MovieChat Forums > Cinderella (1950) Discussion > Worst story ever written!

Worst story ever written!

posted 8 years ago by HarveyManfredSinJohn
8 replies | jump to latest

So you have Cinderella who is classically beautiful, kind, sweet, intelligent, hard-working and prudent when it comes to money, and she is stacked up against her two ugly step-sisters who are physically and spiritually ugly, mean, petty, idiotic, vain and frivolous.

The odds are so stacked in Cinderella's favour as far as the Prince falling in love with her because there is absolutely no real competition for his affections. In other words, a completely boring story with no sense of tension or nuance or dimension whatsoever. Characters are either pretty and good or ugly and bad.

What a great message to send to kids, huh?  You know, it's what is inside that counts and don't judge a book by its cover...and then we read them or let them watch this crap that associates physical beauty with spiritual beauty.

But that's besides the point. From a storytelling POV it's simply not interesting to make the villains so pathetic and completely outmatched by the heroine. Instead of hating them you end up almost pitying them and their weaknesses.

[–] furienna 8 years ago

I guess I can partly agree with you. It would have been nice if the step-sisters hadn't been that inferior compared to Cinderella. And no, Disney didn't make any secret as to whom we should root for. But we're also talking about a cartoon movie from 1950, which was of course based on an really old fairy-tale. Maybe there will be some values, which are not very popular today. And if that bothers you, I'm sorry, but you can't do anything but move on with your life and maybe enjoy some newer Disney movie instead. And even though many people hate the DTV sequels, I like that they give Anastasia characters arcs, that she didn't have in the original movie.

And there is no way that I can agree that the villains in "Cinderella" are pathetic. Lady Tremaine is painfully close to being purely evil, her daughters rip the clothes of Cinderella's body, and Lucifer won't budge even though birds are throwing tea cups at him.

Intelligence and purity.

[–] bedrock1960 8 years ago

And that is America today.....pseudo-intellectuals griping about a film made 65 years ago based on a story written in the 18th century. Get a life.

[–] annedoe 7 years ago

techinally the Cinderella story which Disney's Cinderella was based on was from the 17th century (1600)

[–] EmilyTheDramaQueen 8 years ago

You know the one thing I like about most of the live action remakes of the story is that the stepsisters aren't that inferior to her. In A Cinderella Story 2 and Ever After, the evil stepsisters was pretty but also mean and vain. I think the first Cinderella Story film is how I imagined the stepsisters to be in modern day: Pretty, vain, wannabes who suck up to the popular kids.

"I'd rather lose for what I am than win for what I ain't"

Kacey Musgraves "Pageant Material"

[–] crlnrgbrght5 8 years ago

I would suggest that you not read any of the Brothers Grimm books, for, that's who wrote the story.

[–] Blueghost 8 years ago

Give me a goddamn break. It's a fair tale. What were you expecting? Tolstoy? Shakespeare?

It's meant for kids, for crying out loud.

[–] annedoe 8 years ago

There's a Cinderella story in every country and most of them involve shoes of some kind. And all the Cinderellas characters do household chores in different ways for their "step" family (which might or might not be their step-family) or in some cases their real family.

[–] lisafordeay (140) 7 years ago

I prefer the 2015 version.