The cast may be multiracial but the
messages are still mixed
By Rick Kushman
Sacramento Bee TV Critic
In many of the old fairy tales-simple, innocent children’s stories such as “Cinderella”- the
moral was enough to give you nightmares.
A woman- if she is beautiful, and she is young- can escape the horrible life forced on
her by uglier people and be rescued by a prince, handsome and tall, and live happily
ever after as royalty, far above the worthless common folk.
Plus, the young, beautiful woman had to be white.
Tonight, ABC’s $12 million, “Cinderella” (at 7 on channel 10) makes a well-intentioned
attempt to reconcile Western culture’s prime rags-to-riches story with 1990’s
sensibilities. Sad to say, it ends up with so many contradictions, it can still give you
nightmares.
And ultimately, with all its new talk about finding the beauty within and not being a
victim, the moral amounts to: A young, beautiful woman can escape the horrible life
forced on her by uglier people and be rescued by a handsome prince, to live happily
ever after as royalty far above the common folk.
One reason may be that those are 1990’s sensibilities. Still. Another is that our myths
are so ingrained they are impossible to shake. In either case, even this well-meaning,
modernized, multicultural “Cinderella” shows how much sexual stereotyping exists and
how little room society gives to women.
Before we get too far down that path, let’s detour to the pure Hollywood side of the
ledger. The cast members largely live up to their stellar potential. They include Whoopi
Goldberg (the queen), Whitney Houston (the fairy godmother), Jason Alexander (a new
character, the prince’s valet), Brandy (Cinderella), and Bernadette Peters (the
stepmother). And the two-hour movie, despite a few slow spots, is an entertaining
remake of the classic children’s tale.
But ABC and “The Wonderful World of Disney” have said for the months that precisely
because it’s a children’s tale, they have an obligation to tweak it enough to send out
enlightened messages. And, in one of those unfair Catch 22s, by bringing up the
subject, the producers invited close scrutiny of their messages.
This “Cinderella’s” most enlightened feat is to create a multiethnic, completely colorblind
fairy tale- although like much of the network television, Latino characters are almost
non-existent.
Still, the queen (Goldberg) is African American, the king (Victor Garber) is white and
together they have a Filipino son (Paolo Montalban). Cinderella (Brandy) is African
American, making her one of TV’s few non-white fairy tale stars.
In an interview with reporters recently, the producers talked about their intentions.
“We wanted everybody who watches to be able to say, That’s my story, I can identify
with people on that screen.” Said Neil Meron, an executive producer.
“It was one of our main concerns,” said director Robert Iscove, “to make sure that the
story had some relevance to a ‘90s audience. We’re trying to empower all of these
ladies to realize that the beautiful dress and the externals are inside you, that every girl
is a princess and they can bring that our.”
Iscove said both Cinderella and the prince underwent small but substantive character
changes. Cinderella is no longer just waiting to be rescued. At the end – before the
prince finds her – she decides to leave her stepmother’s house and salvage her life on
her own.
And the prince, in theory, is looking for a soulmate, not the winner of the Miss Kingdom
pageant.
“He’s not the typical ‘I’m holding out for the pretty girl’ (prince),” said Montalban. “This is
more of a rebel prince who just wants to be a regular person, and he’s looking for the
person who will complete him.”
On paper, that sounds fine. On TV, however, the prince falls in love with the beautiful
woman at the top of the stairs before he’s even spoken to her. So much for soulmates.
To be fair, we have to accept a few contradictions because this is, after all, a fairy tale.
Or, to quote Alexander in the beefed up role of Lionel, the prince’s valet, “Who dances
in glass shoes?” (By the way Alexander told reporters that when he was offered the
part, he was a little hesitant because he “didn’t remember the valet as being pivotal.”)
So, on faith and with out regard to logic, we don’t ask why one glass slipper didn’t
dissolve at midnight with the rest of the clothes and the carriage; why the prince needed
help from a shoe to recognize his true love; why Cinderella’s family didn’t recognize her
at the ball; or how it was that no other woman in the kingdom had the same shoe size.
But, unfortunately, there are real contradictions and harmful messages in even this
“Cinderella” that should not be taken on faith. Here are some of them:

The Fairy godmother (Whitney Houston) says wishes are Poppycock and
Twaddle” and that Cinderella has the power within her – apparently her
personality and intellect – to change her life. Then she sends Cinderella to the
ball to charm the prince with her looks and let him save her.

Without the fairy godmother’s magic – and some outside forces like, maybe,
a winning lottery ticket- Cinderella is still helpless because she needs a
beautiful gown and good wheels and can’t afford them. And with the magic
expiring at midnight and Cinderella rushing home, this must mean she no
longer has the power within her.

Even while the prince insists he wants someone with whom to talk and share
his life, the ball has a staircase of giggling, cooing women who’ve never met
the man but are happy to marry him because he’s a prince.

The evil stepmother (Peters) reminds Cinderella’s stepsisters that “this isn’t
bout love, it’s about marriage.”
So, although the stepmother is the villain, we still get the classic, destructive
images of women as gold diggers and of mothers having one ambition for
their daughters: marriage.

The prince, in the song “10 minutes Ago,” asks a valid question: “Do I love
you because you’re beautiful or are you beautiful because I love you?” But
he’s already answered his question. He’s known her for all of 10 minutes, and
he’s clearly not yet established any intellectual bond.
There is more. The stepsisters aren’t really evil, but they’re villains
because they
commit the sin of being unattractive and clumsy. Cinderella’s family ends up locked
outside the castle gates, kept away from the wedding in a final act of revenge.
And this is a children’s story. Also, in its defense, it’s just a children’s story no harm
intended.
But that’s the final contradiction, that innocent stories used to help children fall asleep
can’t avoid having powerful messages and values woven through them that tell kids
what is important and what is good.
A children’s story on television is even more powerful because it’s coupled with the
hypnotic seduction of TV.
Is one remade fairytale going to change society? Of course not. Is ABC’s “Cinderella”
really going to convince children the world is colorblind or that fairy godmothers will
save them? Not likely.
But it is not so terrible an idea to remind our children as they watch of the moral and
messages conveyed, of our own families’ values, and of the world as we would like it to
be in the perfect fairy tale.