Cinderella (Disney film)/Headscratchers

General

• If the glass slippers were created by the fairy godmother's magic, and the magic ended at midnight, then how did the lost slipper still exist by the time they were trying them on everyone?
  • Always thought that the fairy godmother left the shoes as mementos, in the Disney version at least, since we have that scene where Cinderella cradles it and directs her thanks to the sky as if the funny old magic lady is also Jesus.
  • Maybe the shoes have to be together in order to disappear.
  • Its just like the bound armor in Oblivion, damage it and drop it, then it wont disappear when the time runs out.
    • Cinderella is the story of a fairy godmother's successful Xanatos Gambit Batman Gambit for helping a deserving young woman.
• Was Cinderella really the only person in the kingdom who the slippers could fit?
  • Hm, there's no actual reason on the story itself, but the Grimms mention the sisters cutting chunks of their feet to fit the shoe, so probably it's because her feet were incredibly and amazingly small.
  • As I understand it, the story has its roots in an old Chinese tale, so the "delicate beauty" implied by Our Heroine's tiny feet were really the result of foot-binding. Squick.
    • In the Chinese version the heroine had feet naturally small, gain without pain, and that is why her sisters were so jealous of her. Must have been uncomfortable though...
  • They were custom made, so, yeah.
  • I've seen versions of the story where the slippers magically change size so that Cinderella's feet are the only ones that fit in them.
  • Cinderella is the story of a fairy godmother's successful Xanatos Gambit for helping a deserving young woman.
  • The Witches Abroad retelling lampshades this by having Nanny Ogg of all people possess the same foot size.
  • The Disney version Lampshades this:

Duke: But, Sire, this slipper may fit any number of girls. King: That's his problem. He's given his word, we'll hold him to it.

• • • And then Cinderella III: Twist In Time took it further: the stepmother uses magic to make the shoe fit Anastasia's foot first and so they go to the palace instead of Cinderella. When the prince sees Anastasia, he knows that she isn't the woman he danced with and realizes the possibility that the shoe could have fit multiple girls.
  • She could have a really weird foot size (very narrow, very wide, quarter size, etc.)
    • That was how it was explained in Ella Enchanted, that the slippers were fairy made (which was why they didn't break) and why they were so small - fairies were notorious for having tiny feet. Ella had a few drops of fairy blood in her, so she too had very small feet.
  • In Just Ella, she actually got the shoes by creating a wager that a glassblower could make her shoes she could walk in. If she made it ten steps, she got the shoes for free.
• This applies mostly to the modern "fairy godmother" versions — WHERE THE HELL WAS THIS GODMOTHER BEFORE THE BALL?! The godmother couldn't be bothered to help out Cindy at all when she was being tormented by her stepmother and stepsisters?
  • Cindy hadn't asked for help before. In the Disney version, she's cheerful despite the way they treat her until they destroy the dress. In the earlier fairy tales, while she's unhappy as a servant, the magic help only appears when she cries at her mother's grave and expresses a wish that she could go to the ball ( she's never even given a chance to make a dress in those versions.)
    • Actually, why does the fairy godmother help at all? She lives in a mansion, has plenty of food to eat, and even though she's treated poorly, she maintains a really good attitude.
      • A really good attitude that had finally reached the breaking point. Cinderella had taken the final piece of abuse needed to completly shatter her optomistic mind and was giving up all hope on her dreams and actually all hope of happiness. That was what finally called the fairy godmother.
  • In Ella Enchanted and the Roger's and Hammerstein's version of Cinderella, the fairy godmother was involved in Cindy's life, she just didn't know said godmother was magic. As for why the godmother didn't help her earlier, in Ella Enchanted there were rules as to how much or what kinds of magic fairies could use (which was why there was so much trouble, the fairy that cursed Ella used a spell that was too "big" to be used). The godmother for Ella would only use smaller spells, for things like housecleaning or cooking. In the musical, it was never really stated why the godmother never helped Cinderella, but it was implied that she thought her goddaughter's dreams were silly. She only decided to help her that one night because she was so moved by Cinderella's wishes to go to the ball.
  • This was addressed in Jim Henson's Hey, Cinderella! of all things. When the fairy godmother shows up, Cinderella asks what caused her to appear. The godmother says "Because you cried!" When Cinderella points out that she's cried before without the godmother appearing, she gives some excuse about being busy. It's also shown that the godmother wasn't too with it (she implies that she left Pinocchio in a whale and forgot about him).
  • Or else it's just that they aren't allowed to interfere too much. As compared to spiriting a girl away from her wicked stepmother and setting her up with an entire independent life, giving her a dress to go to one dance isn't much interference at all.
• Why doesn't Cinderella ever do anything about her situation, in any of the adaptations? In the Hilary Duff and Selena Gomez versions, it gets even stranger. Instead of Cinderella fearing her Step-Evils, why couldn't she make them fear her? Neither of them had to do those stupid tasks. The worst thing these diva stepmothers could do is pull them out of school, which would be illegal anyway. I just think these girls could have done a lot more to improve their lives, with just a little bit of brute force and perhaps tying the ditzy stepsisters up in respective closets.
  • What exactly could Cinderella do? Tell Lady Tremaine and the two step-sisters to eff off? Wow, nice going, hun, you just made your life a lot more miserable than ever before!! She had no power in that place. It was this life or be in the streets. Tying them up and shoving them in closets would grant her a stay at some jail.
  • In Ella Enchanted, Ella does take revenge whenever she can. She slips her stepmother herbs that make her fall asleep at a banquet, tricks Hattie into smelling a flower that makes her tell the truth for a period of time, and slips mice and spiders into Hattie's bed. Which is pretty impressive when you consider that Ella is the one who has a genuine reason why she can't outright refuse to be a servant and leave (the curse).
  • Rewatching the Disney version, I get the impression that their Cinderella is just too nice for her own good and wouldn't wish harm on anyone. You'd imagine that if the Prince wanted to punish Lady Tremaine and her daughters, Cinderella would be all "Oh, but they're not really that bad." She's just that kind of person.
  • ^ I doubt that; we see Disney's Cinderella frequently complaining her life ("Time to start another day!", "Goodness, morning, noon, and night...", "Oh, now what do they want? All right, all right! I'm coming!"). Women's rights just sucked in those days; a woman just up and leaving home and supporting herself on her own was a lot harder, if not an impossibility, compared today. Her step-mother took her father's fortune when he died, so she essentially had nothing and nowhere to go. Women's only hope of leaving home in far too many settings is marriage — unfair, depressing, but true.
    • In a TV movie version of the story, the Godmother asks Cinderella why she doesn't just leave and improve her own life. Cinderella reveals that she promised her father on his death bed that she'd keep the family together. During the conversation, we are led to believe that she got along with her stepmother and sisters before his death and they had gotten progressively worse in the years since.
• One thing that bothers me is this: Cinderella, in most versions, is nobility. From what I understand, nobility hobknobbed as that was how they kept their influence in court and amongst other nobles. This means that while Cinderella, being young, may not have gone visiting, she surely would have been seen by her father's friends when they came to visit him. Did no one notice that their friend's daughter who is now a marriagable age and might make a fine wife for their sons is nowhere to be seen after her father passes? Did they not think to check in with her, or to invite her to visit along with her stepmother/sisters to see if one of them would be a good match?
  • Depending on the version (if it even says anything about him at all, most don't) Cinderella's father is usually less of a nobleman and more of a wealthy scholar or businessman who "married up" by hooking up with the Wicked Stepmother. Chances are if he had friends, they were probably not of a social class to be checking up on a Lady who had lost her husband — and even if they were, it's unlikely the stepmother would have allowed them to visit if she thought they would object to how she was treating said late husband's daughter.
  • Not to mention that nobility or not, if a girl is essentially downgraded into a servant, a guy probably wouldn't want her in times like that. In Ever After, Danielle looks utterly ashamed and near tears when she confesses to Henry that she was the daughter of a noble lady because she was still a servant.
• If the shoes are made to fit Cinderella's feet perfectly, why does she lose one of them?
  • The shoe doesn't cover most of the top of her foot, and...well, there's a reason shoes are usually made of flexible material.

Disney versions

• About the Disney version: Right after the mice sing their song and Jaq and Gus go after the stuff for Cinderella's gown, they see the stepsisters complaining about always having to go wearing the same old sash and beads, to the point of calling them "trash". If that's what they thought, then why did they have to tear Cindy's gown later on because of them?
  • Because they're just that spoiled. The fact that they rip up her dress over accessories they don't even like makes their Kick the Dog all the more epic and the scene that much more heartbreaking.
  • Because it was just an excuse. They needed a reason to keep Cinderella from going to the ball. Lady Tremaine recognizes the beads and the sash as belonging to Anastasia and Drizella. The two step-sisters then tear her dress, making it impossible for her to go to the ball. They couldn't have cared less about the beads and the sash.
  • Because they're jealous bitches who hate the idea that Cinderella could take things that they don't like and look good in them.
• Why do people keep trying to compare the Disney version to the Brothers Grimm tale even though the opening credits say they used a different version as their source?
  • Nobody reads the credits?
• Am I the only one who noticed how Cinderella sang a whole flipping song about how precious dreams are and how nobody can tell her to stop dreaming, and then not even a minute later she tells her dog to stop his dreaming? I know it can be argued that she was just trying to protect him, but still, hypocritical much?
  • Her dreams were of a life of freedom and romance; his were about doing not-so-nice things to Lucifer.
  • Plus, there are two meanings of "dream" in action here. First there's an experience in your mind during sleep, Cinderella is against these if they include actions that will get you in trouble in real life. Second there's a hoped-for vision of the future, Cinderella is for these. It's all she has to keep going, after all.
• When Lady Tremaine locks Cinderella in her room in the Disney version, why doesn't the fairy godmother show up and unlock the door? She was willing to make an entire dress and carriage for her earlier, so surely unlocking a door would be no trouble.
  • She's not there to fix Cindy's every problem with a wave of her wand (if she were, she'd probably have shown up a lot sooner). Cinderella's friends were helping her escape, and they succeeded. She didn't need magic that time. Had they failed, maybe then the Godmother would have intervened. Just like before, when she showed up only after the attempt by the animals to help Cinderella attend the ball was unfairly ruined.
• What happened to the sister's baker boyfriend from the second film? Is the third movie before that one?
  • In effect you're right, the third movie was more a retelling of the first story; the second one was the true sequel.
  • The end credits of the third movie show a still shot of the baker offering her a cupcake, implying that they do end up together the second time around as well.
• Why is the cat considered a villain? I know he's Lady Tremaine's pet, but for most of the movie, all he's really trying to do is eat the mice. Isn't that what cats do in real life?
  • He also tracks mud over the floor (making multiple paths) right after Cinderella wiped it (see here).
    • He also baits the dog and, when he traps one of the mice under the cup towards the end, it seems pretty obvious he's doing it not to catch a mouse but to foil the attempt to rescue Cinderella.
  • They're not really just pets, though--clearly the cat is more intelligent than real-life cats. And he was a very malicious cat. You'll notice Cinderella doesn't treat him like a feared villain, just the mice, who *do* have a reason to be scared of him.
  • I think Lucifer may have started out just trying to catch mice, like all cats like to do, but after so many years of being thwarted by Cinderella he began to really hate her. Thus all the malicious behavior.