Cinderella: Beautiful Disappointment
This past weekend I watched the live action Disney
Cinderella (2015). No one can deny that this is a beautiful film that highlights all
of the technological leaps we have made since the animated version released in
1950. The new mice may not speak, but they make facial expressions and move in
ways real mice cannot, while looking extremely believable. Unfortunately, other
changes one expects in a live action adaptation of a fairy tale were sorely
lacking. The characters were flat (perhaps even worse than the original
animation), and the themes were ambiguous when not downright confusing.
Flat Characters
Flat characters are not uncommon in fairy tales, but usually
when one is presented anew, the writers flesh out characters’ motivations and
cares. In Ella Enchanted (2004 or Gail Carson Levine's book by the same title),
Ella must obey every command she is given; in Ever After (1998), the prince
doesn’t want to be king, and keeps running away from his responsibilities. This
is not true of Disney’s new Cinderella. Good characters are good, and bad
characters are bad.
A Kind Heroine
The prince is flat--no surprise there. But so is Cinderella.
She is beautiful and kind. Her mother, on her death bed, instructs Ella that
she must “have courage and be kind.” Ella is kind to everyone, but the
definition of kind is unclear. She is naïve, and lets her step-mother
manipulate her into becoming a servant, harbors no resentment, and flippantly forgives
her step-mother all in the name of “kindness.” So, at first, being kind seems
to result in unpleasant consequences, and is thus ill-advised. However, she is
also kind to animals, which results in their kindness to her and which gains
the attention of the prince. Thus, being kind may also result in delightful
consequences.
Simple Themes Deny
Truth
The first confusion of theme comes in Ella’s motivation for
being kind: she is a kind person. Her mother’s instruction was not a correction
of her previous behavior, but an encouragement for her to continue to be kind. Thus
the story makes no statement about the virtues of kindness, but proposes a worldview
in which good people are kind, bad people are cruel, and there is no common
ground between them.
Secondly, Ella’s statement of forgiveness at the end of the
film feels just as empty as her kindness. She forgives easily because she never
really understood the hurt they tried to inflict upon her. She is still naïve. Obviously,
I think forgiveness is important, and having it modeled in film is a good
thing. However, her offering denied an important truth: that forgiveness is
difficult. We don’t always want to forgive others even though we must. We see
characters in films take revenge or mild retribution all the time and find it
satisfying. However, Ella is kind, so she forgives. The flatness of her
character allows us to conclude that we, being more nuanced individuals, are
not required to give forgiveness to those who have hurt us. Her behavior is a
result of who she is and not as a result of her belief in justice or
righteousness, but we are called to act from such beliefs and thus become
people who are kind.
Conclusion
However, these characters and themes may be sufficient in a
children’s story. It was certainly beautiful, and many performances were well
done. I was only hoping for more complexity, which would make this retelling memorable.
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