It just brings me back to the days of wishing I could be a princess.
Wait, I still do that.
As it's well known that most-if not close to all- Disney Princess films are produced, directed, written, and designed by men. It still amazes me that a group of middle-aged men made the fairy tales that I so live up to today. And they did a spectacular job, I don't recall seeing that many feminine stereotypes in such movies as Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast.
That being said, I want to break down the story of Cinderella from a woman's perspective. Well, a "woman" with eighteen years of experience under her belt, at least. Because you see I have noticed some coincidences between Cinderella and society as it was in the 1950s.
Let's start at the beginning, shall we?
The 1950s was the dawn of the modern association of the phrase "housewife". Women stayed home, watched the children, cooked, cleaned and still had time to *cough* 'take care' of the man of the house at the end of the day.
Phew! I'm getting tired just thinking about it.
Cinderella might not have had kids or a husband at the time, but she still had a full days workload.
Her stepsisters probably should count as children, right? They certainly acted as much throughout the entire film. But anyways that's beside the point.
Cinderella had to get up at the crack of dawn-not even talking mice could get me out of bed that early- make breakfast, feed the animals, clean the foyer, the curtains, mend the laundry AND to top all that off give the cat a bath. (Who even bathes cats?)
She did all this with a smile on her face and a pep in her step. Just like housewives of the sock hop generation were supposed to act. Like doing all that busy work fulfilled something special in their lives.
But even though Cinderella had to succumb to all these menial chores she didn't fully succumb to being a complete housewife. When the evil stepmother (*cough*society*cough*) makes it so Cinderella can't go to the ball, she made her own destiny.
She took her fate into her hands and molded it into something different. Something more.
Something better.
My favorite quote from Walt Disney pretty much sums it all up, "She believed in dreams, all right, but she also believed in doing something about them. When Prince Charming didn't come along, she went over to the palace and got him."
In the end it wasn't the Prince that saved Cinderella... she saved herself.
