The Princess Story

I watched the live action Cinderella the other day and I absolutely LOVED it! And it did relatively well in the box office from what I heard, which is a pretty fantastic achievement, especially in this day and age where girls are meant to be shown as tough and empowered and not just waiting around for a man. But you know what? Maybe sometimes I do want to watch a (for lack of a better term) Cinderella story! Where the girl who has nothing, gets everything! And really, the tag line of that story is pretty important for any person of any age of any race of any gender:

I mean, who can argue with that? It's a pretty great 'moral of the story' compared to some others that I've seen in movies these days! But I also know so many people who have poo-poo'd this movie just because it's another Princess movie.

Now I've never been one to want to be a princess and I was never described as being a girly-girl (except by my dad about 2 hours ago when he noted my voice sounded girlier than usual??) and I even called my dog, Mulan, after the Disney princess who freakin' saved China! But that doesn't mean that I look down my nose at movies like Cinderella. I loved my Disney Channel Original movies that were all pretty much the same, and I grew up watching classic Disney movies like Cinderella and The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. And yes, a lot of those princesses were the epitome of what a woman should be back in the day that it was released. But beneath it all, they were pretty strong women.

Take Snow White, yes she literally slept while her prince saved her, but she was also targeted because she was nice and kind and fair. In fact she was the fairest of them all. Aren't they great traits to have? And Belle. She was laughed at because she had her nose in a book all the time and her father was a little on the crazy side. But did that stop her from being herself? No! She freakin' saved her dad from a freakin' beast! And then saw the goodness behind the scary mask. Again, I would love to see the world like Belle does. And of course, I can't forget Cinderella, who became an orphan as a young girl and got stuck with terrible step sisters and a step mother who treated her like a servant. But still, amongst all this hardship, she remained positive and nothing could break her spirit.

So I ask again, what's wrong with the princess story? What's wrong with wanting to find your prince and your happily ever after? Today with all the feminism stories going around saying you don't need a man to be happy and you're strong as a female! I remember that always made me feel bad because growing up, I wanted to have a strong husband who was going to be a good father to my children and be able to support me well throughout our life together. That was what was going to make me happy. I wanted my own princess story where the guy would sweep me off my feet. I loved my Rom Coms and was always waiting for the day where my own Rom Com would happen.

 And you know what? I did end up getting my own fairytale and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that! I don't feel like I'm diminished as a female anymore now than when I did when I was single. I was confident with who I was and who I wanted to be, and having my beautiful strong man around who complemented me and helped me grow was, to me, an added bonus, not a setback.