Queering Cinderella

The story of Cinderella originates from a European folktale that plots a similar theme and story line across many cultures. The story we focus on is about a young woman whose mother passes away and is then left to be under the care of her evil stepmother and stepsisters who treat her unfairly. Although she is not dressed and fed in the best of standards like her step sisters, she possess the powerful weapon of beauty which then gains her the love of a prince and a happily ever after ending. The story of Cinderella has had a popular influence in pop culture as it represents an embodiment of good fortune after long despair.

Queer Theory is the set of concepts that claims the fluidity of identities rather than the set identities that are fixed norms. When focusing on the story of Cinderella from the Queer perspective, there are a number of questionable gendered elements to focus on. First, looking at the circumstance of Cinderella‘s environment, I question whether the entirety of expectations would have been different if Cinderella were male. Would Cinderro (we will call him) have the same expectations of housework chores and passive behaviors of accepting such long and hard unpaid work? Looking at a binary perspective, which is a reality the queer lens would challenge, I argue that male Cinderella may not be establishing any role in the housework chores, leaving those duties for his step sisters to take care of, which would allow him the opportunity to pursue other things. However, in a non-binary world, how would a male Cinderella’s chores and work be defined? If there were a lack of definition, what would that lack of defining his roles in the house be? The gendering of Cinderro cannot exist without the previous display of what someone like Cinderro would do, which is what Queer Theory calls performativity. Going further, Would Cinderro be held to the same standard when using his “beauty” as a weapon to gain the love of a princess? Or even a prince? How would having a prince (rather than princess) in the pursuit of finding true love change the cultural expectations of what it means to be a poor boy who uses his beauty as a way to obtain his prince’s love? This is an idea that is, typically, unthinkable. Society is taught to assume that a poor girl’s way out can be to marry rich if she is beautiful enough, the same idea does not necessarily relate to boys. This can be due to the perceived roles of leadership. The prince in the story has full control and choice as to the life he lives and the choices he makes, including the range of women he would like to marry at a ball, and under a Queer lens can be seen as the “normative” category. Cinderella’s position in the story has little to no choice; aside from a fairy god mother (a creature deemed unreal, fantasy) she does not have control of her choices because marriage is the only choice- she also cannot choose her partner. A queer theorist would also expect to find more options other than that narrow solution of marriage, which we can place in a “deviant” category. While most women realize that they can end up being the men they wanted to marry, marriage in itself does not have to be a valid, or the only, option.

It is also crucial to think about whether having a gay/lesbian story line would in fact better the hetero normative story line. However, changing the hetero normative story line to fit a queer one may also create its own form of genderless stereotypical societal forms that expect little boys and little girls to hope for certain things. While we can argue that most people dream about finding the one they are meant to be with and love, most people also find themselves lost in the elements of fantasy. It is not, in fact, focusing so much on the characters of the story as much as the fantasy of the story and how changing that can then provide a positive light on the characters.  To conclude, what if Cinderella said no? Queering the end of Cinderella can certainly entail a change in social practices that expect women to politely accept the fate that is determined for them. Challenging that gendered norm also facilitates a choice in the expressions and choices of sexuality that can break down these barriers.