#also celeste used to have sam's entrance as her banner for a long time and !!!! i think of her every time i watch it now

[madamescarlette]

Eden! Would love to hear all the things you love about A Cinderella Story!! :D Also I hope you are having a marvelous day darling! <3

Magpie!!!!!!!!! 💖💖💖💖💖💖 My dear my darling my friend I am SO delighted you asked!

Of course I had to go back and re-watch to be able to answer this properly, but in all honesty this is one of my all-time movies- I think I watched it for the first time about ten years ago and I even repeat the lines to myself at random to make m'self laugh. I'm never quite sure whether it's actually GOOD but I love it. Therein lies all the difference I suppose.

A list of Good things:

- Carter! Carter is such a good addition. I think a lot of adaptions are definitely aided by what I would call the lizard-who's-only-a-footman role, or a person who can stand by Cinderella and be witness to the love that enters her life. Carter really freshens this film and lifts it above what it might be otherwise, because I think he's a reminder for Sam that she can be self-reliant, but she doesn't HAVE to be, which makes all the difference.

- Rhonda! I will fully admit I have cried to the scene where Sam is moving into Rhonda's cottage more times than not, maybe because to me Rhonda represents a lot of what I want to be, but am never quite certain if I will get there. I think she's a really great addition as well, because it's rare for an adaption to have the fairy godmother play a real role in the story, but this one (like Ella Enchanted) has her as essentially a main character, present as Sam's best friend and closest thing she has to a parent. The Rhonda who goes to bat for Sam, who spends years working a job that has become miserable to help watch over her girl, who always has a place for Sam to be safe and loved- she matters a lot to me.

- "I am a VERY APP-EAL-ING PERSON!!!" "Yeah, in your head!" (The amount of times I've mimicked this line in my life!!! it's weirdly perfect.)

- Carter looking back when Sam gets to the party and everyone's staring at her and his smile of pride and hope and joy for her!!!!

- The prince (Austin) is an actually decent person! He throws back her baseball and is impressed that she's the one who hit it so far! He offers to pay for his friends' drinks and is upset when they're rude!

- "Love her dress. Hate her!" (If we all could all sum up things this succinctly and clearly, it would make life a lot easier, I think)

- a good dance scene. a proper one. it can heal many ills in a movie, just to have a proper dance scene without any self-consciousness to it. though as always, it cracks me up that there are just. random musicians standing there who were like. i mean i know this isn't the wedding we were hired to play for but we'll play for these young lovers. they need to have their very important moment of looking at each other that is really them Looking at each other. sounds plausible sounds real. (though I will admit, from my childhood of being part of the family who played for everyone's wedding, this might be legit if you catch us in a good enough mood.)

- "I'm late!" "For what?" "Reality."

- there's something almost Shakespearean to me about how fundamental a lot of the plot elements of this movie are. Like the mistaken identities? The straightforwardness of the cloying and fumbling evils of the antagonists? The mutual pining a la Miraculous Ladybug where they're both caring for each other without being really conscious of who it is they're caring for, just wanting to do so anyway? It's all chef's kiss for me.

- The entire silent exchange when Austin shows up to the diner and Sam informs all her (diner) family that he's The Boy- I die every. time. someone tries to ask Rhonda a question in the background and she's like "no. I'm busy watching my daughter flirt. come back later."

- the Dress being a wedding dress. perfect to me somehow, despite it being a very early oughts type dress.

- the deeply Sensible character that Sam is. as a person who has worked hard at cultivating my relationship with being sensible for years, this is wonderful representation for me. Sam is a hard worker, and is probably even more of a tryhard than I am, which is saying something.

- her speech to Austin at the end!!! Is very, very good. her disappointment in him is so palpable and in my mind, highly justified when put in context with his place of privilege as opposed to Sam- Austin is intelligent, popular, surrounded by people who like him, as well as the vital thing of a parent who still loves and cares for him, which even with his feelings of being trapped by all these things make her reasonably upset that SHE'S the one who has to be brave first and reach out first despite her having very few of the same advantages. There's a straightness and clearness and purity to her showing up and telling him how it is and how he's affected her. It is what really, really sells this movie for me, I think.

- Sam: “Besides, if I don't go, who else is gonna explain the game to you?”

Carter, nodding: "Yeah...."

Sam: "I like what you're wearing, what character are you today?"

Carter: "Myself."

Sam: "I think it's your best look."

there's very little I don't love about this exchange.

- there's a sweetness to the climactic scene of this movie that I'm very fond of. the end of the drought being this rainstorm of emotion and honesty!!!! the "our secret moments in a crowded room" energy of it all. him running after her and her, sensible girl that she is, being like WHAT are you DOING??? The "I'm sorry I waited for the rain." "It's okay."

- also Sam's future being secured by the will hidden in her fairy tale book, like a wink from her dad telling her that it's okay to dream and that he'll be there supporting her.

ultimately, it winds up that I love this film because it touches on all the elements of what makes a true Cinderella adaption to me, which is the question and search of identity. For me, what makes Cinderella my favorite story in all its forms is the essential question nestled in its center, and for me the real question is always: if you are a person going through a storm, can you relate to who you were before, or are you now ultimately the person who is covered in ashes? Can you be seen through them anyway? Can you retain your joy with the sorrow of now? And even this film covers that in a real way, which is what makes it a real Cinderella to me, when multiple others want to be but aren't. (what makes an actual Cinderella adaption is usually whether I like it or not; it's a very complicated process but you can report back here whenever confused.) It all boils down to a girl who doesn't know if she can ever be known, and the boy who still knows her. It's as simple as that, and I love it very, very dearly.