Do you like Disneyland? Of course you do, that’s because you’re not an commie....well, even if you were you’d actually probably still
like Disneyland. Just ask Nikita Khrushchev about it. He supposedly threatened to
escalate the Cold War when security guarding him during a visit to the
US wouldn’t let him visit in 1959. I think I would have probably reacted
just the same.
Anyway, if you love Disneyland (and you know you do, liar) then you can thank your lucky stars for Cinderella. It was the first big hit for Disney studios in many years (since Snow White) and it came at a time when Disney was struggling to find ways to finance Disneyland and if had it failed you can bet that it wouldn’t have happened....or that it would have sucked like Knotts Berry Farm. Cinderella’s success also paid the way for future Disney animated films for years to come, so you can thank it for Peter Pan....and Alice in Wonderland too if you’re into that sort of thing.
Cinderella is, well, Cinderella. An abused and yet saintly girl who is forced into servitude by her cruel and vindictive stepmother and her two bratty, somewhat homely daughters (they are as ugly as a dog's ass). Cinderella for whatever reason is not homely, she’s smoking, and saintly. Anyway, you know the rest of the story: Cinderella wants to go to a ball at the royal palace but can’t because she hasn’t a thing to wear. But when her fairy godmother shows up at the damnedest of convenient times she is magically granted everything she could have ever wanted, including a chance to dance solo with Prince Charming out on the veranda. They fall in love, she has to split and loses a glass slipper that the prince subsequently attempts to use to locate her and marry her as fast as is humanly possible. I know how he feels, I met my wife under similar circumstances.
It’s a fairytale classic that a lot of people find problematic given contemporary cultural expectations about male/female relationships; such as our severely protracted “dating” or prolonged and labored trials intended to discern the mate that best fits our own goals or personal interests. Who could marry someone after one meeting? Doesn’t a marriage initiated by physical attraction seem superficial? But I’m not perturbed by any of this given my own views about love and marriage which I cannot even begin to discuss here. Suffice it to say I actually find the notion that someone like Cinderella, with regards to her character, would be able to do such a thing plausible and even salient.
Now that you are alienated from me let me placate your fears by reminding you of just how charming this movie is, regardless of whether or not you dislike the premise or the old world view to marriage and family life. In terms of animation it’s the best Disney film between the release Pinocchio and the Little Mermaid. The human characters look and move perfectly. The expressions on the faces, especially of the stepmother, are rich and evocative and the grandeur of the whole thing as captured by the ballroom sequence that sticks in the brain like methyl mercury after a good round of sushi. The animals that support Cinderella and provide comic antics are really entertaining as well. But mostly the story is just told very well, starting with Cinderella’s abuse, worsening abuse, and finally working it’s way up to what really amounts to a big heap of gratuitous payback. I guess in the end, for all it’s external sweetness and naive charm, this is really something of a passive aggressive “sweet revenge” flick....only saintly Cinderella herself doesn’t actually intend it, which is genius.
I love it. I give it 4 out of 5 glass slippers.
You might love to hate it but I guarantee that your four year old daughter will make you pay if you deprive her of it.
Anyway, if you love Disneyland (and you know you do, liar) then you can thank your lucky stars for Cinderella. It was the first big hit for Disney studios in many years (since Snow White) and it came at a time when Disney was struggling to find ways to finance Disneyland and if had it failed you can bet that it wouldn’t have happened....or that it would have sucked like Knotts Berry Farm. Cinderella’s success also paid the way for future Disney animated films for years to come, so you can thank it for Peter Pan....and Alice in Wonderland too if you’re into that sort of thing.
Cinderella is, well, Cinderella. An abused and yet saintly girl who is forced into servitude by her cruel and vindictive stepmother and her two bratty, somewhat homely daughters (they are as ugly as a dog's ass). Cinderella for whatever reason is not homely, she’s smoking, and saintly. Anyway, you know the rest of the story: Cinderella wants to go to a ball at the royal palace but can’t because she hasn’t a thing to wear. But when her fairy godmother shows up at the damnedest of convenient times she is magically granted everything she could have ever wanted, including a chance to dance solo with Prince Charming out on the veranda. They fall in love, she has to split and loses a glass slipper that the prince subsequently attempts to use to locate her and marry her as fast as is humanly possible. I know how he feels, I met my wife under similar circumstances.
It’s a fairytale classic that a lot of people find problematic given contemporary cultural expectations about male/female relationships; such as our severely protracted “dating” or prolonged and labored trials intended to discern the mate that best fits our own goals or personal interests. Who could marry someone after one meeting? Doesn’t a marriage initiated by physical attraction seem superficial? But I’m not perturbed by any of this given my own views about love and marriage which I cannot even begin to discuss here. Suffice it to say I actually find the notion that someone like Cinderella, with regards to her character, would be able to do such a thing plausible and even salient.
Now that you are alienated from me let me placate your fears by reminding you of just how charming this movie is, regardless of whether or not you dislike the premise or the old world view to marriage and family life. In terms of animation it’s the best Disney film between the release Pinocchio and the Little Mermaid. The human characters look and move perfectly. The expressions on the faces, especially of the stepmother, are rich and evocative and the grandeur of the whole thing as captured by the ballroom sequence that sticks in the brain like methyl mercury after a good round of sushi. The animals that support Cinderella and provide comic antics are really entertaining as well. But mostly the story is just told very well, starting with Cinderella’s abuse, worsening abuse, and finally working it’s way up to what really amounts to a big heap of gratuitous payback. I guess in the end, for all it’s external sweetness and naive charm, this is really something of a passive aggressive “sweet revenge” flick....only saintly Cinderella herself doesn’t actually intend it, which is genius.
I love it. I give it 4 out of 5 glass slippers.
You might love to hate it but I guarantee that your four year old daughter will make you pay if you deprive her of it.
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