This past week I watched Cinderella in the theater. I had heard only good things about it, but still went in skeptical. How would our mouthy 21st century film industry recreate a 1950s ideal that was little more than a shell of a character?
I was more than pleasantly surprised. I was shocked.
Here was a sweethearted, feminine, forgiving heroine like someone out of a Jane Austen novel. Mannerly, patient, and emotionally strong. They credited her for being domestic, without chauvinism or with rabid feminism. I haven't heard that off a screen post-60s except maybe in cheesy, poorly-done "Christian" movies.
And this led to a resurrection of one of my personal pet peeves. The modern entertainment world lacks badly in this sort of heroine. Leading ladies with class and kindness and emotional strength that know to make the right choices and don't swing the pendulum into helplessness, nor into the sassy/clumsy/cutesy/obnoxious Princess Anna type.
Immediately after the movie, I tweeted:
Related to Cinderella, we really do need more feminine, emotionally strong heroines.
— Rachel Stevenson (@whatshewrote) March 24, 2015
It's interesting to me how Elizabeth Bennett is considered the epitome of the developed female character, and yet there are so few leading ladies in the current market that follow her footsteps.
While I agree we need more Elizabeth Bennets in literature, I wouldn't knock Katniss either. (Go ahead and say what you want about Tris.) We do need all types, but there's room for all. Katniss is strong in her own right, and showing the emotional toll of war is far better than the tough hero who gets through and never cracks. I haven't seen Cinderella, and had no intention of going. I don't know how many times we have to re-make this story before we move onto something else, but I am beginning to have interest. Several people have said good things, and your post especially has inspired me to give it a chance. Lets see more characters who can both kick-ass and do so with manners and grace. A little of everything sounds great to me.
ReplyDeleteThe Cinderella of the 1970s Czechoslovak "Three Hazelnuts for Cinderella" is exactly the kind of lady who kicks ass and has grace and emotional strength, and the main reason I did not and do not feel all that interested in this newest version of the story.
DeleteFinding that middle ground is so difficult. I wrote my manuscript with a very weak main female character--because I wanted to show her as someone who changed for the better by the end of the book. However, it became my own pet peeve as I read other similar YA novels that I revised her completely. Give the ladies some talents and let her be happy about them.
ReplyDeleteAlso, a thing that makes women emotionally strong is that they are not only confident in themselves and where they are, but they encourage others to be their best. They don't compete or compare another woman's strengths with her weaknesses. Someone who encourages everyone to "have courage and be kind" is a lady I can admire.
I agree wholeheartedly! We don't have enough "women of integrity" in literature and films, and Cinderella is the perfect embodiment of a strong, pure, feminine character.
ReplyDeleteI think that more characters of integrity are needed in all forms of fiction and screen-writing. I'm tired of one-dimensional characters and I know how hard it is to get the fullness of the characters I daydream onto the page, but I want to keep trying because someday I would like to write a heroine who has inner strength no matter her role in society: fighter, debutante, mother, daughter, seamstress, queen - maybe even someone who could be a little of all of those things and yet still understand the need for courageous kindness.
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