The cast may be multiracial but

the messages are still mixed

By Rick Kushman

Sacramento Bee TV Critic

In many of the old fairy tales-simple, innocent children’s stories such as

“Cinderella”- the moral was enough to give you nightmares.

A woman- if she is beautiful, and she is young- can escape the horrible life

forced on her by uglier people and be rescued by a prince, handsome and

tall, and live happily ever after as royalty, far above the worthless

common folk.

Plus, the young, beautiful woman had to be white.

Tonight, ABC’s $12 million, “Cinderella” (at 7 on channel 10) makes a

well-intentioned attempt to reconcile Western culture’s prime rags-toriches

story with 1990’s sensibilities. Sad to say, it ends up with so many

contradictions, it can still give you nightmares.

And ultimately, with all its new talk about finding the beauty within and

not being a victim, the moral amounts to: A young, beautiful woman can

escape the horrible life forced on her by uglier people and be rescued by a

handsome prince, to live happily ever after as royalty far above the

common folk.

One reason may be that those are 1990’s sensibilities. Still. Another is

that our myths are so ingrained they are impossible to shake. In either

case, even this well-meaning, modernized, multicultural “Cinderella” shows

how much sexual stereotyping exists and how little room society gives to

women.

Before we get too far down that path, let’s detour to the pure Hollywood

side of the ledger. The cast members largely live up to their stellar

potential. They include Whoopi Goldberg (the queen), Whitney Houston

(the fairy godmother), Jason Alexander (a new character, the prince’s

valet), Brandy (Cinderella), and Bernadette Peters (the stepmother). And

the two-hour movie, despite a few slow spots, is an entertaining remake

of the classic children’s tale.

But ABC and “The Wonderful World of Disney” have said for the months

that precisely because it’s a children’s tale, they have an obligation to

tweak it enough to send out enlightened messages. And, in one of those

unfair Catch 22s, by bringing up the subject, the producers invited close

scrutiny of their messages.

This “Cinderella’s” most enlightened feat is to create a multiethnic,

completely colorblind fairy tale- although like much of the network

television, Latino characters are almost non-existent.

Still, the queen (Goldberg) is African American, the king (Victor Garber) is

white and together they have a Filipino son (Paolo Montalban). Cinderella

(Brandy) is African American, making her one of TV’s few non-white fairy

tale stars.

In an interview with reporters recently, the producers talked about their

intentions.

“We wanted everybody who watches to be able to say, That’s my story, I

can identify with people on that screen.” Said Neil Meron, an executive

producer.

“It was one of our main concerns,” said director Robert Iscove, “to make

sure that the story had some relevance to a ‘90s audience. We’re trying

to empower all of these ladies to realize that the beautiful dress and the

externals are inside you, that every girl is a princess and they can bring

that our.”

Iscove said both Cinderella and the prince underwent small but

substantive character changes. Cinderella is no longer just waiting to be

rescued. At the end – before the prince finds her – she decides to leave

her stepmother’s house and salvage her life on her own.

And the prince, in theory, is looking for a soulmate, not the winner of the

Miss Kingdom pageant.

“He’s not the typical ‘I’m holding out for the pretty girl’ (prince),” said

Montalban. “This is more of a rebel prince who just wants to be a regular

person, and he’s looking for the person who will complete him.”

On paper, that sounds fine. On TV, however, the prince falls in love with

the beautiful woman at the top of the stairs before he’s even spoken to

her. So much for soulmates.

To be fair, we have to accept a few contradictions because this is, after

all, a fairy tale. Or, to quote Alexander in the beefed up role of Lionel, the

prince’s valet, “Who dances in glass shoes?” (By the way Alexander told

reporters that when he was offered the part, he was a little hesitant

because he “didn’t remember the valet as being pivotal.”)

So, on faith and with out regard to logic, we don’t ask why one glass

slipper didn’t dissolve at midnight with the rest of the clothes and the

carriage; why the prince needed help from a shoe to recognize his true

love; why Cinderella’s family didn’t recognize her at the ball; or how it was

that no other woman in the kingdom had the same shoe size.

But, unfortunately, there are real contradictions and harmful messages in

even this “Cinderella” that should not be taken on faith. Here are some of

them:

• The Fairy godmother (Whitney Houston) says wishes are

Poppycock and Twaddle” and that Cinderella has the power

within her – apparently her personality and intellect – to change

her life. Then she sends Cinderella to the ball to charm the

prince with her looks and let him save her.

• Without the fairy godmother’s magic – and some outside forces

like, maybe, a winning lottery ticket- Cinderella is still helpless

because she needs a beautiful gown and good wheels and can’t

afford them. And with the magic expiring at midnight and

Cinderella rushing home, this must mean she no longer has the

power within her.

• Even while the prince insists he wants someone with whom to

talk and share his life, the ball has a staircase of giggling, cooing

women who’ve never met the man but are happy to marry him

because he’s a prince.

• The evil stepmother (Peters) reminds Cinderella’s stepsisters

that “this isn’t bout love, it’s about marriage.”

So, although the stepmother is the villain, we still get the

classic, destructive images of women as gold diggers and of

mothers having one ambition for their daughters: marriage.

• The prince, in the song “10 minutes Ago,” asks a valid question:

“Do I love you because you’re beautiful or are you beautiful

because I love you?” But he’s already answered his question.

He’s known her for all of 10 minutes, and he’s clearly not yet

established any intellectual bond.

There is more. The stepsisters aren’t really evil, but they’re villains

because they commit the sin of being unattractive and clumsy.

Cinderella’s family ends up locked outside the castle gates, kept away

from the wedding in a final act of revenge.

And this is a children’s story. Also, in its defense, it’s just a children’s

story no harm intended.

But that’s the final contradiction, that innocent stories used to help

children fall asleep can’t avoid having powerful messages and values

woven through them that tell kids what is important and what is good.

A children’s story on television is even more powerful because it’s

coupled with the hypnotic seduction of TV.

Is one remade fairytale going to change society? Of course not. Is ABC’s

“Cinderella” really going to convince children the world is colorblind or

that fairy godmothers will save them? Not likely.

But it is not so terrible an idea to remind our children as they watch of

the moral and messages conveyed, of our own families’ values, and of the

world as we would like it to be in the perfect fairy tale.