What Disney Didn’t Tell You About Cinderella

The first Disney movie I ever saw was Cinderella. The story mesmerised me. A stunningly beautiful and virtuous young woman is given a fair chance in life. She is recognised for her angelic nature by none other than the prince himself. What a story to imprint on my impressionable, naïve mind. It’s a tale about hope—about being rewarded for patience and faith, I thought. 

Wrong. 

First of all, it’s a massive gamble she throws herself into. Cinderella knows that going to a royal ball is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—a big risk. If she doesn’t manage to catch a suitor at this occasion, the next one might never come. 

And, of course, the movie conceals the most important bits of the story. Listen. Cinderella’s mother was a noble woman who fell in love with a commoner and eloped with him. Naturally, she was excommunicated by her kin and kith. She sacrificed an easy life for love—a mark of a true romantic. 

Cinderella, in her turn, can’t afford to follow in her mother’s footsteps. She must behave sensibly—because a hard life with a woodcutter brought her mother to an early grave, and because she herself was completely forgotten by her mother’s family and social circle. Maybe with the exception of the fairy godmother—unless Cinderella blackmailed her into helping.

Little Cinderella had a plan to return to her rightful place in high society. She knew she needed help and a good dose of luck. The godmother came in handy—the only ‘fairy’ thing about her being her possession of large sums of money.

Now you see our little Cinderella in the enemy camp, all by herself. She has no friends, no one to love and is driven by resentment and hunger for revenge. Those cold-hearted nobles who left her mother to her miserable fate should pay for it with their blood.  Marrying Prince Henry isn’t the end, but just the beginning, of Cinderella’s story.  She might even poison him to become an almighty queen. In any case, I don’t envy Henry.

Should our tender and innocent Cinderella have a vengeful side? Duh. The girl grew up listening to the stories her mistreated mother told her. She was bullied for many years by a woman of lower birth. Would you dream of romance if it was your life?

But then again, we are immensely happy to see Cinderella off to the ball. Wait a second. She didn’t go there to enjoy herself but to get her vendetta. It’s a battlefield she enters without a glimmer of hope. Unknown, without respectful patrons to introduce her around, her chances of success are nonexistent. But she charges forward—and that’s, my friends, a trait of a true hero.