Cinderella

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This weekend millions of families and little girls made their way to the theatre to see the brand new live-action version of "Cinderella".  Of course, I had to go too.  The movie was excellent!  Directed by Kenneth Branagh, one of my all-time favorite directors, it bore his signature style:  color, pageantry and outstanding British actors. Branagh really played this movie straight.  Often fairy tales are brought to the big screen in a kind of campy, over-the-top way such as 2007's "Enchanted" (don't get me wrong, I LOVED "Enchanted" but it was still over-the-top).  Or, they movie makers go the other direction and take their movie WAY too seriously, as in 1998's "Ever After".

"Cinderella" walks that fine line of being a fantasy but not being campy.  Branagh was the perfect director for this.  His vivid use of color and costume make the scene very story-like, you know it isn't the world we live in, the real world.  His use of excellent actors who play their characters as they are and imbue them with real personalities without overacting helped give the movie it's realism.  The viewer is swept up until a very real fairy tale world where anything is possible.

There have been a number of fairy tales brought to the big screen in recent years:  "Into the Woods", "Maleficent", "Alice in Wonderland" (technically not a fairy tale but a story so well-known as to be on par with most fairy tales), two movies based on Snow White and so on.  Most of these movies have a few things in common.  They all alter the original story in significant ways.  In "Maleficent" we see good and evil turned upside down.  King Stefan is a villain in this version and Maleficent the heroine - a troubled, dark heroine.  While I enjoyed the film, this bothered me, for the same reason the book and subsequent Broadway musical "Wicked" (which I also greatly enjoyed) bothered me.  Because what "Wicked" and "Maleficent" seem to be saying is that there are no true heroes and villains, no true good and evil anymore.  It all depends on your perspective.

"Into the Woods" suffers from similar problems.  We have a disillusioned Cinderella who is unhappy with her Prince.  Prince Charming seduces the Baker's Wife and the Wicked Witch saves the day.  Once again we see there are no heroes and no villains.  Who is to say what or who is good or bad? 
That is a very postmodern and frightening idea.  No wonder young people these days have no moral compass!  Story has been the method of passing along morals and values from one generation to another since the dawn of time.  What does it say about our society when the stories we tell fail to provide any kind of guidance?  What does it say when our stories tell our young people that there is no good and no evil, there is only your perspective?  Everything is subjective and everything is OK as long as that is YOUR truth - that is what these stories are saying. (The theme from "Jaws" just started playing in my head right now as I'm thinking about this - scary!)  


"Cinderella" is such a refreshing contrast to all these recent films.  There is good and there is bad.  Cinderella is sweet and innocent and tries to live up to her mother's ideal:  "Have courage and be kind". Cinderella perseveres through the loss of her parents and mistreatment by her stepmother and stepsisters.  Through it all she remains gentle and kind.  The stepmother and stepsisters are constantly mean, belittling and demeaning to Cinderella.  In one of the final scenes, Cinderella asks her stepmother why she has treated her so badly.  "Because you are young and good and innocent and I..." The stepmother does not finish her sentence.  This quote seems to imply that the reason the stepmother treats Cinderella so poorly was just because she could.  And there Branagh sets up the clear distinction between good and evil - and he doesn't even have to say the word. Finally, here is a movie with a real center, a real message which transcends generations.  Have courage and be kind.