This is where I collect every version of the Cinderella tale from all over the world and share my random thoughts on them. I also share Cinderella-related aesthetics, fan art, blog posts, and more.
Below are the Cinderella tales I have collected so far. I am always looking to expand my collection of Cinderella stories, so if you have a Cinderella story that isnât listed below, please share!
Also, just a heads up all these tales were written in olden times, meaning some are not politically correct and have a surprising amount of dark elements.
Note:
For anyone worried, I want to assure you no AI was used here. Every grammatical error, misspelling and etc. is 100% human failure. With that said, let's move on.
A Comprehensive (But Incomplete) Guide to the Different Versions of Cinderella's Rags â Part #2
Again, thanks to @adarkrainbow for the idea for this series of posts.
I'd also like to tag @ariel-seagull-wings, @themousefromfantasyland, @the-blue-fairie, and @thealmightyemprex.
LibuĆĄe Ć afrĂĄnkovĂĄ â TĆi oĆĂĆĄky pro Popelku, a.k.a. Three Wishes for Cinderella (1973)
A simple brown dress and gray apron â plain, poor, straightforward, and quintessentially "Cinderella." Its simplicity suits her no-nonsense tomboy characterization. Accordingly, she also has a cozy wool wrap that she wears when she goes horseback riding in the snow.
Gemma Craven â The Slipper and the Rose, 1976
We now go from a medieval tomboy Cinderella to an 18th century "fallen princess" Cinderella. This lacy blue-gray dress is clearly a once-elegant leftover from when her father was alive, and its design lends her dignity and femininity. Yet its dull color, its slight tattering, and the addition of a servants' apron shows us what she's been reduced to.
Soyuzmultfilm's Zolushka (1979)
A folksy "Dutch girl" type of peasant outfit, clearly inspired by Yanina Zhejmo's costume from the 1947 film, but with exaggerated proportions â that cap is bigger than her head itself!
Jennifer Beals â Faerie Tale Theatre (1984)
Another "ladies' maid" Cinderella, in a pink dress, apron, and cap, all covered with frills and lace. It would be a very cute, cozy outfit â though a bit granny-like â if not for all the visible soot and rips.
Kim Crosby â Into the Woods, original Broadway production (1987)
An eclectic blend of different tattered fabrics and colors, which looks ragged and pathetic yet lively and eye-catching too. And it's interesting that she wears glasses â the quintessential signifier of "drab, nerdy girl," which she takes off when she dons her "beautiful princess" gown. (I know of one production of the opera La Cenerentola that had Cinderella wear glasses with her rags too.)
Petra Vigna â Aschenputtel (1989)
A simple old gray dress, just as the Brothers Grimm describe her being forced to wear (since this is a faithful adaptation of their version), sometimes paired with an apron or a half-apron. Plain yet effective, and the dress's lace-up front adds a unique and folksy touch.
Cinderella Monogatari ("The Story of Cinderella") (1996)
Simple, baggy, and drab, yet girlish and fairly cute at the same time.
Christianne Tisdale â A Tale of Cinderella (1997)
A humble yet pretty and lively-looking peasant costume in bright red and white, which suits the character of this lively Italian Cinderella. It's a little too pretty to count as "rags," IMHO, but it's much humbler than the stepfamily's outfits, so it works.
Brandy â Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical (1997)
A coarse and baggy beige dress, apron, and cap, which aren't dirty or torn, but which most definitely look poor and drab. I hope I don't offend anyone by saying that she looks a little bit like a Civil War-era slave girl. That's not a bad thing, IMHO, because it lets us feel the cultural weight of a black Cinderella's triumph over oppression. Though at least she has a nice little woven jacket to lend her appearance some dignity whenever she goes into the village.
Drew Barrymore â Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998)
A dark blue segmented dress over a white shift in a typical Renaissance style, plus a half-apron to reinforce that it's a servants' dress. Simple and coarse, yet flattering and with a certain charm, and just right for a 16th century historical drama.
Marcella Plunkett â Cinderella (2000)
I've still only seen clips from this version and haven't found a good full-body picture of her rags, but from what I've seen, it looks like a solid costume: a plain, simple, dark blue-gray dress with a sooty half-apron.
Yulia Mavrina â Zolushka (2002)
Another folksy peasant outfit with a Dutch cap, seemingly inspired by the 1947 film, but this time with more puffs and frills, as well as a shawl for when she goes out in the cold.
A Comprehensive (But Incomplete) Guide to the Different Versions of Cinderella's Rags â Part #3
Again, thanks to @adarkrainbow for the inspiration.
I'd also like to tag @ariel-seagull-wings, @themousefromfantasyland, @the-blue-fairie, and @thealmightyemprex.
Anne Hathaway â Ella Enchanted (2004)
I almost didn't include her, because she's never "dressed in rags" like a traditional Cinderella. But her everyday blouse, skirt, and patterned belt are very pretty in their simplicity, as is the light blue velvet cape she wears over them while traveling.
Not my favorite design for Cinderella's rags. Both the sleeveless dress and the coat look too modern, IMHO. But I like the color contrast between the gray of the dress and the red checked fabric of the patches, which the headscarf echoes. And she's appropriately sooty.
Aylin Tezel â Sechs auf einen Streich: Aschnputtel (2011)
This scruffy and folksy peasant girl costume is perfect for this feisty, playful, down-to-earth Cinderella. The brick red bodice suits her inner fire, the hitched-up skirt is perfect for donkey-riding, and her messily tied-back hair completes the image.
Laura Osnes â Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical on Broadway (2013)
This costume has a similar aesthetic to the one above, with its folksy blouse, bodice, and skirt, and its color scheme of warm brick red, dull hay green, and off-white. But it's more streamlined and feminine, because this Cinderella is more classically sweet than Aylin Tezel's. I don't love the bulky green overskirt, but I accept it because it serves an important purpose: the skirt of her ballgown is hidden inside it, enabling a "magical" dress transformation before the audience's eyes.
Anna Kendrick â Into the Woods (2014)
A simpler, more "classic" peasant girl costume than the rags from Into the Woods' original stage production. It's a lithe, beauty-revealing costume, yet just rugged enough not only for her hard life, but for the darkness and grittiness of this particular fairy tale deconstruction.
Lily James â Disney's live action Cinderella (2015)
Another "fallen princess" Cinderella. She wears the same pretty blue dress embroidered with pink flowers that we saw her wear in her happy life with her father, but now with her half-apron, the white rag that ties back her hair, and soot smudges, it's become a work dress. But its former elegance and the pastel colors make her look sweet, innocent, and luminous all the same.
Carrie Hope Fletcher â Andrew Lloyd Webber and Emerald Fennell's stage musical, London, 2021
I have mixed feelings about this musical, but this costume is excellent for the purpose it serves. The basic familiar outline of a Cinderella costume is there, with the tattered dress and apron, but it's reimagined in a quirky goth style, reinforced by her goth hair and makeup. It's perfectly in character for this fractured fairy tale heroine.
Camila Cabello â Kay Cannon's musical Cinderella, 2021
Simple, pale, and poor-looking, yet with a lithe charm to it that suits this free-spirited, ambitious Cinderella, and her long braid with tiny decorations in it is both practical and pretty. There's a bit of a "Mediterranean peasant girl" quality to this costume, which looks good with Cabello's dark Latin American complexion and hair.
Astrid Smeplass â Tre nĂžtter til Askepott, a.k.a. Three Wishes for Cinderella (2021)
This Norwegian remake of the '70s Czech classic gives a slightly more Disneyish look to its tomboy heroine, making light blue her apparent signature color, and giving her a more folksy and complex work outfit with a bodice and vest, as well as more wrappings and a cozy hat on her excursions through the snow. Combined with her long blonde braid and Scandinavian heritage, she looks almost like a cross between Cinderella, Elsa, and a female Kristoff.
Linedy Genao â Andrew Lloyd Webber and Emerald Fennell's stage musical, Broadway, 2023
Well, it's a fanciful outfit that looks at home in a fractured fairy tale, and the fact that she wears pants does suit the tomboyishness of this version of the character. But absolutely nothing about this costume says "Cinderella," not even in a fractured way. I'd never guess she was supposed to be Cinderella. I'm sorry, but I prefer the London costume.
Netflix' Steps, 2026
This film hasn't been released yet and we only have these two pictures of Cinderella so far, but both of her outfits seem to be variations of her rags, especially the second. She definitely looks sweet and adorable â maybe a little too saccharine, but I assume this was done on purpose. Based on the synopsis, Cinderella will be portrayed as a girl who "fits in" to the fairy tale world, unlike the misunderstood misfit protagonist, her stepsister Lilith. So it makes sense that she might be a little too sweet and perfect in contrast to the relatable Lilith, at least until they're forced to work together and bond with each other. (Yes, just from that synopsis, I'm already feeling the Wicked vibes.)
We'll see what types of rags the Cinderellas of future adaptations wear!
A Comprehensive (But Incomplete) Guide to the Different Versions of Cinderella's Rags â Part #1
Thanks to @adarkrainbow for giving me the idea for this post. So much attention is always given to Cinderella's ballgown in adaptations of the tale, but not enough to the plain, ragged clothes she wears while slaving for her stepfamily through most of the story. I won't rank the different costumes, but I will share my thoughts on each of them.
I'd also like to tag @ariel-seagull-wings, @themousefromfantasyland, @the-blue-fairie, and @thealmightyemprex.
Simple, baggy, and drab. Not very memorable, but efficient.
Florence La Badie â Thanhouser's silent short Cinderella (1911)
Another plain, simple dress, but more tailored to her figure, so it doesn't hide her beauty like Mlle. Barral's rags. The tattered half-apron adds a nice servant-like touch, though her long ringlets are a little too stylish for this early point in the story.
Mary Pickford â Famous Players' Cinderella (1914)
It looks as if she's wearing a once-pretty floral patterned dress, but one that's thoroughly in shreds and tatters, and with a peasant-style bodice. It's an interesting costume: ragged and pathetic, yet lithe and lively. Her braided pigtails are a nice touch too: not only an efficient hairstyle for work, but a childlike hairstyle, so that their transformation into stylish ringlets for the ball seems like a coming-of-age moment.
Very simple, easy to animate, and appropriately ragged and plain, while still hugging her figure in all the right places because she's Betty Boop. It's a little odd that she should wear bracelets, earrings, and high heels with her rags, but Betty would probably seem incomplete without them, like Miss Piggy without her evening gloves.
Yanina Zhejmo â Zolushka (1947)
This Russian Cinderella wears a slightly more complex peasant outfit â blouse, striped blue bodice, heavy brown skirt, half-apron, tattered shawl, Dutch cap, wooden clogs â which is ragged and frayed, yet cute and folksy too. It also seems to have been a big influence on later Russian depictions of Cinderella, since the 1979 animated short and the 2002 TV version both give her very similar costumes.
Disney's animated Cinderella (1950)
Disney's Cinderella stands out from earlier versions with her more mature personality and "air of queenly grace," and her lightly tattered yet smart-looking servant dress suits her portrayal. The browns create a sense of drabness and dirt, but the turquoise sleeves add a light, feminine touch, as does the blue ribbon in her hair, and the sleek silhouette reveals her grace and beauty â although the calf-length skirt is more 1950 than 19th century. And there's an in-universe explanation for why it's not more ragged, as in the opening scene, we see her devoted mouse friends cleaning and mending it for her.
The Spanish animated film Ărase una vez... ("Once Upon a Time") (1950)
Very plain and simple, as if we're harking back to the Betty Boop design â though again, the turquoise color adds soft femininity. Compared to the other characters' more elaborate medieval costumes, it's almost too stark, but it must have been very easy to animate.
Rita-Maria Nowotny â Fritz Genschow's Aschenputtel (1955)
A nice, solid, poor and humble, yet quaint and charming peasant outfit in blue and white.
Julie Andrews â Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical (1957)
Another simple and plain yet dignified "ladies' maid" type of servant costume, worn with her hair in a prim and proper bun, which suits Andrews' ladylike Cinderella. Besides the dress and apron, she also has a smart-looking hat with a ribbon around it, which she wears when she goes out with her stepfamily on their shopping spree for the ball.
Lesley Ann Warren â Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical (1965)
I'll admit, the bold orange of the underdress and kerchief make this outfit look more costume-like than realistically medieval. But the color does make the outfit pop, and the dress looks poor and ragged, yet at the same time flowy and feminine, which suits Warren's waifish beauty. Whether intentionally or not, the pairing of dull grayish-brown and bright orange also evokes the colors of cinders and fire.
Belinda Montgomery â Tales from Muppetland: Hey, Cinderella! (1969)
Simple yet classic Cinderella rags, unremarkable yet effective â except for the short '60s skirt, which is obviously an anachronism, but which adds to the playful, irreverent tone of this Muppet version of the tale.
Eva HruskovĂĄ â Popelka, 1969
Another cute and folksy union of blouse, bodice, and skirt, only slightly tattered, and paired with girlish braided pigtails, which as with Pickford make her seem to mature before our eyes when her hair is later styled up with her ballgown.
Another orange dress â again, maybe to evoke a hearth â with another anachronistically short skirt. This outfit definitely looks more like a costume than real clothes, especially paired with the sheer volume of that unconvincing blonde wig. But it suffices and suits the tone of this quirky Turkish adaptation.
@adarkrainbow commented on that fact too. Here's what he wrote:
It is interesting to consider that, while the idea of "Cinderella in rags" (as in torn clothes) is quite prominent in minds... including when it comes to Disney... Yet in the Disney movie the "rag" bit only comes when her dress for the ball is ruined, and for most of the movie she wears a "decent" if plain outfit. There's something to be said about how the image of Cinderella in her torn dress crying maybe had quite an emotional impact on the people at the time of the movie's release? Maybe...
Not only is the dress-ripping scene horrifying and heartbreaking, but it serves another purpose too. Maybe in part, Disney added that subplot because they wanted their Cinderella to be a dignified girl in a plain yet neat and respectable servants' dress, yet at the same time, they knew the ballgown transformation would be most effective if she were wearing truly pathetic rags. So to have the best of both wolds, they had her usual work dress be a respectable one, yet arranged for her to wear a different dress that gets torn to shreds just before the transformation.
After watching Cinderella (the original animated movie, which was my favorite as a child), it strikes me how it solves many common problems people have with this fairy tale. Like:
Why did they try to identify the mystery girl using her shoe size? Because the bullheaded king's only clue to her identity was the shoe the Grand Duke picked up off the steps.
Why didn't the prince recognize her by her face? Because his father wouldn't involve him in the process at all, and wasn't the one going around trying to find her.
Why did the prince want to marry a lady he only met that night? Because his father was going to force him to marry someone, and he genuinely liked this woman.
Why did Cinderella want to marry a man she only met that night? Because marriage was her best and most secure way to freedom. Fucked up, but you can't say it's unrealistic for the setting of a fairy tale. She also genuinely liked him.
If they're using the slipper to find her, wouldn't it be more sensible to search for the person with the other slipper? Yes. The King is purposefully nonsensical and the Duke is purposefully terrified enough of him to carry out his orders to the letter. Furthermore, they end up doing that in the end anyway, because the Duke's glass slipper is shattered, and Cinderella brings out the one she has to prove her identity.
Why didn't the stepmother and stepsisters recognize Cinderella at the ball? Because they were dancing too far away, and then left the party to dance in private, which was possible because the King wanted very badly for his son to hit it off with someone and tried to arrange the best conditions for that to happen.
Why didn't Cinderella save herself? Because in real life, abuse victims should not have to shoulder that responsibility, and usually can't. In real life, you need and deserve an external support system. Asking for help, in this kind of situation, is very important. She is saved by others because she is loved. Because she is not alone. Because she has friends who love her, and want her to be happy and safe and free. Because in real life, people who want to help someone who is suffering are like the mice. We can't pull out miracle solutions, but we can provide companionship and if we're in the right place at the right time, we can help the person find a better life.
Why didn't the fairy godmother save Cinderella from her abusive household, or try to help her sooner? Because she's magic, and magic can't solve your problems. Quote: "Like all dreams, well, I'm afraid it can't last forever." This (and Cinderella's dream of going to the ball) is a metaphor for pleasurable things in bad circumstances. An ice cream won't get rid of your depression, but it will provide you with momentary happiness to bolster you, as well as the reminder that happiness in general is still possible for you. Cinderella doesn't want to go to the ball so she can get away from her stepmother and stepsisters, or so she can meet someone to marry and leave with. She wants to go to the ball to remind herself that she can still have things she wants. That her desires matter. This is important because the movie does a very good job of illustrating Lady Tremaine's subtle abuse tactics, all of which invisibly press the message that Cinderella doesn't matter. While going to the ball and fulfilling her dreams may not be a victory in the material sense, it is still a victory against Lady Tremaine's efforts.
Why is Cinderella's choice to be kind and obedient framed as a good thing, when you are not obligated to be kind to your abuser? This one walks a very fine line, but I think the movie still makes it make sense. Lady Tremaine never acknowledges her cruelty. She always frames her punishments of Cinderella as Cinderella's fault. Cinderella is interrupting, Cinderella is shirking her duties, Cinderella is playing vicious practical jokes. Cinderella is still a member of the family, of course she can go to the ball, provided she meet these impossible conditions. Lady Tremaine's tactics are designed to make Cinderella feel like she must always be in the wrong and her stepmother must always be in the right. If Cinderella calls her stepmother out on her cruelty, or attempts to fight back, Lady Tremaine can frame that as Cinderella being ungrateful, cruel, broken, evil, etc. If Cinderella responds to her stepmother's cruelty defiantly (in the way she's justified to), she's not taking control out of Lady Tremaine's hands. Disobedience can be spun back into her stepmother's control. She wants Cinderella to be angry and sad and show how much she's hurting. So since Cinderella is adapting to her situation, she chooses to be kind. Not only because she naturally wants to be and it's part of her personality, but because it is a form of defiance in its own way, and it allows her to keep a reminder of her agency and value. Her choice to be kind is her chance to keep her own narrative alive: she is not obeying because her stepmother wants her to and she has to do what her stepmother does, but because she wants to. It's a small distinction, but one that makes all the difference in terms of keeping her hope and identity. (Fuck, I wrote a whole paragraph about how this doesn't mean you can't be angry at people who hurt you or that you need to be kind to deserve help, and then deleted it by accident. Uh. Try again.) Expressing anger and pain is an important part of regaining autonomy and healing. Although it is commendable to be kind while you are suffering, it is NOT required for you to get help or be worthy of help. If Cinderella's recovery was explored beyond "happily ever after" she would need to let herself be angry and sad to heal. Cinderella is not only kind because it comes naturally to her, but because it's her defense against the abuse she's suffering. Everyone's story and experiences are different, and one does not invalidate the other.
Bonus round for answers that aren't part of the movie:
Why didn't Cinderella run away? Where would she go? Genuinely, in hundreds-of-years-ago France, where would she go if she snuck out of the window with a change of clothes? With her step-family, she's miserable and abused, but she's fed, clothed, and in no danger of dying or being taken advantage of by anyone other than her stepmother and stepsisters. Even if she escapes and manages to find financial security, her stepmother might be able to find her and get her back.
Why didn't Cinderella burn the house down with them inside it/slit their throats in the night/poison their food/etc.? Because that's a revenge fantasy, and this story is a fantasy about being saved. There's nothing wrong with making Cinderella into a revenge fantasy. That's perfectly fine, as long as you acknowledge that the other type of fantasy is also a valid interpretation. (I mean, the original fairy tale features the stepsisters getting their feet mutilated and all three of them getting their eyes pecked out, so go for it.)
Why isn't Cinderella more proactive in general? Because she's a child who has been abused for the back half of her life, who has had to be focused on survival because. you know. she's an abused kid.
How did she dance in glass slippers? Gotta agree with you there man, that's weird.
I thought that the glass slipper was pure invention by Perrault, along with the fairy godmother. There's been a gazillion variations of the cinderella story, across thousands of years and almost every continent. Sometimes her slipper is made of gold, or it's just fancy and very tiny, or sometimes there is no dropped slipper at all. Sometimes the fairy godmother is a tree over Cinderella's mother's grave, or doves, or a talking fish, or the benevolent sister of an invisible man.
Anyway, I agree with OP's analysis, and I want to highlight this one, because OP
"Why didn't Cinderella save herself? Because in real life, abuse victims should not have to shoulder that responsibility, and usually can't. In real life, you need and deserve an external support system. Asking for help, in this kind of situation, is very important. She is saved by others because she is loved. Because she is not alone. Because she has friends who love her, and want her to be happy and safe and free. Because in real life, people who want to help someone who is suffering are like the mice. We can't pull out miracle solutions, but we can provide companionship and if we're in the right place at the right time, we can help the person find a better life.
What Iâd give for one of the Cinderella remakes to go into how when youâre in an isolated and abusive situation, sometimes you need to be saved and youâre not weak if you canât escape by yourself
Iâve never been a fan of bad faith reinterpretations of fairy tales, especially ones which flatten the originals into âprincesses is saved by a prince and nothing elseâ, to then go #girlboss. The princess can save herself because sheâs a strong female character! (Implying if youâre in a bad situation, itâs because youâre not strong enough to get out)
Also the concept of the Prince over the course of like⊠a couple hours hanging out with Cinderella going from âHaha nice I really like youâ to âoh fuck i can tell from context clues alone that your home situation is FUCKED UPâ  itâs good shit  âI have just met you but ON GOD Iâm gonna get you out of there beautiful mystery womanâ  cinderella makes desperately yelling into the night âhow can I find you again!??!â when sheâs taking off that much more poignant really
#okay this is genius#I love this#love at first sight is a tough sell#but âI just met you but you are so clearly in desperate need of help that I am already planning where to hide the bodiesâ#is a trope I absolutely love#going from hello to ride or die in a matter of hours#isnât a âyouâre hotâ thing#itâs a âmy fellow human is trapped and suffering and every instinct I have is screaming its need to helpâ thing
This is what I wanted for Snow White. Sheâs a young teenager. Sheâs a princess. The prince meets her once and sheâs in rags cleaning the steps of the castle.
The dwarves meet her when sheâs on the run for her life.
A fourteen year old in an abusive home should never be expected to save themselves. Itâs not bad to accept shelter and comfort and yeah maybe even fall in love as you distance yourself from the person/people that hurt you.
Cinderella was too weak to fight for herself...AND THATâS OKAY!
I cannot believe weâre still tearing Cinderella down! 2018 only has a few months left and weâre still doing this, weâre still painting her as the weakest Disney princess and weâre still painting her weakness as a bad thing?
Why?
Why are people so caught up on bashing this princess?
âThe movie is so simplisticââ
In what way is it possibly simplistic?!
âShe didnât work hardââ
YES, SHE DID!
âWell, okay, but the fairy godmother still had to come inââ
Yep, I remember the movie too, and the countless stories on which itâs based.
âSo the fairy godmother was the one who caused the happily ever after.â
She sure was, now, whatâs your point?
No, really, whatâs your point? Is the point that Cinderella is somehow weak because she wasnât 100% in control of her own life? Seems like a pretty disgusting opinion to have when the whole movie is about an abuse victim finding a way out of her horrible situation. So Cinderella wasnât the one who got herself out. So what? Instead of looking the movie at its bare surface, maybe try analyzing it with a bit more thought and tact. You might see something a little different. A magical transformation, if you will.
Because Cinderella did work hard.
And guess what we learned from that?
You can work
and work
and work
And there will still be people out there who will try to tear you apart:
Literally.
And that sucks. Itâs a horrible lesson to learn but it is something we will all face in our lifetimes. There will always be people who will try to tear us down, there will always be people who will try to rip us apart, until weâre in a low place:
Until it seems like thereâs no hopeâŠ
Until it seems like youâre too weak to get out on your ownâŠ
And maybe you are.
Maybe you are too weak to get out on your own. Maybe youâre not the strongest woman in the world. Maybe youâre not capable of screaming at the top of your lungs or brandishing a weapon or throwing a punch. Maybe youâre not able to get out of something on your own. Maybe you hit a low point and maybe you have no way out of it. Not alone. But thatâs just it.
Youâre not alone.
Even at your lowest point, someone will come help you.
You donât have to do it all alone.
Itâs okay to have a little help when you have nowhere else to turn.
Cinderella is the story about an abuse victim who is unable to get out of her toxic situation by herself and just when she begins to lose all hope, is able to get help from an unlikely source. Itâs the story about a girl who needs help getting to her happily ever after and thatâs okay.Â
Give us advocates:
They deserve their happily ever afters!
Give us warriors:
They deserve their happily ever afters!
Give us fighters:
They deserve their happily ever afters!
Give us girls who are not advocates, girls who are not warriors, girls who are not fighters, girls who still deserves their happily ever afters:
YOU might be the magical fairy godmother in someoneâs life and not even know it. Something you said to somebody could have saved their life, or given them the courage to ask for help.
people miss the point that the whole reason cindarella was a sympathetic character was that after all that abuse and being crushed she was still determined to be a good kind person who was nice to animals, sang to herself, and didnt lash out or get spiteful
early disney princesses may not have been actively controlling their own destiny but they were still trying to convey that remaining a good person paid off, despite the temptations of giving up or becoming cold and hard
had she gone to the ball being mean spirited or bitter, or actively looking to wed into money, the story would not have been the same as the one where she only wanted one night of magic to break the monotony of her servitude
This is an unpopular opinion, but I think itâs a nice detail in the 1950 Cinderella that Cinderella and the Prince fell in love after knowing each other for one night. The reason I think this is because it shows how lonely and desperate for love Cinderella was that she fell heads over heels for the first person to talk her and show her kindness. It adds to the tragedy of her abusive situation at her home. It also shows how desperate she was to get away from her step family that the moment she heard there was someone else who wanted her she left. Even though there was no guarantee that it would work out in the long run she was willing to take that chance because she had hope for the best. At least she knew it was better than where she was. It very underrated peek into her character.
It also adds to the idea of Cinderella representing a hard worker, toiling away at a job until fate shines through to give her a better opportunity. The prince is supposed to represent the chance for better job and their night together was the interview, and everything after that was Cinderella moving on from a miserable job (her home with her family) and to a better one.
No one ever talks about this, but I think the real message of the 1950âs Cinderella was about faith AND perseverance. They talk about the faith part just fine, but thereâs a hidden message of having to persevere through hard times until âyour rainbow comes shinning through.â The sad truth is, sometimes you canât get away from a hard or bad situation no matter how you want to. In Cinderellaâs case she was isolated and alone. There were no human friends to help her and no where to go until the end. She had to put up with her step family, or become homeless. I think itâs a shame that people tend to over look that aspect of her personality as itâs a very powerful and underrated virtue that gets people through hard times.
Ilene Woods, the original voice of Cinderella in the 1950 film, defending the titular heroine and feminist critiques against the character. Later in the interview, she elaborated, âI was being interviewed and the woman that was interviewing me said, âDonât you think Cinderella though is kind of outdated today?âAnd I said, âOh, gosh, I donât think so at all. It takes a lot of hard work to make dreams come true, and I think Cinderella did, and I think sheâs a good example for young people today.â She further explained that due to these reasons, Cinderella was Waltâs favorite heroine. She recalled, âOnce I went into his office and he said to me, âYouâre my favorite heroine, you know.â I said, âYou mean Cinderella?â âYes,â he said, âthereâs something about that story I associate with.â I think it was the rags-to-riches tale. Of course, then I didnât know how many times Walt had risked it all to realize his dreams.â
Y'all idk how many times Iâve had to argue that Cinderella is one of the best Disney Princesses đ she always gets chalked up to âshe didnât stand up for herselfâ and all this other bullshit đ„șđ„șđ„ș
Idk how many times Iâve watched Cinderella in the past 10 years (probably like 100 times). And watching that movie with 2020 vision is like⊠big brain energy.
My girl Cindy was funny, witty, and very clever. She even spoke up to Lady Tremaine at the beginning of the movie about the mouse/teacup thing (but she got shut down).
She was out there making fun of Lucifer and her stepsisters (probably some of the few moments of joy she was able to experience outside of her mousey friends)
And omg she was just so excited to go to the ball in her motherâs dress đ with that little bow đđđ
But time and time again she was meet with cruelty at every moment of happiness she got đ who wouldnât blame her for crying and losing faith in her dreams of happiness?
All my girl Cindy ever wanted was to be happy. đ„ș
So, watching Cinderella (1950) for like 20 times makes you notice some things, like how apparently Disney really went the mile and made Cinderella illiterate. When she receives that written announcement for the ball from the messenger the mice ask her âwhatâs it sayâ and she kinda just stares at it puzzled and replies âi donât knowâ, and yeah, later she shows the mice the book with dress designs, but itâs all pictures and you notice she never actually reads whatâs in it, she just, from experience with her stepfamily, instinctively knows how to sew and improve on it.
tl;dr: Disneyâs Cinderella is illiterate and I think thatâs a neat little detail to add for a 1950âČs Disney Princess movie.
I recently watched Cinderella for the first time and loved it!:D What really impressed me was how much symbolism there is in this movie. Letâs look at this scene near the beginning:
Cinderella is called into her stepmotherâs room, because her step-sisters accused her of playing a practical joke on them. After entering, we see Cinderella standing in front of the door. The room is still half-dark (itâs in the morning), but some of the curtains are drawn, so that a square of light falls directly onto the door, placing Cinderella into a kind of spotlight. Itâs like sheâs on trial, portraying perfectly how victimâs of abuse feel in an abusive relationship and how the abusers think they are the judges who decide for everything in the victimâs life. Moreover, the window frames create a net-pattern all over Cinderella, making it looks like she is behind bars! Itâs a perfect way to show that Cinderella is literally imprisoned by her stepmother (and itâs also foreshadowing, because at the end her stepmother locks her in her room). Itâs not a physical imprisonment (yet), but a psychological one. Using such an image is a great way to show how Cinderella really is a prisoner, in lack of material bards and chains. It also defines the relationship between her and her stepmother before have even spoken with each other. Cinderella hesitates for a long time before she steps forward, only moving when her stepmother orders her to do so. As she does, we see how she is inwardly bracing herself for what will follow.
The second gif shows how Lucifer (the animal symbol of the stepmother) runs to the protection of his mistress. She is sitting in a huge bed, which, like the vastness of the room, comes across as imposing and intimidating. Only when he reaches her, does the complete darkness in which she is sitting become lighter, and she appears. The bed is so big, it makes the stepmother look small, but since she is sitting in it with extreme confidence, it works to make her seem imposing as well. It also serves as a symbol of her character, showing that her personality is âsmallâ and petty, but she seems big because of her power. When Lucifer jumps into darkness, itâs like heâs becoming one with the stepmother. This enforces the idea of the two being connected and the whole character of Lucifer being a symbol for the stepmother (more on this in another post, with the other animals). Before the darkness disappears, we still see his green cat-eyes glowing, creating an eerie effect. These glowing eyes are a parallel to a later scene, in which the stepmotherâs eyes are glowing, and she looks like a cat (yet another post!). The stepmotherâs comfortable sitting position in the bed, as well as her body language, emphasise the first picture of Cinderella being a prisoner on trial, and the stepmother being the judge.
The light that Cinderella stands in can also be seen as a symbol for her innocence and goodness, whereas the darkness of the stepmotherâs bed of course can be seen to portray her cruelty.
