Cinderella - The European (I think) Dreamer
Beauty
Firstly, we have the lovely Cinderella. That isn't just my thoughts on her by the way; literally the first thing we hear in the movie is that Cinderella is "as lovely as her name" and "like a sunset in a frame". Her beauty is repeatedly reinforced by the filmic text, hammering it into our heads to ensure we always associate her with beauty.
Her beauty is also accentuated by the way she is drawn, especially in comparison to her ugly stepsisters.
In the early days of animation, in order to draw realistic human bodies with bones that did not look like rubber, many animators used a technique known as rotoscoping, which is basically drawing the animated character over a photo of a real person.
Someone saw this and said, "This is good enough for public television"
For Cinderella, the person being rotoscoped was Helene Stanley, a professional dancer. As such, Cinderella carries herself with grace and poise, with the proper dancer’s carriage and always with the toes first. This exudes her beauty without the need to state it as she carries herself with elegance effortlessly.
“Royal lineage and bearing are personified in the erect, ceremonial carriage of ballet and manifested not only in the dance sequences, but in the heroines’ graceful solitude and poised interactions with others.” (Bell, 1995)
In contrast, the stepsisters, Anastasia and Drizella, have curved backs, incorrect postures, exaggerated rear-ends and step heel first. They are the antithesis to Cinderella’s natural allure, with awful, childish personalities to match. For the girl in the audience, this tells her that a true woman of good breeding is one who moves with ease and grace and any less is the mark of a spoiled brat.
“the ugly stepsisters, attitudinal counterpoints to Cinderella, are animated as antitheses to correct dance carriage and movement” (Bell, 1995)
My anaconda don't want nun'
In addition, while Cinderella has many admirable traits, many of which would make her an excellent bride, which one of her many virtues lands her the hot prince? None other than her beauty, of course! The prince gazes upon her, and without knowing a single thing about her, immediately decides that she’s the one, common sense be dammed! This fixation on appearances to foster romantic love is an unhealthy message to be sending. It is purely her appearances that motivate the prince to give her her happy ending.
"You're the most beautiful woman here"
"And I've only known you for a day..."
"LET'S GET MARRIED TONIGHT!"
Passivity
Speaking of which, yes, it is the prince that finally brings her happiness. On paper, it appears that Cinderella truly has no agency in her own story. The story is about her, but she does very little to further it. Throughout the film, the word "will" shows up several times, but rather than describe any action Cinderella takes, it describes her happy ending if she keeps on "believing".
This is mitigated slightly in the actual film, where the audience is succinctly told her very valid reasons as to why she doesn’t fight against her abusive stepfamily and when an opportunity comes for her to escape her miserable life, even for one night, she fights for her right to go to the ball.
Bruno!
Dreaming again?
Chasing Lucifer?
Catch him this time?
That's bad!
Suppose they heard you upstairs?
You know the orders.
So if you don’t want to Iose a nice warm bed,
you'd better get rid of those dreams.
Well, why not?
After all, I'm still a member of the family.
And it says, "By royal command...
every eligible maiden is to attend."
In the end, this amounts to little, as after that, she is very much an object which is swept around by the actions of other characters. The most she does to aid her cause besides fighting for her right to go, is believing.
“A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes” is a song that shows up in the film thrice, at the beginning, when the fairy godmother shows up, and at the finale.
♫No matter how your heart is grieving
If you keep on believing
The dream that you wish
Will come true♫
“By portraying dream-drenched inactivity and magical redemptions, enchantment makes vulnerability, avoidance, sublimation, and dependency alluringly virtuous” (Rowe, 1986)
The thesis of this song, that passive hope for the best will rescue one is translated into summoning a fairy godmother out of the ether to save her from her hellhole of a life. By rewarding Cinderella for her blind faith in nothing, the film glorifies the idea of women being unable to have self-initiative and needing external forces for them to succeed.
Female Voice in Patriarchy
Going further, the idea of having the ideal woman have no say in her own story essentially deprives her of her own voice in the male patriarchy. Cinderella’s entirely-female household is the world that exists outside the white male system, shown not only by the lack of white males, ...
... but also the fact that all those in the household submit to the one from the white male system, even though he is previously shown to be a buffoon.
•“… those outside the [white male] system know about the dominant culture as well as their own marginalized culture” (Sells, 1995)
The men hold power over the women, even the women who assert power over others.
It's ok to push aside the femme fatale as long as you have testicles
And the only way demonstrated by the film to access that power is through marriage, a process whereby the female has little to no say and is largely decided by the white male.
Not pictured: Cinderella entering a years-long state of depression as the guy she marries turns out to be an ass
The patriarchy depicted in Cinderella is thus one where women serve solely as wives and mothers and lack a voice with which to express themselves.
Female Archetypes
To close the chapter on Cinderella, the female archetypes shown in the film are very clearly those of the sex object, the victim and the villainess.
Cinderella’s grace and beauty are used to reassure the audience that she is very much simply an object of beauty to be admired by the audience and even the in-universe prince.
“In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact…” (Mulvey, 1975)
Further, Cinderella is clearly depicted as a subservient victim who takes no action in rescuing herself but rather needs to be saved by the timely arrival of her male saviour.
You too, can get your happily ever after for the low, low price of giving the rest of your life away to someone you know nothing about.
In contrast, Lady Tremaine plays the role of the villainess, the woman who has power over others and thus must be punished as she, like all women with power, is a castrating bitch and must be punished for daring to have a say in her story.
“… within Disney’s patriarchal ideology, any woman with power has to be represented as a castrating bitch” (Sells, 1995)
As such, women, as depicted in Cinderella, only serve to be looked at and be subservient to the male patriarchy, with no desires of their own.
