Cinderella is one of the most well known stories there is. With the new live-action movie out in theatres, we thought comparing the original animated movie of Cinderella to the new motion picture would be a great first film review. We had both already seen the animation, and then we went to see the new Cinderella when it was first released in March. Now in April, officially starting our project, we decided to rewatch each and take notes. Before we share our analysis, we want to say that when we originally watched each film we really enjoyed them. In fact, we think it’s fair to say that we were gushing the entire ride home from the movie.
When watching the animation, it’s easy to see why it is still so loved to this day. It is a classic Disney movie, even sixty five years after it was released. Going through the criteria for the Bechdel Test, we have come to the conclusion that the animation does pass. There are five female characters that are present; Cinderella, Lady Tremaine, Anastasia, Drizella, and the Fairy God Mother. These women speak often with one another. In fact, they speak with each other more than any male. They do discuss the Prince often, but they also scold Cinderella and bicker with one another. Much of the discussion between the girls is about how they dislike Cinderella. And Cinderella and her Fairy God Mother discuss how to get Cinderella to the ball and her ball outfit. So, they do discuss something other than a man.
As far as costumes go in this movie, outfits play a huge role in the storyline. The blue ball gown and the glass slipper are vital to the Cinderella brand and are immediately recognizable. Cinderella’s rags, her mothers pink dress, the stepsister's garish gowns, and the stepmother's high collared and conservative look all inform the audience about the characters. Lady Tramaine is always in much darker colors than Cinderella. This helps to show the difference in the atmosphere between the two characters. There is a lot of positivity and a lightness to the air when Cinderella is the focus, when it switches to Lady Tremaine, there is no hiding that she is the villain. Their outfits, and the colors they are depicted in, help to show this.
When watching the animation, it’s easy to see why it is still so loved to this day. It is a classic Disney movie, even sixty five years after it was released. Going through the criteria for the Bechdel Test, we have come to the conclusion that the animation does pass. There are five female characters that are present; Cinderella, Lady Tremaine, Anastasia, Drizella, and the Fairy God Mother. These women speak often with one another. In fact, they speak with each other more than any male. They do discuss the Prince often, but they also scold Cinderella and bicker with one another. Much of the discussion between the girls is about how they dislike Cinderella. And Cinderella and her Fairy God Mother discuss how to get Cinderella to the ball and her ball outfit. So, they do discuss something other than a man.
As far as costumes go in this movie, outfits play a huge role in the storyline. The blue ball gown and the glass slipper are vital to the Cinderella brand and are immediately recognizable. Cinderella’s rags, her mothers pink dress, the stepsister's garish gowns, and the stepmother's high collared and conservative look all inform the audience about the characters. Lady Tramaine is always in much darker colors than Cinderella. This helps to show the difference in the atmosphere between the two characters. There is a lot of positivity and a lightness to the air when Cinderella is the focus, when it switches to Lady Tremaine, there is no hiding that she is the villain. Their outfits, and the colors they are depicted in, help to show this.
When looking at the lighting they used in the animation, we noticed that the sun is shining, and everything is very bright when we first encounter Cinderella. This helps to indicate her good naturedness. It points to her being the force of light, or goodness, in the story. When we first meet Lady Tremaine, she starts out in the shadow of her bed. You can’t even make out her face until Cinderella walks further into the room. This helps to introduce Lady Tremaine as a darker character in the story.
We both adore this Disney classic, but the question of our blog is how women are portrayed in the film. In many ways we were disappointed by how women were portrayed in the movie. Cinderella’s best traits seem to be that she is a good singer, beautiful, a good housekeeper and accepting of her situation. She never seems to complain or mourn the life she has lost with her family. There is no explanation for why Cinderella would continue to live with abusive family members that she doesn’t care about. In many ways we want her to be daring, brave, and stand up for herself. Why is her only option of escape marriage? Back in the time that the movie was set, in theory, a women's only option for social mobility was marriage, but it is still upsetting. Additionally, Cinderella only talks to the Prince once before marrying him and we never see their interaction. There is also something wrong with a marriage in which the Prince has all the power and Cinderella none. He has wealth, political power, and a family while Cinderella has none of those things. Although it is true that Cinderella doesn’t know it’s the Prince after she dances with him at the ball, she is completely blown away and dreamy after the ball. She doesn’t seem to know him at all, so is she only attracted to his charm and position?
We also wondered why the Prince was attracted to Cinderella. At the ball he sees her as she walks in and runs towards her. They talk for a few seconds, he asks her to dance, and then they walk out in the garden together. We never see them talk, but presumably they did not have time to have a deep conversation. Is he only attracted to her beauty and confused nature? In addition, Cinderella is the only blonde in this movie. The Prince completely ignores all the other brunettes at the ball and goes straight for the typical blonde. This shows the typical view of what it means to be beautiful.
The Prince’s reasons for attraction to Cinderella are only highlighted when compared to the stepsisters. They are caricatures-- mean, ugly, loud, untalented, spoiled, and rude. It’s a good message to show children that complaining and acting spoiled are bad traits, but the other traits are problematic. The Prince doesn’t even talk to them, they are immediately dismissed at the ball. People can’t control their faces or hair color, and your worth as a person does not depend on the size of your feet.
Of course, not everything about Cinderella is bad. We are charmed by her good nature, beautiful voice, and hope for a better future. In a movie filled with talking mice, malicious cats, and fairy godmothers it’s difficult to dismiss it because of gender roles that were too stereotypical. Plus, given the time it was released, we recognize that the gender roles wouldn’t have been as big of an issue as it is if a kid were to watch it today. It taught children that true love exists and “no matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true.”
In the spirit of full disclosure, we saw the live action Cinderella the day it opened. We were very excited for this movie because we really do love Cinderella and have fond memories of watching the Cinderella animations as kids. After seeing it that first time, we left the film gushing the entire car ride home. We really enjoyed it. And naturally one of the biggest conversations was on Cinderella’s dress. Let’s be honest, when it was first announced that Cinderella was being made into a live-action movie, what people really cared about the most was what her dress was going to look like. And there was a reason the first promotion was a video of her glass slipper. The other outfits in the movie had an important symbolic purpose as well. Cinderella wore a light sky blue dress often. It helped add to her sense of positivity, shown by her philosophy that she saw the world “not as it was, but as it could be.” And when her fabulous ball gown was revealed, it truly was magical. It was a brilliantly bright blue, sparkly, and had butterfly pins on it, which only added to her bubbly personality. It also really helped to have her stand out during the dance scene. There were other girls in various tints of blue, but all the surrounding colors were much more subdued. Her dress really popped. In comparison, her Step Sisters always had bright and gaudy pink and yellow dresses. This helped to show their over the top and obnoxious personalities. Lady Tremaine was always in various shades of green and black. The black helps to show how, “she too had known grief, but she wore it wonderfully well.” The green helps to show her jealousy towards Ella and her mother, who stood in the way of gaining love from Ella’s father. Lady Tremaine is constantly in envy of Cinderella, which is why she’s so cruel towards her. As for Prince Kit, he wears very bright colors. He wears various purples and greens at times, but as would be expected, various blues as well. If you look closely at the color of his vest when he first encounters Cinderella, it matches the daily dress she wears. And the collar and cuffs of his white suit at the ball perfectly compliment Cinderella’s ball gown. We believe the coloring they chose for Kit, not only shows his regal status and kind and outgoing demeanor, but also is there to implicate him as match for Cinderella.
As for the lighting, we found it was used as a tool to set the mood. For example, in the opening they were out in broad sunlight, together as a happy family, a baby Ella playing with her mother. When her mother sang her to sleep, even though it was night, there was still a warm light on young Ella allowing her love to come through with the last line they sing of “you must love me, dilly dilly, for I love you.” When news of her father’s death comes, not only is it nighttime, but the lighting within the house seems to be dimmer. This helps to show the grimness of the moment and the grief Cinderella feels. Our favorite lighting moment, had to be when Lady Tremaine came out of the shadows in the attic, revealing she had Cinderella’s glass slipper. This had to have been one of the most malicious actions taken towards Cinderella. By placing Lady Tremaine in the shadows, it feeds the sinister atmosphere and the bitterness of her character in that moment.
Given that the animated movie passed the Bechdel Test, it comes as no surprise to us that the live action movie does as well. There are many women in this film; Cinderella, Lady Tremaine, Anastasia, Drizella, the Fairy God Mother, and Cinderella’s mom. They all speak with each other more than they speak with any male in the film. And the majority of what is spoken amongst Lady Tremaine, Anastasia, and Drizella is them making fun of Cinderella, how they want a finer life, and how dare Cinderella get in their way. Cinderella and her Mother talk about believing in magic, having courage, and being kind. And Cinderella and her Fairy God Mother discuss how to get her to the ball.
This new live-action Cinderella has a great message, especially in comparison to the animated version. The major message that is repeated throughout the movie is “have courage and be kind.” This is told to Cinderella by her mother when she dies, and is repeated by the characters when they face sadness or trouble. Cinderella is not only beautiful and a good singer, she is also brave and kind. We also see the darker periods of her life and the despair that she faces. After the death of her mother, father, and cruel treatment by her stepmother she breaks down and cries. We see that she is human and is not a perfect person. However, she pulls herself back together and continues living. She is determined that to be happy she must be kind to others, despite her hardships.
Cinderella does not come across as weak or unable to take action in this movie. We are shown the development of her mistreatment by her stepmother, beginning after her father dies and continuing until she rides away with Kit. It is explained that the reason she stays in her abusive household is because she made a promise to her parents to stay in the house that was their families for centuries. We don’t think this is a satisfactory explanation, but it is necessary to set up the rest of the story. It is true that Cinderella escapes her situation through marriage. However, she is still content with her life and remarks at one point that she was happy after the ball and was content letting her time with Kit become happy memories. She was not desperate to be married, it was more a result of her connection with Kit and his need to marry for the good of the kingdom. Though it was stated that the choice to marry him was hers. Cinderella didn’t know that Kit was a prince for a long time, and loved him for more than his wealth or status.
Kit is also a very important character in this movie. Although this is a blog about the representation of women in film, he really was improved from the older animation. This is especially important because we can see him and Cinderella’s relationship develop, and know that he loves her for much more than her looks. He is inspired by her kindness, generosity, and challenges to tradition. When his father claims he saw a pretty girl and that’s why he’s hung up on it, his response was simply, “there was so much more to her.” We see their banter and attraction towards one another. We see him suffer as his father dies and decide to continue on and be happy. There is much less of a power imbalance as he humbles himself, describing himself as an apprentice learning how to become a king. In order for Cinderella to shine, her leading man must appreciate her for her personality and that is part of what makes this movie great.
The portrayal of the other women in this movie was also much improved. The stepsisters are still spoiled, cruel, and untalented but they are not ugly. Their outfits are still atrocious and feet still too large to fit the slipper, but they are beautiful. It is clearly that what is most important to them is having status, not a man, when they say, “what does it matter what he’s like, he’s rich beyond all reason!” They don’t care about Kit, they care about his money. Lady Tremaine was beautiful as well, and she was developed more for this movie. Lady Tremaine was truly affected by the death of her first husband, whom she married for love. For her second time around, she decided to marry for security so her and her girls would be well taken care of and well off. When Cinderella’s father died she was devastated and became even more bitter and cruel. We can understand her pain, and see that she has a story that created her mean nature. Her methods of coping are contrasted with Cinderella’s, as one turned to anger and the other acceptance. It is still true that Cinderella is blonde in this movie, but the other characters are blonde, red head, brunette and and all beautiful women. It is clear that women are much more than their looks, and that true goodness lies in positivity and kindness.
Overall, we really do enjoy both movies, though if we were ask which we think has a better message for today’s day and age, hands down it would be the live-action film. We have read many articles and interviews on the process the actors and filmmakers went through to try and send a positive message. They recognized that the old film was dated in it’s views and portrayal, and they wanted to give young girls a role model to look up to. They wanted strength and kindness, and that’s what they delivered. They also worked very hard to have the other characters add to that, which we think is just as important. It’s not just how a female character is written and portrayed, the male characters around them are just as important. We really appreciate how they built Kit as a character. They had an amazing opportunity, given that the animation didn’t give them much to go off of, to build the character from the ground up. They made him just as admirable as Cinderella, and the most important thing they showed the audience was their mutual respect for one another. However, it’s hard to see how many films could compete with the soundtrack to the original Cinderella. The songs themselves are beautiful and provide hope that fills you up inside. Bippity Boppity Boo is silly and fun and lightens the mood, So This Is Love helps to show what romance and love can really mean and feel like, and A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes is still to this day perhaps one of the most iconic songs Disney has. And all of these things are a beautiful gift from Cinderella.
If you want to read more about this subject we recommend that you read this blog post:
http://rebeccahains.com/2015/03/13/in-disneys-cinderella-courage-and-kindness-are-a-victims-strengths-but-a-films-weakness/#comment-16123