A Cinderella Story- Realistic or nah?

I must admit, while I was never the typical little girl growing up (I preferred my computer games and books to makeup and shopping), I of course, dreamed of the idea of being able to have whatever I wanted, when I wanted. Growing up, up until I was eight years old, it was just my single mother and me. She worked hard so that we could have a little bit of extra spending money for things like gymnastics lessons for me (that lasted about three months) or dance lessons (that one lasted almost a year), or whatever I decided I wanted to pursue for the month. There’s always been something somewhat romantic about the idea of going from a poor situation to one where everything you could ever want is at your fingertips (whether it be through marriage or magic).

Apologies for the blurry photo, but a picture of tiny me (in orange) at a gymnastics birthday party

I must admit, I had never seen Pretty Woman until it was required for this week’s blogpost. I kind of adored it. It was simple, sweet, and the quintessential “Cinderella” story. The one thing that most people equate with a “Cinderella” story is the idea of rags to riches (usually through marriage or magic).

And certainly, Cinderella and Vivian (our street-smart protagonist of Pretty Woman), achieve their riches through marriage. But how realistic is that exactly? As much as many women like to pretend it’s possible, when considering today’s culture and perspective on things such as prostitution, it just does not seem feasible.

I really enjoyed Pretty Woman I did. But I have a feeling, if you were to ask a millennial (female more likely) their perception of the film, they would take a very feminist perspective when criticizing both Vivian and Edward, our Prince Charming. Their top argument against the film is that it would be unrealistic and portrays women as hookers, when women should be aiming for better jobs and more equality. 

Acceptable? Pic from abovethelaw.com (there was a lawsuit!)

What I find poignant from Pretty Woman, and the sequel to Disney’s Cinderella, is that both women want to do more with their lives. Vivian wants to go back and finish high school and do more with her life. While the original Cinderella from Disney does not show much, in Cinderella II she is shown not quite as the delicate, compliant woman that the Prince marries. Instead, she is shown going out and about in the town, solving problems for various townspeople (including her own stepsister). 

Over the years, there has been many, many variations- all sorts of "A Cinderella Story" movie sagas, and I absolutely loved every variation of them- because truly, the underdog wins out and it's the ultimate "rise tale". And of course, being the huge fan of Walt Disney World that I am, a picture of Cinderella's Castle and I was a must add to this blog post!

Photo credit: My sister, otherwise she would be angry :)

One last thing before I finish my rant- Disney’s Cinderella is certainly frowned upon by much of the current culture and community for not “having a backbone”, being too submissive, and the like- I never got that perception. What I saw was a young woman that had lost both her mother and father and was thrust into a terrible situation, but still tried to make the best of it. Cinderella worked to keep a calm, collected persona as much as possible. She was kind. And the message I received from that was that as long as you tried to be calm, collected, and kind, good things would come your way, no matter what else you encountered along the way.