I think some of the dissonance between Brandy Cinderella and Young Ella can be explained by the fact that Ella is really, aggressively, aware that Authority Arbitrates Morality in its Own Interest and then found herself abruptly in the highest position of authority in the country. She had to put a lot of thought and care into how to arrange her understanding and morals to square that circle. Can she make laws that serve and protect everyone like they’re supposed to? Is it doomed to failure? Is her son bullying the other kids at his private school?
Anyway, here’s how Evil Brandy can still win.
Bridget complains to Ella about being bullied at school and Ella is, not better liked but more ignored. It means that Bridget never thinks too hard about what’s happening to her at “Home”. Her former isolation means she lacks the social context to understand the nature or severity of Ella’s own complaints. Why she might feel differently about her only escape from the house she has to return to every evening.
There’s all these nuances in’s Young Ella’s performances that I love. She’s AotC Padmé to me. She’s Bridget’s best friend but she has complicated thoughts about the cupcake scheme, is this an implication of her cynicism, is there something nefarious about the cupcakes? Does she resent the implied privilege of both time and money that allows Bridget to make and distribute magic cupcakes for free to people who hate her?
The Original timeline has the ball flip the dynamic between them, when Bridget gets humiliated and likely blamed for what must have been a magic trick gone wrong, since everyone knows She’s the one who bakes magic pastry. Ella starts dating Prince Charming and even if she doesn’t Take Part in it, Ella being welcomed into the social circle that Ella previously derided and Bridget is still excluded from despite trying so hard to join feels like a betrayal that Bridget stews in for 30 years.
New timeline Bridget, who has never actually faced authoritarian or institutional barriers to acceptance, receives social approval and takes the bootstrap approach to thinking her cupcakes and positive attitude did it. Starts thinking that Ella, who spent the ball locked in a basement, just isn’t Trying hard enough. Irreconcilable.
The divide is further exacerbated by the way two strangers show up, focus on the two of them, and decide that Only Bridget needs help. They do nothing but make Her life worse, telling her that bad things don’t happen to good people for no reason. They argue against her morality, only to then torture the mean kids nobody likes to help Bridget before vanishing, like Chloe doesn’t know what breaking that vase will mean for Ella. Ok, if this is how staying Kind works, she thinks, why bother.
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