The film “A Cinderella Story,” starring Hilary Duff and Chad Michael Murray may have been released in 2004, but it is still more than relevant to the modern times. Though Cinderella is a story that has been rewritten hundreds of times over, “A Cinderella Story” takes a tale some might say has been done to death and creates a fresh and creative telling for the twenty-first century.
The original Cinderella, also known as The Little Glass Slipper, is known throughout the ages, and hardly needs summarizing. The oldest recorded version of the tale originates from China, and the most popular version of the tale is the one written by the Brothers Grimm in their 1812 collection of fairy tales. The story itself is so widely redone and reclaimed by other cultures it’s difficult to say which came first.
In an age when it’s hard to believe in love at first sight, the most innovative change “A Cinderella Story” makes is the choice to have Cinderella and her prince have already met when the story begins. In the beginning of the movie after a long day of working, Sam (our Cinderella) speaks online with Austin (our Prince). It is made clear after a few moments of them catching up about their days that they have been speaking online for a long while and have gotten to know each other’s personalities and lives. They don’t, however, know each other’s names or faces, so they live their lives in the same high school without knowing.
This take on the story allows for keeping to one of the main themes of the original Cinderella story. In the original story, Cinderella adopts a different persona and appearance in order to interact with her prince for the first time. She sheds the identity of the abused lower class worker with tattered clothing and takes on the persona of a fine upper class lady. Under this drastic change, the prince falls for her, but the real tension of the story lies in discovering whether or not Cinderella’s prince will still accept her once he learns her true identity as the worker. This theme in the story is that true love withstands all appearances, and love depends on accepting your loved one for who they truly are.
The movie plays with the idea of double identity just as the original story does, but takes it to one level deeper than the original. By introducing the online personas of Sam and Austin, there is yet another layer of identity at play in the story: the worker, the high class lady, and now the anonymous online girl. The movie makes it so that even the modern audience skeptical of love at first sight would accept that Cinderella and her prince truly love each other. Due to their deep conversations online, it is made clear early on that Austin has already fallen for Sam (or at the very least one of her identities). Just like the original story, the prince falls for Cinderella one identity at a time, and loves her just the same no matter what he discovers about her. While in the original story the prince falls for her high class identity and then her low class identity, in the movie he falls for her online identity, followed by her high class identity, and finally her low class identity.
A common trope of modern Cinderella adaptations that the movie uses is that where Cinderella and her prince meet (and sometimes begin to fall in love) before the ball. This movie plays on that idea by having Sam and Austin get to know each other online, but also by having them see each other in passing during school hours. They do not formally introduce themselves to each other, so Austin does not recognize Sam as the worker when he meets her high class identity.
The movie also plays with the concept of personas and identities by having the online identity and the high class identity converge during the ball scene. Unlike the original story where the high class identity is all the prince knows when they meet, in the movie they meet and recognize each other as their online identities right away. Also unlike the story they meet at the ball not because the prince is drawn to her beauty, but because they have already planned to meet each other in the middle of the dance floor and are expecting to see each other.
As another play on the story, Austin himself has a secondary identity, which gives Sam pause when she first discovers. While Austin does not recognize her due to never having given her worker identity any second thought due to her not being popular in school, she recognizes him as the starring quarterback and most popular guy in school. Unlike the original story, where the prince’s high status is something Cinderella instantly accepts and even likes about him, Sam finds herself conflicted upon discovering the guy she met online is the same as the popular guy she knew in passing. His status makes her hesitate partially because she doesn’t think he would want to be seen with her after he discovers her worker identity, which is a fear Cinderella in the original story shares with her. But in addition to this, Sam also has prejudices about the kind of person Austin is. While Austin has no prejudices about Sam, she is reluctant to accept the idea of the sensitive, smart guy she has been talking to also being the high school football star at the same time, and takes some convincing from Austin before she is willing to spend her evening with him.
As well as playing with the themes of identity which are shown in the original Cinderella story, “A Cinderella Story” also makes smart choices in adaptation that make their version of the tale easily digestible for a modern audience. The idea of Sam and Austin getting to know each other online before meeting in real life is an inspired choice, and despite the fact it is now twelve years old, the movie is arguably even more relevant in 2016 than in 2004. In a time where meeting romantic partners on Tindr, Grindr, and other dating apps and social media platforms is starting to become more common, perhaps even the norm, the idea of Sam and Austin having met online and gotten to know each other very well before meeting in person is more than understandable.
While the concept of Sam and Austin having met online now is understandable and normal, in the time when the movie was released, the concept was relatively cutting edge. The idea of getting to know people romantically or platonically online had only recently become possible, and the fear of someone you meet online being dangerous was prevalent. Since the internet was not yet something that everybody had access to, the common mindset was that anyone you meet online is only making friends online because it’s the only way they can make friends due to being some kind of criminal or societal outcast. The idea of talking to anyone online was a touchy subject, making friends online even more dodgy territory, and the idea of meeting a romantic partner online almost unthinkable. Having Sam and Austin initially meet online in the movie was a bold choice that while holds up to modern society beautifully, was a bold choice during the time it was released. The movie portrayed the idea that not only can you easily meet someone online who is not dangerous, but that you could even meet your one true love online and get your happily ever after. Despite the fact Sam and Austin were getting to know each other and messaging each other online without telling each other their real names, place of residence, or sharing photos of one another, this is not portrayed as a reason for their relationship to be unsafe or risky. In fact, their choices to not tell one another their real names, place of residence, or share photos was common in the time period the movie was released due to the societal stigma around meeting people online. Since it was a common fear that sharing things like photos, full names, or places of residence would make a person vulnerable to dangerous people, the idea of Austin and Sam not having shared that information with each other is understandable, even expected. While now the idea of meeting your one true love online is commonplace, back when the movie was released it had the rarity and
The final major change that the movie makes which aids the themes of the original story is they make the character of the fairy godmother to be one of Sam’s closest friends and mother figures, a fellow worker at the diner named Rhonda. While in the original story the fairy godmother is a mystical being who performs magic to give Cinderella an appearance worthy of the prince’s ball, the movie forgoes the performance of magic and instead utilizes the help of Rhonda, the other workers at the diner who are friends with Sam, and Sam’s closest school friend Carter.
By using close friends as replacements for the fairy godmother and the animals she transforms into Cinderella’s transportation to the ball, the movie portrays the idea that the closest form of magic in a person’s life is the relationships they maintain. While Austin and Sam’s meeting online for the first time is a metaphor for meeting someone in an unusual circumstance being magic, the act of having a close friend as the fairy godmother is a metaphor for how loving and healthy relationships are as close to magic as a modern day person in the real world can get.
In conclusion, the 2004 movie “A Cinderella Story” utilizes its modern setting in very clever ways that not only uphold the test of time, but remain relevant as well as sticking with the themes of the original Cinderella story. By using close personal relationships and the help loved ones bring as a metaphor for magic and by having Sam and Austin meet in an unusual manner, the movie celebrates the ordinary and puts magic in the mundane.
