"Do not address me as such! I am of Noble blood!" (Responce to Ever After) In Conjunction With Rodger's and Hammerstein's Cinderella

Ever After has to be one of my favorite movies about a Fairytale, however it wasn’t until I had to watch the movie for this assignment did I realize who the hell the two men at the beginning of the movie were. Duh it was the Grimm Brothers I totally get that now! I've seen the movie over eight times but would like to address several points about it before talking about Cinderella. In the very beginning of the movie the Baroness cries out “Do not leave me here” my immediate impression of this woman is that she neither loves Danielle’s father nor his estate. She has arrived with daughters of her own which indicates she was previously married. Danielle is what is left of her father, while he expects her to show the Baroness how to “get her hands dirty” She is also the last person he says he loves before he dies. This I believe sparked competition between her and her stepmother.

It is noted that it would be ten years before another man would enter Danielle’s life. In the course of this time Danielle grows into a young lady. Her two sisters Jacqueline and Margaret are different. While Margaret mistreats Danielle Jacqueline seems genuinely loving towards her stepsister (and slightly less bratty as well) I think there was an interesting family dynamic that went on between the four women. You have Danielle who is the rightful lady of the house who is treated as a house maid, Baroness DeGette who is using her daughters to gain a higher social standing Margaret who is self centered and self serving and finally there is Jacqueline who is apparently ‘only there for the food’ Besides the screwy family structure I think that the issue of outward appearances in connection to self image and self worth is important. This is especially highlighted during the costume party and while the women are preparing for it. Margaret the blonde was allowed to dress as a Peacock, while her sister was a horse. When asked why she could not be the Peacock her mother responds by saying ‘the horse is one of gods noblest creatures” Nobility or not horses are symbols of domestic work that at the time was associated with the lower class. In a way even if she was considered part of their family at this particular point she can be seen as socially beneath them.

Danielle is highly intelligent and of the lower class so the stereotype that you must be higher up in the social chain is dispelled. We must also consider that her father may at one point been fiscally successful enough to provide his daughter with an education since she is not only able to think for herself but also she is not obsessed with landing a husband and marrying wealthy. This is something we see from the start with her stepmother. Di Vinci says later on in the film that he was the bastard son of a lowerclassmen, he was a talented artist therefore it should not matter where he has come from. It does. Social classes pose as barriers for people and in the end hinder and prohibit them from happiness. This was not true in the case of Danielle but this is afterall a fairytale, fairytales are constructed to make people feel better about their own lives.

I particularly liked the way good and evil was portrayed. The Baroness was transparently evil. (Either that or Anjelica Houston is just creepy) While Danielle pretended to be something she was not she initially did it to save a mans life. I suppose the moral here is it is okay to lie about who you are if it will serve a larger purpose in the end, there is also the issue of pretending on a larger scale. Prince Henry was unhappy being just the Prince, his personality is dual ended. He was very romantic with Danielle, yet he was able to turn on her when it was discovered she was not who she claimed to be. This raises the idea of acting in order to gain social acceptance. Whether your intentions are self motivated or malicious this is understandable.

I don't know if it was just me but I liked this particular version better than Ever After. The obvious trying too hard to appeal to different and racial audiences being put aside I enjoyed the music. This particular version though was more focused on maintaining the integrity of the original story. While trying to appeal to a more modern audience, though there is a bit of confusion, I understand this may have been the composers way of defusing any old racial disparities that the original Cinderella held but Cinderella being played by a Black woman, only to later be mistreated by an integrated family of Blacks and Whites is far more disturbing than some white washed version that is socially focused. While this is problematic Ever After has its own issues. Besides the ones I had previously mentioned you have the general idea that no matter what your circumstances are you will be rescued. This is true in both revisions. Danielle is an active character in her own story while Brandy's Cinderella is a dreamer and more true to the Cinderella we see in the Walt Disney version.

Though visually and musically pleasing Rodger's and Hammerstein's Cinderella is overly saturated with lavish decorations and well known cast members that only end up taking away from any valuable lesson the film may offer. I feel like this particular Cinderella would appeal to today children since it offers the same ho-hum conflict resolution and happy ending. I took one thing from this version though. Teaching racial tolerance for a better purpose. Aside from this the film was pretty average.