Cinderella Syndrome

Cinderella Syndrome

I think the time has come for someone to write “Cinderella: The Sequel.”

How did we get here? In 1697, French writer Charles Perrault updated an age-old fairy tale about a young woman named Cinderella to appeal to his contemporaries, French nobility and bourgeoisie. So many of the early versions of the tale boasted a very resourceful young woman who played an active role in her destiny. Perrault, however wrote his Cinderella as a well-mannered, docile, selfless women who would fit seamlessly with the ideal 17th century upper-class society. Historically, fairy tales have reflected the values of society in which they were written or revised mirroring its preoccupations, obsessions, ambitions, and shortcomings. What do these updates say about our culture’s view of women and marriage?

It was this version that Walt Disney made famous in the 1950’s and to which feminists strongly reacted to in the 1960’s and 1970’s and ultimately co-opting the story to their own needs. What do these updates say about our culture’s view of women and marriage?

In her famous poem, “Cinderella, Ann Sexton mocks the happily ever after. “Cinderella and the prince lived, they say, happily ever after, like two dolls in a museum case that was never bothered by diapers or dust.”

Today’s teenage girls have been brought up by women who read Sexton and her peers and who have taught their daughters that they can want it all, marriage, career, family. But can they have it all? I feel that ...