Recently, Amazon Prime Video released a trailer of its upcoming Cinderella movie, set to be released on Sept. 3. The most I can say about the film, judging by the trailer alone, is that it exists. That’s the nicest thing I can say about it. The not-so-nice thing? Cringey!
Evidently, this adaptation will follow the basic plot of the classic fairy tale, but with some notable changes to better “modernize” it, making it less “problematic” and more “feminist.” In this bold re-telling, Cinderella is still stuck with her evil step-family. But she’s not some damsel in distress. She’s a #GirlBoss who wants to lift herself up by the bootstraps by starting her own business.
And Cindy’s not going to the ball so she can hook up with the prince. She wants to ask the king and queen for a business loan. Because she’s a strong, independent woman who needs no man! And, of course, she has the help of her Fairy Godmother—a gender non-conforming POC who hooks her up with a sweet Clinton-style pantsuit. Like a real #GirlBoss!
Sigh.
It’s no secret why this movie is being made. Amazon clearly wants to cash in on the trend of “modernizing” classic fairy tales. For the past decade, Disney has been remaking their old animated movies into live-action. But they’re not just doing it so they can make a quick buck. No! They want to go back and “fix” some of the “problematic” elements of their older films.
Video essayists like Leon Thomas have discussed Disney’s cynical attempt to make their movies more performatively “woke” through meta-commentary and surface-level changes. Lindsay Ellis has excellently dissected “Woke Disney”, especially with her videos on Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid. In both videos, she notes how these live-action adaptations often make superficial changes to their old stories based on bad-faith pop-feminist hot takes, like how Belle has Stockholm Syndrome or Ariel traded her voice for a man.
In the case of Disney’s live-action Cinderella remake (and likewise, Amazon’s upcoming re-telling of the fairy tale), the bad-faith pop-feminist hot take being addressed is that the titular female protagonist is a damsel in distress who chooses to wait for a prince to save her rather than rescue herself. Watching the Amazon trailer reminded me of a review by video essayist Lily Orchard of the old Disney movie, in which she tackles such bad faith criticisms:
There’s been a lot of claims that Cinderella is the epitome with everything wrong with old school Disney, and that Cinderella is just sitting around and waiting for her happily ever after to come get her. But, honestly, that’s such a bad read of not just the film but the very concept of storytelling.
First of all, Cinderella’s not just waiting around. She’s suffering some pretty horrible abuse at the hands of her stepmother. She ultimately doesn’t even want a happily ever after. She just wants one nice night for herself, to which her friends decide to help her get because she works her ass off. She deserves it!
…It’s funny seeing people look at moments of simple altruism and declare it unrealistic since, in real life, your fate can live or die on whether or not you make a good first impression to the right people, especially in the age of GoFundMe where everyone gets to be the Fairy Godmother, and that’s kind of the point
…That’s something your pop progressive hot take misses. You don’t need a magical fairy godmother or superhero to help you out of a bad situation. What you need is someone, anyone, with a pair of eyes, a voice, and 10 cents worth of compassion. It says something about you that you think compassion is unrealistic.
That’s the main problem with these cynical attempts to make fairy tales more “woke”: they fundamentally misunderstand what made these stories good. If you think Cinderella would have been “better” if she were a more empowered “girl boss”, then you’re missing the point of her story.
Granted, so far, we can only judge the upcoming Amazon movie by its trailer. There’s a slight chance the actual film will be better. I don’t have Prime Video, so I won’t be able to find out for myself.
And, no, even if the movie turns out to be bad, I don’t think it’s going to “ruin” Cinderella. The story is a timeless fairy tale that has inspired countless adaptations, and it will continue to be adapted in the future. Many of these adaptations have become classics in their own right. This movie, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to be one of them.
J.C. Alexandre 