That has a 41% rating at Rotten Tomatoes. I scanned the reviews. Nothing worth quoting.
The preview is enough. I looked it up after reading this comment on the review that appears in WaPo: "I watched the preview and was struck by the whole message that Cinderella's new dream is to get to work MORE. Feed into the capitalistic machine, Cinderella! You have no value unless you dream of WORK."
Yes, there's a male fairy godmother, not that he's called a "fairy"! He's referred to as "Fabulous Godmother."
At this stage in the woke evolution of the language "mother" is fine, "fairy" is not. Will that ever change? It seems to me, in the history of the mythology of fairies, there was a land of Fairy, and it wasn't an all-female realm:
"Fairy" was used to represent: an illusion or enchantment; the land of the Faes; collectively the inhabitants thereof; an individual such as a fairy knight.... Historical origins of fairies range from various traditions from Iranian mythology... to European folklore such as of Brythonic (Bretons, Welsh, Cornish), Gaelic (Irish, Scots, Manx), and Germanic peoples, and of Middle French medieval romances....
In the Middle Ages, 'fairie was used adjectivally, meaning "enchanted" (as in fairie knight, fairie queene), but also became a generic term for various "enchanted" creatures during the Late Middle English period. Literature of the Elizabethan era conflated elves with the fairies of Romance culture, rendering these terms somewhat interchangeable.
The modern concept of "fairy" in the narrower sense is unique to English folklore, later made diminutive in accordance with prevailing tastes of the Victorian era, as in "fairy tales" for children. The Victorian era and Edwardian era saw a heightened increase of interest in fairies. The Celtic Revival cast fairies as part of Ireland's cultural heritage. Carole Silvers and others suggested this fascination of English antiquarians arose from a reaction to greater industrialization and loss of older folk ways....
Folklorists and mythologists have variously depicted fairies as: the unworthy dead, the children of Eve, a kind of demon, a species independent of humans, an older race of humans, and fallen angels. The folkloristic or mythological elements combine Celtic, Germanic and Greco-Roman elements. Folklorists have suggested that 'fairies' arose from various earlier beliefs, which lost currency with the advent of Christianity.....
Lots more at the link (to Wikipedia), including material about the King of the Fairies, Oberon, familiar to us from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (my favorite Shakespeare play). Here's a fantastic image of him, in a painting by Joseph Noel Paton (1849). Click to enlarge and see why "fairy" could be revived from insult to compliment:
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39 comments:
The nice thing about making movies is that you can make up anything you want, and have it appear on the screen, within budget, CGI & Special Effects capability, and editing control. A new Cinderella follows so many previous versions that we can all pick and choose a favorite.
Han shot first, is all I came here to say.
This is a challenge faced by creative people who were born too late (e.g., after Shakespeare). Every plot, every modern spin, every plot moved to space, every plot moved to the underground love lives of garden worms...has been done before and often twice before. And then done again a generation or two later.
They try to be contemporary and relevant (not so much Woke as fashionable and trendy), and blurt out derivative creative noises that will be forgotten in a few months or a year. We are in an interpretive rather than innovative era for music, film, and all professional arts. Even video games (as the newest popular creative art form) have been repeating film-derived creative content for quite a while, but continue to progress technologically.
New releases like this keep a few people employed and will be enjoyed by a few more. I can't say it's actually worse than the banal Network TV sitcom era of the 1950s to 1990s.
It actually looks pretty funny, in a light way. But I would never watch it. That is unless my granddaughter(s) required it of me. Then yes- with pleasure. Fairy God-Mother/Father and all.
Man...can we confuse the kids more?
hmmm Fairy GODmother??
Fairy? No WAY! Try to keep your homophobia to yourself!!!
GOD? OMG! Are you KIDDING ME? NO Place for GOD in today's america!!!
mother? you mean birth person? Try to keep your transphobia to yourself!
I miss the '70's, back when they made Proper Cinderella movies! WITH fairy Godmothers (And Snappers!)
Speaking of my junior high school yearbook, my favorite song at the time was "Fairies Wear Boots" by Black Sabbath. Being a pimply male teenager in the mid 1970s (see "Acne Positivity Day," infra), and not entirely sure my classmates were as deep into the Sabbath album Paranoid as I was, I thought the song title might be misconstrued.
So, instead I listed "Ironman" as my favorite song in my junior high school yearbook.
Additional crew per IMDB:
Charlotte Dent ... horse master (should that be mistress?)
Ivan K. Germano ... covid secretary
Johannes Helmling... Covid PA: dailies
ACaspar Lumley ... covid secretary
AAggie Mentel ... production assistant: covid-19
Monica Price ... Covid PA
Kamilla Steczkowska... covid pa
If we stopp believing in Fairys? Won't All the Gay folk DIE?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinkerbell_effect
Perhaps I am remembering it wrong, but wasn't there a time when the term "fairy" was embraced by the gay community?
My favorite Cinderella is Kevin Branaugh’s version
This woke correctness doesn't confuse kids, just their old fogie grandparents.
Preview shows the apotheosis of young American womanhood: work, beauty, triumph over meanies, romance, wealth.
But that version of American womanhood is quite at odds with this one, which seems to have data behind it:
"Happiness metrics confirm that women are struggling: Suicides, depression, substance abuse, and sexually transmitted infections have all increased dramatically over the last five decades. Women aren’t becoming happier, just more medicated. A 2020 Pew Report showed that over 50 percent of liberal white women under 30 have some sort of mental-health issue."
https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/08/why-dont-we-tell-women-whats-making-them-miserable/
Ahh, the modern day Cinderella...otherwise known as The Meghan Markle Story. The giveaway was the line she said to the prince "What about my work?"
Han shot first, is all I came here to say.
So did Wyatt Earp, in the vacant lot behind the OK Corral.
Like Gramps used to say, "Nobody does nymphs like Paton, am I right?"
I had a children's lit course in library school--it was actually more fun and more serious than it sounds, at least in parts. One of the first things we learned was that fairy tales a la Grimm are full of cruelty, and that's OK.
Can I remind Amazon that the real Amazon is being clear-cut and burned off the face of the earth while simultaneously destroying indigenous populations who pre-date by millenia even the vaguest notion of on-demand home deliveries? Shame.
I'd never heard of Oberon. So I clicked the link and did a Ctrl-F hoping for a wikipedia rathole to go down.
I found this phrase describing C.S. Lewis adjacent:
"...renowned author and Christian apologist..."
I'm an athiest, and, in an unrelated matter, can barely tolerate C.S. Lewis Stories. But this author casually writes off one of the world's 3 or 4 great religions as bad-to-evil--as a casual side note in a reference article about fairies.
There is really no hope for peace between the ideology of this author and the ideology of normal people.
It's amazing how something so "woke" employs such obvious tropes and stereotypes. Boring.
Seems easy. I like Cinderella and have watched lots of versions. Not this one!
That looks awful.
The Kenneth Branagh film (2015, starring Lily James and Cate Blanchett) is excellent. Terrific family entertainment, probably underrated by critics because it wasn't woke enough. Great story, great spectacle.
mtp,
I may be misunderstanding you, but if I'm not, you don't know what an apologist (specifically a "Christian apologist") is.
I'm pretty sure Lewis described himself as such.
On Prime there is a series called "Shakespeare Uncovered" I think, and they do an adoration of A Midsummer Night's Dream and bring in some historical facts about Shakespeare's life that bear on the play. It's kind of fascinating, and the stuff enhances the play rather than reducing it, IMHO. It's only speculation that Shakespeare would have seen Queen Elizabeth when he was a child as she visited Kenilworth Castle, but there are clear allusions to that visit in the play.
This looks horrific. Wokeness aside (which is a big downer), it just looks like a really poorly acted film. Production values look pretty lame too. Not sure why anyone would watch this.
As for the wokeness, how is fairy somehow more offensive that labeling an obviously gay character as "fabulous?" Seems kind of like playing to the overly flamboyant gay man stereotype.
And, what exactly is so earth shattering about a princes who also wants to open a dress shop? Lots of royals (male and female) pursue business interests. I'm not seeing how this is a revolutionary idea. Lame.
This woke correctness doesn't confuse kids, just their old fogie grandparents.
As usual, Howard the Perpetually Confused speaks (unwillingly) entirely for himself.
I'd never heard of Oberon.
What can one say about an adult this narrowly educated...? Well, it moves one to tears.
SeanF,
I did not know what a Christian apologist is. I do now.
Thanks.
@Sean F
Bill Maher made an entire documentary purporting to refute Christianity, or at least make fun of it, and it turned out he didn't know what an Christian Apologist was. Though, to be fair, the use of the word apologist with the meaning "one who speaks or writes in defense of someone or something" is not common these days.
anything with synchronized dancing is a deal killer for me.
didn't this movie come out last may?
poor street girl, with fashion sense struggles in the fashion industry
poor street girl, gets help from weird guy (guys? Mice?)
Mean old lady trashes her dresses
street girl dyes her hair, destroys mean old lady, and then starts making dog skin coats?
I'm pretty sure i saw it, when it was the 1st movie the Elkader theature reopened with
The Cinderella girl is very cute. Shocked that they have two white leads, but they balance it out with the flaming black guy.
Why do black people in movies always have to be so 'sassy'? Why do they always speak with a ghetto accent? Seems racist as hell.
I've been watching Torchy Blane movies -- they're a B-series made in the late '30s about a girl reporter. She covers the crime beat and dallies/spars with her boyfriend (and fiance) Steve McBride, a homicide detective. Torchy isn't going to give up her career when she gets married, that much is clear. She has "ink in her blood and a nose for news." Glenda Farrell plays the role, a sort of second-string Ginger Rogers, and she's great. The movies are so much fun.
On a separate Amazon note, did you stop being Amazon affiliate? I don't see the link on the side panel anymore. I have been very careful to make all my purchases through it for the many years.
I think women should start demanding to be left alone. Always the favorite target of every would-be social engineer.
>>I've been watching Torchy Blane movies
Torchy Blane movies are great. A few without Glenda Farrell, including one with Jane Wyman instead of Glenda Farrell: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032044/?ref_=kw_li_tt
--gpm
I don't always watch trailers, but when I do I watch trailers chez Althouse.
That was godawful. Now I'll go watch the other one. Double feature!
I'm an old fogey. I remember the 1960s version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Cinderella. I recently bumped into it online & was surprised I still remember some lyrics. "The Prince is giving a ball!" Etc.
There is an interview of teens who grew up in the Music Video age. Interviewer asked "What does this song mean to you?" The teens described the video.
In Aristotle's Poetics, he describes the element of "spectacle". Producers today focus on that, cuz that's what sells tickets. Is a blight on imagination.
After Friday, some kids won't be able to "play Cinderella" because they won't know the story. The 1960s R&H version told us (neighborhood kids) the story & we made up the rest.
Lots more at the link (to Wikipedia), including material about the King of the Fairies, Oberon, familiar to us from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (my favorite Shakespeare play).
There are likely generations alive now that will never have a favorite Shakespeare play, unless they seek the plays out privately - - I don't think that even Shakespeare can defy cancel culture in US high schools and universities.
Quaestor,
You seem like a sensitive young man--I'm touched. I will endeavor from this moment on to live a life of the mind and live up to your example.
This is the turning point that will be the emotional crux of the movie they make of my life.
Spoiler alert:
The first half of the movie is mostly going to be me reading blog comments with my mouth slightly open. You might want to fast forward to the montage of me reading Nietzsche against a backdrop of "Lose Yourself"
@Bob
Taming of the Shrew is already cancelled, unless there is nontraditional casting. The dialogue is a little weird, but heck, these days, even men are made for bearing.
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