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Cinderella undercover

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Blackjack Gabbiani

Blackjack Gabbiani

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So I was looking at an LJ debate on sexism, and one of the things brought up was a "Cinderella fantasy". Apparently it's considered a trapping of female submission and male domination to have a so-called Cinderella fantasy, but how? Cinderella was subjugated by women and saved by a woman! The prince didn't come until later!
 
I think a lot of the fairy tales that Disney fed us have that same theme: woman waits for prince to come and once he does, her life (her real life) can begin.
 
The godmother showed her what her real life could be like, but it wasn't until she married the prince that it actually began.
 
Eh, I disagree. The godmother gave her the courage to do it all, without which the prince never would have even noticed her.

And even then, it doesn't speak of male supression, since it was her stepsisters and stepmother that were supressing her.
 
I think that they were trying to say that if a woman doesn't have a man in her life, that she is very incapacitated in the ability to do anything related to "real life". Just the fact that a woman has a "Cinderella fantasy" puts men in control because they would therefore drive a woman's desires without even needing to be present.

I don't really agree. I think that men can dream of having a princess come to them just as well as a woman can dream of a prince. That would make them, according to the same standards, submissive to women. We're all just screwing with each others' heads. ^_^
 
But even then, what I'm saying, is that the savior wasn't the prince--or in your suggested version, a princess--the savior was someone else altogether.
 
I'd have to agree with you that the savior was indeed the Fairy Godmother, but the entire reason that she *was* saved was so she could go to the ball to meet the Prince. Cinderella wasn't concerned at all about the Fairy Godmother after she had helped her get to the ball. She was grateful, but not very caring afterwards.
 
Well, the Godmother never showed up again after that (which is really kinda strange, but oh well).

I always kinda got that the reason she wanted to go wasn't to meet the prince, but to have a taste of the high life. Meeting the prince was just a side effect. She'd been surrounded by luxury her whole life, but it was always in the sense of a provider, and she wanted to be on the recieving end for just once.
 
I always heard the story that she had met the prince beforehand, when she was in her normal shabby clothes and things. It was sort of a combination of the both, I think. Living the high life, and meeting a prince? Double your pleasure, double your fun! Is it bad that my mind jumped to the motto? XD
 
*laughs* (wow, I didn't know we had strike tags on here. Oddly enough, I've always thought that the writers will eventually try to pull that they met each other when they were little kids)

Well really, who wouldn't want to meet royalty? The princess of Hesse was just in town for an art opening, and I so wanted to go. It's not necessarily for the pursuit of romance in a love sense, but romance in the sense of that special something.

And I don't think I've ever heard that version, myself.
 
Read "Witches Abroad". Prince Charming is squished and er, "Emberella" goes on to rule New Orleans.


Trust me, it makes sense.
 
I've seen a very 60's musical version where the Prince is just walking by, and Cinderella offers him some water. And she's dressed in her shabby clothes. There's also an entire song where the camera is fixed on the Prince's head.

I've never seen Cinderella as being sexist, but my mind has always been corrupted by Into The Woods.
 
I've heard of this before, and why can't anyone have a fantasy of that special someone sweeping you off your feet? I think it's a good fantasy. Yes, I said special someone and not prince or princess because I think that's whole root as to why this fantasy exists. It means you want to fall in love, and as anyone knows, feeling love means you have to at least show a little vulnerability. This is what I think, though. Personally, I think this was made up by feminist malcontents that are really upset about how their heart was broken one way or another, and refuse to believe in love.
 
Blackjack Gabbiani said:
Eh, I disagree. The godmother gave her the courage to do it all, without which the prince never would have even noticed her.

And even then, it doesn't speak of male supression, since it was her stepsisters and stepmother that were supressing her.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. Cinderella dressed for the ball in hand-me-downs from her stepsisters and stepmother and was attacked by them before she could leave. She certainly didn't lack for courage. And she was evidently beautiful enough that the prince probably would have noticed her had she gone in her original creation.

Then, after the ball, she produced the glass slipper after her stepmother broke the other one, which led to her being married to the prince. She really took matters into her own hands and escaped a life of servitude.

She always struck me as a very optimistic person. She was a member of the upper class before her father died; her stepmother forced her into poverty. So she evidently knew what 'the good life' was before marrying the prince.
 
So see, took matters into her own hands. Nothing about waiting for a man to come along.

And even then, why is the gender of the person important? What's wrong with wanting to be rescued by anyone?
 
I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to be rescued. I guess it's more a question of why should a woman sit passively by and wait for a man to select her? Why can't she do the selecting herself?

And look at the difference between independent Belle in Beauty and the Beast, who technically rescued him, and Cinderella or even Snow White.
 
Because almost all of the fairy tales involved a woman waiting to be rescued by a man. How often do men lament that they're waiting for a princess to come and save them? The most general complaint against these stories is that women are seen as passive creatures, who aren't complete without a man.
 
But they're rather general anyway, at least to me. I don't see it as a woman waiting for a man, I see it as a person waiting for another person.

Especially in a case like this, where the prince was, as I said, secondary.
 
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