I've been thinking about Netflix's upcoming animated movie Steps, and Disney's planned live action Stepsisters movie, which sounds similar.
The director of Steps, Alyce Tzue, describes the film as revolving around the relationship between "two very different sisters – one who fits perfectly into this fairy tale kingdom and one who doesn't." Based on the fact that the plot has stepsister Lilith and Cinderella becoming unlikely allies to save the kingdom, and on the fact that the plot summary describes Lilith as "tired of living in Cinderella's shadow," I assume Cinderella is the one who fits in, while Lilith, the movie's protagonist, is the misfit. Especially because Lilith and her biological sister Margot are being portrayed as, and voiced by, women of color, while Cinderella is portrayed as and voiced by a white, blue-eyed blonde. Tzue also says that the story is personal for her, because growing up, she always felt like an outsider whom 'happily ever after' wasn't meant for, and that the film is "for everyone who has ever felt like they didn't belong."
That's all well and good, but I'm a little concerned that if this movie is a hit, and that if Disney's Stepsisters goes forward and takes a similar approach to the characters, it will convince many viewers that Cinderella's stepsisters have always been the real underdogs who deserved sympathy, while Cinderella is the privileged one because she's the conventional beauty whom the Prince chooses.
I've been seeing this sort of thing a lot lately. From Wicked fans who think Glinda is the real underdog who needs defending from the internalized misogyny of Elphaba fans, to readers of Little Women or fans of A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones who insist that Amy and Sansa are the real underdogs while Jo and Arya are privileged for being tomboys, to The Other Bennet Sister apparently portraying Elizabeth more negatively and as more privileged in order to build up Mary (though I'll admit, I still haven't seen it, so I don't know how true that is)... the list goes on.
I've also had similar thoughts from what I've read about The Ugly Stepsister (2025), though again, I haven't seen it yet. Even though I've been assured that the Cinderella character is ultimately sympathetic and a victim of abuse too, the choice to portray her as of higher status by birth than her stepfamily and as initially haughty and looking down on them is... a choice.
In Perrault's original story of Cinderella, the first things he emphasizes about the stepmother, what he seems to consider the defining qualities of her villainy, are her pride and haughtiness, and he goes on to write that her daughters were exactly like her in temperament. He also emphasizes the luxury in which the stepsisters live, how richly dressed they always are, and how well-known they are as fashionable society ladies, in contrast to poor, deprived Cinderella. Meanwhile, the Grimms' version depicts the stepsisters as beautiful, and while it never says that they're more beautiful than Cinderella, per se, or whether by birth she's of the same social status as they are or lower, it's evident from the start that they look down on her and see her as unworthy of the privileges they have. "Shall the stupid goose sit with us in the parlor?"
Many of the earlier adaptations of the tale, like the operas La Cenerentola and Cendrillon or the 1947 Russian film– and some later adaptations too, like Ever After – also portray the stepfamily as minor nobility and very proud of their status, lineage, and connections, in contrast to Cinderella's family who were mere gentry. Granted, this isn't always true – some other versions like the Spanish film Érase una vez... do portray Cinderella's father as an aristocrat and the stepfamily as lower-born social climbers. But in general, the former portrayal of their status seems more common than the latter.
But regardless of anyone's status by birth, Cinderella is the unwanted stepdaughter, either an orphan or with an absent or incompetent father, and of course is abused and reduced to a servant. In so many versions, possibly including Perrault's, the whole point is that Cinderella is the ultimate underdog, but that she's a better person than her privileged abusers who treat her as if she's inferior, and is rewarded for it in the end. In many versions, the whole point is that while society favors the likes of the stepfamily for their wealth and status, Cinderella's humble virtues make her the one who deserves the throne.
Now of course, it's complicated. The fact that Perrault's Cinderella is "a hundred times more beautiful" than her stepsisters, and that her beauty seems to be the main thing the Prince falls in love with, does give her "pretty privilege." Then there are the traditions that mainly come from the adaptations: portraying the stepsisters as loud, brash, awkward, clumsy, hot-tempered, untalented, and unladylike, in contrast to the quiet, gentle, sweet, graceful, talented, impeccably ladylike Cinderella. These characterizations have given us great comedy, but as many people have pointed out, it all too often feels as if the stepsisters are shamed for not performing their gender correctly, while Cinderella is rewarded for how well she performs femininity. To a slight extent, we could argue that this is inherent in the slipper-fitting: Cinderella gets her happy ending precisely because she has the tiniest, daintiest feet in the kingdom, which is framed as a part of her beauty, while the stepsisters are mocked by the narrative for their huge, unfeminine feet. (For this reason, I especially like the few adaptations where just one stepsister's foot is too big for the slipper while the other's is too small, and the point is that the slipper fits no one but Cinderella, not that Cinderella has such tiny feet.) The trend of portraying Cinderella as a blonde and the stepsisters with dark and/or red hair is problematic too, though thankfully I've never seen a straightforward adaptation that paired a white Cinderella with a stepfamily of color.
I understand why some women and girls have trouble relating to traditional versions of Cinderella and find the stepsisters more relatable in some ways. I’ve sometimes felt that way myself. And validation for anyone who’s ever felt like a misfit? I love it! Bring it on! But I wouldn’t want the idea that Cinderella, the ultimate oppressed underdog heroine, is inherently too “perfect” to be relatable to misfits, and that her abusers who treat her like the dirt under their feet are the real sympathetic misfits who’ve been done wrong by the traditional story, to become a mainstream idea.
Now, I’m not saying Steps will do this. After all, it's apparently going to have Cinderella and stepsister Lilith bonding with each other and discovering how much they have in common. For all I know, it will be a great movie, and so will Disney’s Stepsisters if it isn’t cancelled. But I still have some misgivings.
