Cinderella

(My response to the favorite Disney princess question...and let me just preface this by saying that I love them all.  I will just always love Cinderella the most.)

When I was younger I thought that being too girly was kind of uncool…but in my adult years and especially after having two daughters I have fully and completely embraced every single girly thing I like without embarrassment.  Princesses, the color pink, painting nails, jewelry, fairytales, butterflies, Avonlea, flowers, bunnies, clothes, lace, ballet, love stories, Barbies, romantic songs, everything.  I remember some of my friends talking about how dolls were creepy when I was younger and at the time I totally nodded my head and agreed…then went home and hugged my beautiful porcelain doll that I had painstakingly won at a carnival and thought was the loveliest thing in all the world.  Now, I unapologetically own my girlyness.  I LOVE dolls and I always have.  We’re planning a trip to the American Girl store in Santa Clara when we go home for New Years this year- it’s over an hour away, but I still couldn’t be more excited to go!

I also have always loved Disney princesses as part of this girlyness and the one who has always inspired me is Cinderella.  I played Cinderella in a second grade play and have loved the story ever since.  I am always excited to see any adaptation of the story and am very particular about how they take care of the characters and if they do them justice. 

There are several reasons I love about the Cinderella story.  I like her because she is not just pretty girl who finds a prince to marry.   I think Disney tries to teach kids about things that are worthwhile.  She is kind, hopeful, and optimistic, always finding ways to be happy in her circumstances.  That is a lesson I always seem to need to learn.  There wasn’t an end in sight to her hardships, she seemed prepared to continue on in the life she was leading, the life her stepfamily had forced upon her.  She was facing her trial, not running from it, not throwing a big fit about it.  She wasn’t trying to escape, she was facing it with her head held high.  Yet still being humble and kind.  To me Cinderella represents goodness and kindness, class and grace, being lovely at heart not just in looks. 

I was going through a personal challenge recently and Cinderella came to my mind.  (Maybe that seems silly, but if you think about it fictional characters are the role models that'll never let you down!) Natalie and I had gone to see the new Cinderella movie for my birthday so the story was fresh in my mind.  I liked the new movie…but I didn’t love it.  (And I was bummed because I wanted to love it.)  But despite the things I didn’t love about it, I was so glad to see it.  It was like hearing the story for the first time and with a more grown up perspective.  I was able to see things I hadn’t given much thought to before.  Like that she was a classy girl…while her stepsisters looked ridiculous in all their frills she was refined even in her rags.  But what made that difference was in how they acted not the way they looked.  Her humility and grace, goodness and class.  I was able to see that it was her kindness that made her the strong person she was, not by being confrontational or bossy or loud or entitled.

I want to be like Cinderella.  In a lot of ways.  Eleanor Roosevelt said, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”  I confess that I give my consent all the time and then blame other people for my self-esteem issues.  Cinderella knew that it was all up to her.  All the cliché phrases are true in this story- “Life is what you make it,” “When life gives you lemons make lemonade.”  Looking at the world through rose-colored glasses as the song says is not naïve…it’s wisdom, truly.  “No matter how your heart is grieving if you keep on believing the dream that you wish will come true” sings the orphan girl in rags sleeping in the cold dark attic in her own home where she has been reduced to a servant.  And then in the end she gets her happily ever after.  The one she really really deserves.

“And yet through it all Cinderella remained ever gentle and kind.  For with each dawn she found new hope that someday her dreams of happiness would come true.”

These are the exact words from the beginning of the original Disney movie.
She inspires me about Menieres disease, about an uncertain future, about being lonely, about almost any trial in life.  Apply your Cinderella skills.  And you will be happy.

So when people rip on Disney princess movies they should look closer at the stories they are telling- stories with good morals about girls who work hard, keep it classy, stay strong, and keep hope alive during trials.

We love princesses and we always will!  My girls will grow up knowing these stories.