#random tangent from ari because my heart goes out to cinderella and i want people to stop denouncing her

[actuallyschizophrenic]

this is entirely unrelated to my blog but like... i dont think people understand one of the major reasons i love disney so much is that it got me through hard times repeatedly, starting from when i was little and didn’t even comprehend my situtation yet. as a 5 or 6 year old kid, i had no idea what abuse was but it was something i was dealing with and it was so alientating and i felt entirely alone as a little child but something that was really important to me back then was cinderella! i didnt understand why i latched onto her when i was so small but i understand now that i saw a person in an similar situation to mine, abused by her mother and in a home where she didn’t feel safe, with no friends besides any non-human thing that she could interact with, and i saw the story of an abused person who continued to be kind and grew up to get out of her situtation and grow to be happy. it made me feel so much less alone knowing i wasnt alone in my unfair treatment, that i wasnt just upset for nothing, and that i could still be a happy person some day even if i wasnt then. i didnt get why back then but that was major to me, and growing up i kept her (and all the disney movies for different reasons but this one character especially) in my mind because god damn, i saw someone who got me through shit that a child should never have to deal with and that’s so important to me.

i’ve never seen the live action movie because i kinda refuse to see remakes of movies i already count as masterpieces so i’ve only seen the remake of pete’s dragon (terrible movie to begin with, needed to be remade or entirely forgotten), but i love cinderella so much. i love the character and the fact that she was such an inspiration, and god i hate people who claim she’s anti-feminism or a bad role model for kids literally only because she’s feminine. she didn’t need to slay a dragon or blow off her prince to be important to me, she survived abuse and showed 5-year-old-me that i could too.

so if you ever wonder why i love disney so much, that’s why. it’s mostly because it’s helped me through a lot, the princesses especially, and cinderella maybe the most when i was young. that’s why it makes me so happy now, that’s why i’m so passionate about it. it’s the one thing that makes me truly happy and it’s gotten me through a lot.

i’m so done with people who claim cinderella is anti-feminist because she’s a “bad role model for girls”

like, yeah, we all love our action girls who kick ass, take names, and handle business themselves. but we don’t need to tear down cinderella to prop up those characters. and seriously – cinderella was stuck in an abusive home with no place else to go. in her time period, her only way out of her stepmother’s house would be to get married. (and no, she doesn’t go to the ball to find a husband. she goes to the ball because dammit she wants to go to a party and have fun. meeting the prince was just a bonus.) she couldn’t get a job, and even if she just ran away, where would she go? she really didn’t have any other options.

and “bad role model”? let’s review the lessons cinderella teaches.

never let others crush your dreams

no matter how bad things may seem, hold onto hope

no matter how bad your situation is, find joy in whatever you can, no matter how small

even if you’re surrounded by people who degrade you, there are people out there who will love you and care about you

don’t let cruel people twist you into being as hateful and bitter as they are

if someone really loves you, they won’t care whether you’re a princess or a servant

even if you choose to forgive your abusers, you are completely within your rights to walk away from them forever when you have the chance

small bravery, the kind it takes to get through the day, is often overlooked, but it’s still important

no matter how much abuse and pain you’ve endured, you can still find your happy ending

ah, yes. such bad lessons. sure.

i think the live action remake sums it all up perfectly: