I’d like to say something about how well animals are used in Disney’s Cinderella 2015.
Reminder: the point of the movie is “Have courage and be kind and your dreams will come true.”
Cinderella and Kit both believe this principle and both act on this principle, through thick and thin and the hardest of circumstances. So the way they live their lives and the decisions they make in the story all make that “kindness and courage” point perfectly.
The whole movie treats kindness and courage like a superpower. It’s this beautiful cause and effect, repeated over and over.
Because Ella is kind, she gets to go to the ball. And that’s the big one. So I think sometimes we overlook other areas where she’s repeatedly kind. Like with the animals. I shall explain.
In the opening of the movie, the Narrator compares Ella to a princess watching over a kingdom. Who’s the kingdom? Her animal friends, and the house they’ve lived in with their people for generations.
But specifically, the animals. Little Ella picks up, not kittens or puppies, but mice. (She’s kind to all animals, but the lowest, like mice and lizards, are the ones she most often comes into contact with and helps. And then they, the humblest of creatures, get “a night at the ball” where they’re transformed.)
And her mom specifically says that their job is to “look after” the animals. Throughout the whole movie, Ella never scolds her wicked stepsisters. She never reprimands them or snaps back. But she does reprimand who?
Lucifer, the cat. The mouse family (especially Gus.) She’s not just kind to them. She mothers them. She takes care of them. Like they’re the subjects in her kingdom. They all have to get along, on her watch. They all have to get enough to eat. They all have to stay safe and happy.
When she has nothing, she’s taking care of them. So, when, at the end of the movie, she calls the Prince “My Kit,” and he calls her “My Queen,” they’re both acknowledging the other person’s true self. Kit is a King in Training, not just THE PRINCE—but Ella is a Queen, not just CINDERELLA. And how do we know she’ll make a good Queen? Because we’ve seen how well she takes care of the lowest, humblest creatures.
And she’s rewarded for taking care of others. She’s rewarded for self-sacrifice and kindness. Obviously, the mice help her when she’s locked in the attic, and they pull her carriage as horses.
But that’s not the only example of her kindness to animals leading to dreams coming true. After all, when she meets the Prince, it’s not just because she’s running from how cruel her stepsisters are. The horse doesn’t spook for no reason—it spooks because a Stag startled it.
What Stag, you ask?
The Stag that Ella saved from the hunting party. She’s never met it before, and it had it’s horns lowered to her, right in the middle of interrupting her one—of only two—moments of despair. But she responds by warning it and telling it to run—her own troubles forgotten in a second, acting out of kindness.
Then her horse spooks. And then the courageous Prince notices, abandons the propriety of the Hunt, and meets/falls in love with her.
See? Cause and effect. She only meets the Prince after her kindness to one animal directly leads her to being noticed by him.
In fact, the whole conversation they fall in love over is about how he should be kind to the stag, and have the courage to do what’s right rather than just “what’s done.”
So anyway. In conclusion. This movie’s a masterpiece. And it uses animals as 1) an object lesson of how the humblest of creatures are worth caring for, and 2) how kindness and courage to those who have the least chance of rewarding you will be rewarded. Whether they’re wicked stepsisters incapable of love, or mice and geese incapable of speech.
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I'm officially a Disney Lorcana artist!
Here's a card that i painted for Lorcana's "Rise of the Floodborn", some may already know that I am very fond of drawing foxes, and it sure has been a great pleasure and honor that I got to illustrate Robin Hood. He is also one of my favorite Disney characters of all time.
©Disney
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Snow White doesn't have a personality 🙄-
SHE IS KIND. AND GENTLE. AND TRUSTING. AND NAIVE. AND WISHING FOR LOVE. I'M SORRY, IS THAT NOT ENOUGH FOR YOU???? DO YOU WANT HER TO BE ADORKABLE???? HAHA #RELATABLE????
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