Four modern movies that touch on the Cinderella theme

It doesn't matter if you are a Disney fan or not. It doesn't even matter if you like the story of Cinderella or if you've never even heard of it or seen her castle. The idea, that a poor girl can marry a rich guy and live happily ever after is a central idea in American romance and is deeply rooted in feminine ideology. It is why women cry at weddings. It is why women gasp at wedding dresses and open ring boxes. It is why men who attempt at being romantic get down on their knees to propose, or plan some memorable way of popping the question.

There have been tons of modern movies about romantic weddings or relationships that lead to the big day. For this particular article I want to focus on four films that touch on the Cinderella theme the most, each in a different way from the other three. The now considered classic film "Pretty Woman" starring Julia Roberts is definitely a Cinderella story and they even mention Cinderella in the film. Robert's other film "Sleeping with the Enemy" is a "Cinderella does not live happily-ever-after" version which promotes a feministic ideology that supports career women. An even more modern version of "Pretty Woman" is "Fifty Shades of Grey" starring Dakota Johnson showing us a more erotic spin and a darker version of Prince Charming. Finally, I want to mention the film "You've Got Mail" starring Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks which is classified as a romantic comedy, but is the most realistic of the four Cinderella spun movies I'm mentioning.

Beginning with the 1990 Garry Marshall film "Pretty Woman" - it is important to note that this film not only covers the Cinderella theme but also took an unknown actress (Julia Roberts) and made her an American sweetheart and icon, another rags to riches story. Also starring Richard Gere (previously known for "Officer and a Gentleman" and "American Gigolo") and with a fantastic supporting cast, the movie was an instant hit and is still on the dvd shelves of many romantics. The romantic comedy plot is basically just a prostitute who meets a rich man and they fall in love. She goes from walking the streets in a cut up dress and do-me boots, to wearing an upscale gown and a million dollar necklace at the opera with her rich man. The story is almost cornier than the original Cinderella story because most of the realists will become quite cynical in regards to believing that a super wealthy business man chooses a street prostitute for a wife. Yes, perhaps they are correct that is an unlikely scenario, but since we all rooted for Vivien in the movie, we were all happy about the "happy ending" and imagined that she and Edward Lewis did live happily ever after. That's how the Cinderella story goes and that's what we wanted and that's what "Pretty Woman" gave us.

Probably due to some feministic backlash towards Julia Robert's career and her choice to do a silly romantic Cinderella fantasy movie, Robert's reacted quickly by choosing to do a nightmare version of the "happily-ever-after" idea. In the film "Sleeping with the Enemy" directed by Joseph Ruben which came to audiences the following year in 1991, we get a totally different "Cinderella" with the character Sara. She married the rich guy, but she's miserable and abused and thinks every day about how she can escape the treachorous marriage from the bad husband Martin (played by Patrick Bergin, exceptionally). This film was based on the book written by Nancy Price and is a good response to balance the mind in regards to Cinderella fantasies. Price supports modern career women and their choices to be single and on their own showing us the nightmare of being too dependent on a man or isolated from social support systems. Sara has to plan her escape very carefully and her emancipation from the abusive "slavery" (aka her marriage to the controlling rich man) is only achieved in the end with the assistance from her new boyfriend, Ben (played by Kevin Anderson). This story is useful, but there are some issues with how it goes about defending the modern woman. Though Sara was smart enough to escape and find her own way, she was not tough enough to defend herself from her psychotic ex who was serious when he said, "If I can't have you, no one can." Ben rescues her from the psycho in the end, and that's a problematic ending for the feminist agenda.

Moving on to the next Cinderella type of film, I want to discuss "Fifty Shades of Grey" which also stemmed from a 2011 book written by E.L. James. The film (directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson) starring Dakota Johnson as Anastasia and Jamie Dornan as Christian is the erotic version of Cinderella. The book was on the bestseller list for a long time and inspired two sequels just as the film did. This was a hot ticket item and many women went crazy about it, just proving that feminism isn't as popular as dark smut and Cinderella fantasies. The eroticism and dark characterization of Christian reminded me of a book I had read from Anne Rice titled and about Sleeping Beauty. Of course, E.L.James did not focus on Anastasia's "Cinderellaness" but more of the "shades of grey" in regards to Christian's personality. Another version of Prince Charming isn't "perfect" so beware. This story seems more real to the readers or viewers because it covers that darkness and also includes such realistic eroticism that make the Cinderella fantasy seem more palpable. Anastasia is just a sweet woman who falls in love with a rich man. She's not a prostitute, nor is she a golddigger. She's just your girl next door type. All of those factors, make the story seem more believable. However, the over-the-top depictions in the films seemed a bit corny to me, maybe because I've been too poor my whole life to even imagine such things as a helicopter ride or such lavish gifts after a night of ecstasy.

So my opinion is that the most realistic of Cinderella-themed movies is "You've Got Mail" from 1998 directed by Nora Ephron. This film was inspired by a Hungarian play "Parfumerie" (1937) by Miklos Laszlo which had been adapted as "The Shop Around the Corner". Starring Tom Hanks as Mr. Fox and Meg Ryan as Kathleen Kelly, it is the sweet romantic comedy of two business people at war for the book market in New York City. Mr. Fox owns Fox Books (like the giant Barnes & Noble) while Miss Kelly owns the little "Shop Around the Corner" and her business is going down since Fox Books took over the area. These two are adversaries, but do not know that they are secretly in love online as they have been chatting for quite some time while they've also been putting each other down in the business world. This flip of plot is quite comedic, but also very realistically romantic in the same way that Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" is romantic and that Austen book is Miss Kelly's favorite book, specifically mentioned in the "Let's Meet" scene where she gets stood up because Mr. Fox realizes who he's in love with and there's a business animosity dilemma. We are not certain if they will make up and live happily ever after. That's the part that makes it realistic. He wants to save her from her sad business demise, but she's always been independent and is truly devastated that her business failed. She blames him and doesn't know until the end of the film, that she's been secretly in love with him online. When she realizes it, she has to come to terms with the fact that she lost her first love (her shoppe and her independence) to her next love -- him, Mr. Fox. It's a much more believable Cinderella story than the others the way I see it. Both characters, Miss Kelly and Mr. Fox, are really just regular people with regular problems and regular relationship hopes and fears. The Cinderella theme, where Miss Kelly is rescued by the rich Mr. Fox in the end, makes more sense to me because they've been in love the whole time, they just didn't know it.