#ella enchanted remake campaign

[thesweetnessofspring]

Ella Enchanted 2004 Sucks #3

This is going to seem like a little detail, but to me it's massively important.

In the movie, we see Ella's mother giving Ella commands and using her curse to "parent" her. I get that it's short-hand for showing how the curse works, but they could have gotten this information across using a teacher, her father, or Mandy. It seems hypocritical to be so horrified by such a gift and yet use it to one's advantage to force your daughter to practice her violin.

In the book, Ella points out that her mother hardly ever gave her a command. The one command she did give (not on her death bed, btw, because her child's safety wasn't to be left until she was dying) was that Ella never tell anyone about her curse. Otherwise, her mother made it a request so Ella could choose to obey her or not. And Ella talks about how Mandy would command her around, and Ella would find ways to meet the letter of the command but not the spirit (i.e. getting two almonds instead of the exact amount Mandy wanted). Ella describes her mother laughing and cheering her on to find ways around what was intended for her to do.

The contrast here is so important. In the movie, Ella's just naturally super awesome and rebellious because she's COOL and NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS. Whereas in the book, there is a LOT of credit given to Ella's mother in raising Ella to not be a mindless obedient child, but to get the choice to listen to her mother or not. Imagine raising a child and rarely ever giving them a direct command! But Ella's mother made it a point to do so. And when someone does give her a command, Ella's mother praises her for being clever and finding ways around what was intended so she can keep what agency she has. While Ella had a rebellious nature already, her mother helped her foster it and gave Ella the strength to go out and face the world with her curse.

[thesweetnessofspring]

Ella Enchanted 2004 Sucks #4

Part of my periodic ongoing series of me ranting about this absolute garbage piece of media in comparison to the perfection of the novel.

Today, let's talk about how they made the curse into a joke and prioritized visuals and gags over the horror of the curse.

This is a curse where if Ella is told to do something, she MUST do it. No matter what, that is horrible. Even if it's something you'd be willing to do, to have no choice, no way to fight back, is a literal nightmare.

Yet whenever they can in the movie, they make it into a joke. "Hold your tongue" turns into Ella literally holding her tongue with her fingers. The hard part in this isn't that Ella is forced to remain silent, unable to have a voice, but oh no, she was embarrassed at school by doing something weird! HAHAHAHA. Ella's running away and told to freeze while she is in midair and can somehow defy gravity and stay suspended in air. Wow, isn't it so cool how the curse makes her able to overcome the law of physics for literally no reason other than the visual of it? Even when she is being threatened with being eaten by ogres, with Slannen telling her how to fight, the tension turns into a joke as Ella karate-chops her way out of it. Let's not focus on how this curse is LITERALLY THREATENING ELLA'S LIFE when instead, why not make it so she's actually like a knockoff Marvel superhero, equipped with ill-timed humor and illogically acquired combat skills?! They even turn it into a joke with the not-even-mentioned-in-the-book-uncle has Ella "shake her booty" before landing the big command. So again, the curse is funny because Cary Elwes is being silly and making Anne Hathaway dance a funny dance, LOL.

Why. Did. They. Make. This. Curse. A. Spectacle. And. A. Joke.

Because it's funny, because it's for kids, because it's not that serious. But it's not funny, ELLA LITERALLY HAS NO AGENCY. THERE IS NO HUMOR OR ANYTHING COOL ABOUT HER CURSE. Taking away that dread lessens the curse's impact, consistently makes it an inconvenience with only an occasional command have an impact. And kids GET this curse, at a time when you often have no choice, but making it into a joke so often cheapens the impact the curse has.

Do you know what the curse did to Ella in the books? It made her into a different person. Not some dumb command where suddenly for no reason she became blonde or something, but she literally became HAPPY that she was cursed and had to obey every command, even a command to marry a man old enough to be her grandfather. Then there were the times she almost led herself and a gnome child to their deaths, she was starved, she was almost eaten by ogres, she was worked to the bone, she was forced to give any money she had to Olive, she was forced to forgo her own needs to be a slave to her stepfamily.

Right, something that brings that much danger and pain to a character just screams the peak of humor and visual gags, obviously.

[thesweetnessofspring]

Ella Enchanted (2004) Sucks #2: A reminder that Prince Char was whitewashed

Char's description in the book:

He looked just like his father too, although the sharp angles of King Jerrold's face were softened in his son. They each had tawny curls and swarthy skin. I had never been near enough to the king to know whether he also had a sprinkling of freckles across his nose, surprising on such a dark face.

Just imagine for a moment what it would have meant to get a book-accurate Char for a second. I'm talking how he looks AND how he acts, because the movie screw that up, too.

Sweet, kind, considerate, dutiful Char who is Ella's friend-turned-lover being played by a person of color in 2004. The description is vague enough that there's no specific race (by some close reading, my guess that the closest to matching this description would be a mixed-race black man, although as a kid I'd pictured him Latino just because that's the community I grew up around). But just imagine how beautiful that could have been, what kind of impact it could have had.

Instead we got the douchebag idiot whitewashed Char that's a copy and paste male love interest from 75% of romcoms. I hate it so much.

[thesweetnessofspring]

Ella Enchanted 2004 Sucks #5

Real Char (aka book Char): I love Ella for her humor, her sense of fun and adventure, her bravery, her intelligence, and her capability. I'm worried going to finishing school will change her, she doesn't need to be changed! When I'm around her, I can be her friend and take a break from being prince and all of those duties that I take seriously, because I care about my people and want to protect them. While I'm gone for a year to maintain an important alliance in a foreign court where the culture demands to be silent, the words from her letters give me companionship and I treasure them. Even after she led me to believe she was only after me for my money but got impatient and married someone else, I go after her when she comes to my ball in a disguise. I've known her long enough to sense that something is wrong. I recognize the abuse she'd been suffering during my absence and when she refuses my proposal, I graciously accept that she doesn't want to marry me. But I'm so happy when she finally confides that she had been cursed, which is now lifted, making us free to marry each other. 💕

Fake Char (aka movie Char): "You're not like other girls." (literal quote from the movie). Every other girl is vapid and obsessed with me and this girl has made it clear that she hates me, but now I want to sleep with her because she's clearly the only woman who has ever not been attracted to me. Plus, y'know, she's hot (like I'm going to go after her dark-skinned friend who has her exact same personality, pffff). Also, she's going to have to show me (an actual prince that is soon to be king) the obvious problems going on in my kingdom and point out that slavery and discrimination are bad, actually. I'm just too pretty to be smart, I couldn't have known slavery and land-grabbing is immoral!! I swear!! And my totally nice uncle and his not-at-all-obviously-evil snake clearly don't know either!! But if it gets me in Ella's skirts, I guess I can...like...listen to a giant or something I guess...have I done enough good stuff to kiss Ella now? Yes?! Since I've only known Ella for three days, I totally believe she was trying to kill me (she did hate my guts three days ago). I'm going to sit back and not do anything to help her out or even talk to her to get her side of the story. I mean, it's not feminist to help a girl now. She has to save me. That's the way it works. Now watch me sing and dance.

[thesweetnessofspring]

Why Ella Enchanted (2004) Sucks #1

In the book, Mandy is a middle-aged woman (fairy) with frizzy hair and a double chin. In the movie, they cast Minnie Driver as Mandy who decidedly does not fit that appearance whatsoever.

I'm going to saving up other reasons why the way they portray Mandy sucks in the movie, but I just want to sit and focus on this. Hollywood erased a central figure in the book who was a middle-aged woman and replaced her with a pretty face. No room for older woman figures mentoring and caring for young women here! No, no, no! We need PRETTY people! I mean, what's the POINT of eternal life if you have to spend it looking like an ugly old woman? BLECH. No, replace her with pretty! We must save our audience's eyes and give them Minnie Driver instead!

I don't even get what the point of this is??? I mean, Mandy isn't the protagonist but they STILL refused to give an older woman a kickass role and help inspire young girls with her wisdom. I guess she didn't fit the modern aEsTHEtiC they were going for because ew, a woman over 30??? That's OBVIOUSLY a crime.