The latest reimagining of the classic fairytale has landed on Amazon Prime, and the new Cinderella is vastly different from any of its previous versions. Storylines, new characters, and music are just a few of the aspects that have been transformed in the Camila Cabello-starring musical.
This is Cinderella with a feminist twist — gone are the damsels in distress and knights in shining armor, replaced by ladies with ambitions greater than their times allow, and men who struggle with their revolution. Big parts of the original fairytale have been altered by Kay Cannon to suit a 2021 audience, and much of the update is a welcome change from the old-fashioned fable. And a few of these transformations stood out in the movie in particular.
Cinderella Rejecting The Prince
In the original fairytale, Cinderella is charmed by the Prince. When the Prince proposed to the young lady, she was delighted. The new Cinderella turned this trope (which didn't age well) on its head when Camila Cabello's Ella politely refused Prince Robert's heartfelt plea for marriage.
While the expected reaction to such a proposal was a resounding yes, Ella chose free will, the ability to make her own choices, and a career over a royal title that would tie her down, which made her a positive role model for young people.
Her Fashion Designer Ambitions
For decades, Cinderella has been a pretty flat character. She leads a servile life under her stepmother's thumb, works till her bones hurt, and dreams of a better life. Therefore, it was refreshing to see the new iteration where she had actual goals and dreams.
The fashion aspect added some depth to her character, and audiences learned more about Cinderella the person, rather than Cinderella the symbol. She was a real human with likes and dislikes, which is a lot more interesting than a standard fairy tale princess.
The Story Behind Her Stepmother's Cruelty
Cinderella's Vivian was no saint, but learning her motivations behind her cruelty and disdain towards Ella made for a far more compelling watch. Mindless viciousness was replaced by a history of pain and rejection that she faced when she wanted to spread her wings and fly, and her first love left her for music school.
The typical wicked stepmother is just a one-dimensional villain, but Vivian wasn't as easy to hate as the previous versions of stepmothers after her backstory was revealed.
The Modern Music
The music of Cinderella has been polarizing, to say the least. Some people loved to hear the mix of rap, pop chartbusters, and classic tunes, while some thought that the collection of songs was too mismatched and made no sense. Love it or hate it, the new-age music made the musical a lot more watchable than the average princess revue full of longing love songs.
With Camila Cabello at the helm, everybody expected a modern, fun movie, as opposed to a run-of-the-mill likable Disney Princess one. The covers were quite nice and made the movie a lot more enjoyable.
The Fairy Godparent
Along with other aspects, the Fairy Godmother also experienced a rebrand in Cinderella. A spectacular monarch butterfly transformed into a fabulous Billy Porter, the brand new, genderless Fairy Godparent. Touching on gender identities through cinema is a good way to make audiences understand the vast spectrum, and this made for a great learning moment, especially for kids.
The entire movie dealt with the gender roles that people get assigned to for no real reason, and the inclusion of gender-neutral people and the queer community in the tale was a big step forward.
A Latinx Cinderella
Over the years, Cinderella is a story that has been remade and recast several times, but there hadn't been a Latinx Cinderella so far. Diversity in casting is vital, especially in leading roles of princes and princesses. Representation provides more opportunity for future generations, so Camila Cabello's Cinderella was a delight to watch.
Cinderella 2021 may have got mixed reviews, but Cabello's performance was a powerful one, both musically and dramatically. The singer makes waves in the music industry regularly, and now she's made a mark in the acting business too.
A Personality For Prince Robert
A facet about the OG Cinderella that many people miss is that the handsome Prince was as flat and uninteresting as Cinderella herself was. He was described as perfect, dashing, and capable of love, but his personality was seriously underdeveloped too.
This is why the spoilt royal man-child that was Prince Robert still made an impression on viewers. He was pampered, oblivious to the real world, but had a point about royalty's cons. His character developed through the course of the movie, as he tried to woo Ella, attempted to change the system, and even extracted himself from it in the process. Much more interesting than a Charming, and one of the best characters of Cinderella.
The Prince's Sister
Gwen was clearly the superior royal sibling who deserved the throne but couldn't get it because she was a woman. Her storyline was a nice one to watch, even if it seemed like the King had a change of heart too quickly. She had the reforms, policies, and ideas for the betterment of her kingdom, and Robert even wanted her to take the crown.
Putting a female monarch in power was a convincing way to depict the feminist change that came over the kingdom that Cinderella was set in, and her sweet but determined personality was a big change from the stereotypical "girlboss" character who is usually cast in such roles.