the titular character represents misogynistic values, and they’re praised for it without question. They fear their daughters will mimic Cinderella’s actions and wait around for someone to save them instead of being progressive and saving themselves. When speaking out against Cinderella, many are only referring to the 1950 Disney film and not any other iterations. Even so, Cinderella is not a two-dimensional character who should be thrown in a pile of bad role models, never to be discussed again.

Cinderella wasn’t a character created by Disney. It’s unknown when she was first created or by whom, but the story that most people know is from Charles Perrault’s “Cendrillion ou la petite pantoufle de verre” (Ribitsch 91), which differs only slightly from the Disney adaptation.

Yet, Perrault didn’t write a single Cinderella story; he wrote two: “Donkeyskin” follows the same general tale type as “Cendrillion,” but the story greatly differs from the Cinderella story most people know. “Donkeyskin” may not be the story most people think of when they hear

“Cinderella,” but the description of Cinderella that’s represented in popular culture because of

Disney’s film comes from “Donkeyskin.” Perrault describes the girl with “lovely blond hair,” large blue eyes, ivory skin, and a “waist so small and fine that you could encircle it with two hands” (Perrault 161). This description matches the woman we see in Disney’s adaptation.

Cinderella is more than just the 1950 animated movie; the character and her story have inspired many films and written adaptations that explore the archetype, changing it to fit the times. In present day, it is not uncommon to see Cinderellas of different races, as with the 1997

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adaptation of the film in which Brandy, an African American actress, portrayed the titular character. Modern Cinderella stories are still popular in today’s culture, with Cinderella being represented by a teenage girl struggling to get into her dream college while living with a step- family who’s eager to destroy her chances of escaping (à la A Cinderella Story and Another

Cinderella Story). These adaptations present opportunities for representation as well as a fresh twist on a well-known tale. Even though the face that comes to mind when hearing the name

Cinderella may be the blonde hair, blue eyed, white woman, that doesn’t mean she can’t be anything other than that singular representation.

The argument people tend to make against Cinderella is that she’s a bad role model. One of the more serious accusations within that argument is that she’s a passive character that doesn’t do anything to help herself, yet she’s still rewarded with the Prince at the end (Parsons 145).

When people make this claim, they are against the animated Disney film and Perrault origin story. Even though there are other versions of the character that are more active about taking their fate into their own hands, that doesn’t mean Disney’s Cinderella wasn’t an active character.

Cinderella wanted to go to the ball, and even made a deal with her step-mother that if she finished all of her chores on time and found a dress to wear, she may attend the ball. Cinderella takes this task on and pulls out an old dress that belonged to her deceased mother to fix if she’s able to find the time. She also plays an active role in her escape from home because she keeps one of the glass slippers from her night at the ball. Her slipper is proof that she was the girl the

Prince danced with, even though her step-mother destroyed the other slipper in an attempt to keep Cinderella from escaping.

For a character that’s frequently called a bad role model, Cinderella has a lot of traits one would look for in a good role model. Her optimism throughout the movie is one of Cinderella’s

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core characteristics; it keeps her motivated throughout the film. The movie opens with “A Dream

Is a Wish Your Heart Makes,” a song that exudes optimism as Cinderella continues to dream for a better future despite her current living conditions. She believes that no matter how much someone orders her around, even the clock that tells her to wake up, they cannot order her to stop dreaming because only she controls her dreams. She holds on to hope by dreaming and using her imagination so that her life has some joy among the abuse and humiliation. Cinderella’s optimism maintains her sanity because she focuses on the thought that one day, all of these trials will be in the past. This shows viewers that a sense of optimism and hope for a better future can even make a horrible situation, like Cinderella’s, a little more tolerable.

Cinderella’s kindness saves her throughout the film. Because of the kindness she displays towards the animals, they’re willing to assist with just about anything. In fact, the film opens with the animals helping her through her morning routine, followed by Cinderella saving Gus from a mouse trap and clothing him. She never hesitates in her kindness. Cinderella runs to Gus as soon as she discovers he becomes trapped, and takes on Lucifer, the cat, multiple times because he harassed her friends. The animals repay Cinderella by tailoring her dress while she’s forced to do house chores so that she can go to the ball. They even help her escape her room by stealing the key out of her step-mother’s pocket. If Cinderella had chosen to let these conditions dim her kind and gentle soul, she would have likely never had the chance to go to the ball in the first place. This portrays kindness as an important characteristic to maintain, because kindness, even to a mouse could come to be helpful or teach us something more in the future.

Her faith brings Cinderella’s fairy godmother to her. Cinderella feels disheartened after her step-sisters viciously tear up her dress while their mother stands by and does nothing to stop them. She claims she has nothing left to believe in because every time she tries to improve

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things, she feels defeated. As she’s crying on the bench, her fairy godmother appears to let

Cinderella know that if she had lost her faith completely, then she wouldn’t have appeared to her.

Cinderella’s faith remains when optimism and kindness fail her. This scene in particular illustrates the importance of having faith in god or magic because of the comfort it may bring.

Her optimism, kindness, and faith are essential traits, because Cinderella retains these while living in an abusive household, as the opening narration states. It’s admirable that she can maintain her morale while the people around her are actively trying to make her life miserable.

Disney thought her traits to be more important than her beauty and that was made quite clear when “Disney conducted a series of contests across the United States, looking for local

Cinderellas with personality, charm, and good natures—not just physical beauty” after the release of the 1950 film (Ribitsch 92). Though beauty may be notable, it should not be

Cinderella’s central feature in the eyes of young girls.

Not only does Cinderella have traits of a strong role model, but she does not “wait around for a rich guy to rescue her” (Pulver). In fact, Cinderella never mentions needing a man or more specifically a rich man (like a prince) to be happy. She never once states that she wants to be rescued by someone. Her dream is that one day she’ll live a better, happier life, but she never says that her dream includes a man. Once at the ball, Cinderella isn’t looking for the Prince; she’s looking around the palace because it’s a new and exciting place for her. Even when she’s approached by the prince, she’s not even aware it’s him that she’s dancing with until there’s a notice that he’s looking for her. So, the assumption that she spends the entire movie waiting for a man to save her isn’t true. Her actions throughout the movie— not the Prince— saved her. He simply sends someone to look for her. But if she had not been able to get out of her room then he likely wouldn’t have met her again.

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The idea that watching Cinderella will influence young girls to take on outdated social norms is not necessarily true, especially when new and updated fairy tales are becoming more readily available for children to read and watch. Young girls are capable of enjoying traditional tales like “Cinderella,” but they’re also capable of criticizing them and talking about why being a princess isn’t ideal. In a study of over 100 9-11 year old children, most young girls thought of traditional princesses as their favorite character when it came to choosing one from a story like

“Cinderella” and “Snow White” (Westland). Though, when asked if they actually wanted to be princesses, almost all of the girls denied wanting to be one and pointed out things like being rescued by a prince as a con instead of a pro (Westland). Maybe it’s time to consider that a princess figure may not simply manipulate the minds of young girls into becoming submissive in a patriarchal society.

Yes, Cinderella is a fairy tale character not to be taken too seriously, but that doesn’t mean she can’t have traits that girls can choose to look up to if they want. The true beauty of

Cinderella is her character and how she rises up out of her situation despite the odds being against her. As long as Cinderella is still able to be kind and is determined to change her situation, it doesn’t matter how the character looks or where the story is set because Cinderella is not Cinderella without her personality. Cinderella is a character with depth, not just as a poor girl waiting to be rescued by a prince.

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Works Cited

Parsons, Linda T. “Ella Evolving: Cinderella Stories and the Construction of Gender-

Appropriate Behavior.” Children’s Literature in Education, vol. 35, no. 2, June 2004, pp.

135–154. EBSCOhost,

libdatabase.newpaltz.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true

&AuthType=ip,url,uid,cookie&db=eric&AN=EJ732441. Accessed 22 November 2018.

Perrault, Charles. “Donkeyskin.” The Classic Fairy Tales, edited by Maria Tatar, W.W. Norton

& Co., 2017, pp. 154-162.

Pulver, Andrew. “‘Rescue Yourself!’: Keira Knightley on Why her Daughter Can’t Watch

Cinderella.” The Guardian. 19 October 2018,

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/oct/19/keira-knightley-kristen-bell-disney

-princesses-cinderella-snow-white. Accessed 1 December 2018.

Ribitsch, Daniela. “Cinderella.” Movies in American History: An Encyclopedia, edited by Philip

C. DiMare, vol. 1, ABC-CLIO, 2011, pp. 91-92. Gale Virtual Reference Library,

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX1506300050/GVRL?u=newpaltz&sid=GVRL&xi

d=82842417. Accessed 22 November 2018.

Westland, Ella. “Cinderella in the Classroom. Children’s Responses to Gender Roles in Fairy-

Tales.” Gender and Education, vol. 5, no. 3, Jan. 1993, pp. 237–49. EBSCOhost,

libdatabase.newpaltz.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true

&AuthType=ip,url,uid,cookie&db=eric&AN=EJ485817. Accessed 22 November 2018.

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