CINDERELLA

                                                                                                                

               A musical film named Cinderella was released recently and it had an impact on me. The film taught us many lessons and broke many stereotypes, some of which are: 

• You reap the fruit of the plant you sow. 

               In the story, the fairy godmother magically appears but the film showed us how Ella's kindness in saving the caterpillar resulted in her getting help from the godmother. 

• Determination 

Ella was determined to make a life for herself, on her own - emphasis on 'on her own'. She could have simply married the prince but she knew that regalia would not satisfy her in the longer run. Her stepmother tried to stop her too but she knew she wanted to design and that's what she did. She was ready to sacrifice her love for her dream and that is true determination right there. 

• Beautiful Boy 

I appreciate how while singing the song 'Perfect', they used the 'Beautiful Boy'. It helps in maintaining gender neutrality and breaking the myth that 'Handsome' is for men and "Beautiful' is for women. I only learnt an year ago that it's not actually defined and that both the words can be used for both the genders, that's how much we're differentiating.  

• Royal Family 

Remember how revolting people were with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle? I appreciate how the film showed that the royal descendants are a part of the changing times too and how they would have different interests and wants in life. The film portrayed the importance of individuality and how it should be allowed for the royal family too. And I also really liked how upbeat was used while giving out the announcements for the day ... That represented and conveyed a changing world

• Stop Judging 

               Didn't we all judge the stepmother when we read the book? You have to admit because we did call her the evil stepmother, didn't we? The film portrayed that everyone has their reasons and that people act the way they do. Albeit, she was being spiteful(she admitted it herself) and that's not right but she thought about her own children and put them in front of her stepdaughters, you can't blame a mother. Therefore, stop judging. 

Finally, I realized the importance of equity. The movie portrayed an olden era, but, in this era what could change? Equity! Now, giving women rights is not the same as treating them equally. I'm not talking about job opportunities or sending them to schools. That has changed. I'm talking about how you treat them. For example, if a girl child is born and growing you sign her up for some extra-curriculars, let it not be just music or dance, sign her up for sports and martial arts also. 

             There was this incident that happened where, a class was on the third floor and there were chairs present outside the class that needed repair. So a teacher came up and asked all the boys to come out and carry the chairs downstairs. But it so happened that there were two chairs left out and not enough boys, so me and my friend picked up those chairs and went down to first show them to the principal. The principal assessed the chairs and she asked us to replace them with new chairs that were present next to her office. Then, her eyes fell on me and my friend and she said "you girls can go to class, the boys will take care". She was our principal so we just shook our heads okay but we did carry those two new chairs back up after she left. 

           It's the smallest things like asking your daughter to go for groceries and not your son that make a difference. I'm lucky that my family isn't this way but I know that many others are. Change - for the future generation, if not for yourself! 

P.S. It's Ella y'all! Get it right! 

- Jiya Chandrapu