IKR! I saw it and was just blown away!

Wonderful Movie!. I’m so SICK of ”Politically Correct” remakes of classic fairy tales- like the abysmal ”Maleficent”. Disney did it RIGHT this time.

As a feminist, I can say that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with who Cinderella is! She’s strong and feminist in her own way (by the way, being a feminist doesn’t mean embracing masculinity). She’s a woman with her own agency and she is who she is and she makes her own choices. There is nothing wrong with being domestic or anything of the sorts.

However, I think the complaints regarding Cinderella isn’t because of who she is or what her values are, it’s because of the narrative itself. In the movie industry, we lack diversity and representation, in regards to race, gender identity (i.e. not cisgendered), gender expression, sexual orientation, age, ability (or rather, disability), and personality (which ties in which gender expression. The complaint directed at Cinderella is that it offers no new narrative and presents the same portrayal of a woman that Hollywood and Disney has regurgitated again and again.

Sure, we are slowly but surely getting more representation from Disney with Mulan and Merida and Elsa and Gogo Tomago, but all that is shadowed in comparison to the same trope of female characters.

For example, say there’s a spectrum of personality and gender expression with “feminine” being on one end and “masculine” on the other. And let’s disassociate both forms of expression with gender; a masculine woman does not mean she is behaving or dressed “like a man”; and vice versa with a feminine man. A vast majority of female characters are on the far “feminine” side, with only a select being in the middle or on the “masculine” side. Same goes for male portrayal, except reverse.

The problem here is a tired narrative with lack of representation of all the rest of the types of women (and men, trans*, intersex, genderfluid, and gender non-conforming) in the media.

The problem is that the constant single type of portrayal of women (and men) as a whole creates an ideal and thus enforces rigid, heteronormative gender roles.

I look forward to the day when we see stories and fairy tales of a feminine guy who’s domestic and dreams of going to the ball to meet his princess or prince or a girl who rejects the domestic, settled family life and ventures around the world and explores and discovers and is self-driven. I look forward to the days where every single person on and off the spectrum are represented equally and everyone’s story is heard.

(Not to mention there are different ways of being feminine and masculine; for instance, I consider myself feminine, but I have a pixie and wear boots with most things.)

Sorry for the long post! 🙂

Yeah…I wasn’t a big fan of Maleficent either…..

Oh and I liked the Frozen Short more than I expected, all the little snowmen were adorable!