Just Curious

A Cinderella Story

Alright, Let me first confess that I am not a big fan of Hilary Duff. Given my age and upbringing, that probably shoudn't come of as a surprise. Nevertheless, unlike most critics, I have very mixed feelings towards her latest film, A Cinderella Story.
 
Most people could easily recognize this as one of the latest no-brainer teeny movies. And I concede, that the storyline is fairly idiotic. You've got a modern day Cinderella who gets bitched by her step-mom and evil step-sisters all day long, who met her prince charming in an online chatroom, went to a masquerade ball, and left her prince a cell-phone instead of a glass slipper...according to one critic, the only highlight (by this she means "not entirely rubbish") is the performance of the step-mom.
 
But I do have a different take on this issue. When we say a movie is "good", against what standard are we judging its virtues? The all-time classics of the old days? Probably not. It probably should be the other teen movies these days. But what else do we have? American Wedding? Where audiences are supposed to chuckle watching a big-time loser shaving his crotch? Old school? Where we see a drunk man running naked on the street and where we're supposed to find this humorous? 
 
It is very interesting. Why can't movies that are not as tasteless and as utterly depraved as recent teen movies be more interesting? Why do people who have their heads on their shoulders have to be boring? This doesn't make any sense at all.
 
Back to Cinderella. There is a better version of the story, made in Communist Czeckoslovakia in 1973. It's a very interesting feminist version of the story, in which Cinderella is no longer your brittle and willowy weeping beauty. She's not your typical princess who needs a prince to take care of. Nay, she's the decider of her own fate; a warrior within whose soul "destiny meets one of its own stature, who seized it by the throat" ; and above all, a girl of good cheer. She also displays great physical rigor, outperforming the prince in both archery and dancing. There is no such thing as the godmother in this movie, although our heroin did make use of three magical walnuts to get some very attractive outfits on her. And sorry for those Duff fans out there, the actress who plays Cinderella here is definitely prettier. This probably is the case for most Eastern European movies, since Hollywood actors in general have this very jaded and weary look on their face. But who could blame them?
 
There's a good fansite for the Cinderella I like:
http://www.threegiftsforcinderella.net
 

posted by James Chang @ 8:31 AM