Gender Stereotypes In Cinderella

In all these versions, readers or viewers find a common thread to all. The wicked stepmother and siblings are either punished or forgiven, while the sweet, gracious, and beautiful Cinderella marries the prince, and as such escapes her miserable life. According to this tale, marriage is the ultimate goal in life especially for the woman. In Cinderella, all the maidens in town go to the ball just to marry the prince. Even Cinderella desires to go because she sees marriage to the prince as the solution to her problem. “The ideological and psychological pattern and message of either Perrault’s or the Grimms’ Cinderella do nothing more than reinforce sexist values and a Puritan ethos that serves a society which fosters competition and achievement for survival” (Breaking the Magic 195). And this applies to the other two versions in this analysis. Women are typecast as incomplete and invisible without the prince, who obviously is a wealthy archetype. There is a certain important message in Cinderella that is most profitable to marry a rich man, because it earns the woman respect and dignity.
The movie is still keeping the gender stereotype alive and thriving even in people’s homes. In today’s America, where women are in the vanguard of dignified treatment, respect and equality for women, the gender role in fairy tales especially Cinderella is still the same. As Silima Nanda points out, “Ambitious women in fairy tales are always portrayed as evil from within, ugly and scheming, wielding over other women and men” (Portrayal of Women 246-250). While there has been efforts to rewrite fairy tale like Sleeping Beauty for the screen, Cinderella remains the passive girl with an evil stepfamily. The stepmother is typecast as wicked, cannibalistic and self-conceited because she wants a better life for