Cinderella

On Monday we went to see Cinderella at the movies. Caitlin and I were very excited, Millie happy to go and LiAM not sure - he didn't enjoy it overly but the girls and I loved it. I was impressed with the detail and the direction, and thought Cate Blanchett was a captivatingly nasty step-mother, and Helena Bonham-Carter a delightfully eccentric fairy godmother.

Over the past year we have watched many movies based on the Cinderella story. We started with the original Disney animation, and then have borrowed many live action movie versions which tell the story in different ways. I'm amazed at the number of Cinderella based movies there are, and the more I watch, the more I become captivated by the story, and the more I realise it's not just a nice rags-to-riches story.

Two things in particular really stand out to me about the story - Cinderella is downtrodden and treated badly, and then she starts to stand up for herself and is able to break free of that - usually with the help of friends, but I guess it's the prince character noticing her and falling in love with her that boosts her self-esteem and gives her the courage to stand up to her stepmother and make some changes. I think I had always thought of her as just luckily meeting someone rich who takes her out of her undesirable situation, but it's more that she finally fights for better treatment and is able to break free that way. The prince is really just a nice bonus after that - her freedom is even more important. She also spends a lot of the story feeling like she's not worthy of the prince, and at the end is so much more confident and does believe in herself enough to believe that he could love her.

The other thing is the incredible romance of the prince being so determined to find this girl. He is willing to be ridiculed by his friends, advisors and his family, in order to track her down and be with her. I'd not realised before how brave that is, how much he goes against everything he's been taught so far. And it is SO romantic. He really loves her (or trusts that he will love her) and he prioritises that over everything else.

Both of those aspects to the story are so inspirational and I think could really make a difference to people who are struggling with their own self-esteem or being prevented from following their dreams. I feel movies can make a big difference and remind people that we can do things that are scary and it's sometimes worth giving it a go.

It's been great watching so many versions of the tale - we've had lots of discussions about what things are always the same in each version, and which bits are changed - and how those changes alter the story. I'm also really loving the fact that by exploring the story a bit further, my opinion on it has changed completely and I'm seeing it much more deeply than I ever did. I used to dismiss it a bit as a light, frothy, Disney tale, and now I love it and it's brought us so much joy and learning.

(Our favourite modern Cinderella adaptations are A Cinderella Story with Hillary Duff, and Another Cinderella Story with Selena Gomez)