3 Eye-Opening Ways that CINDERELLA 2021 Disrupts Gender Roles

Whose idea was it to make another Cinderella story? No, not the 2008 film with Selena Gomez. Rather, yet another movie based on the Cinderella narrative but with a slight twist. This time, the slight twist of the 2021 version is how Cinderella 2021 disrupts gender roles.

My two main interests in this film were seeing Camila Cabello perform in her debut acting role and also seeing this new genderless godmother concept, which we will revisit later.

Synopsis: Cinderella (2021) is a remake of the Cinderella story (that you really should know by now) where Cinderella is an aspiring dressmaker who has to choose between following a Prince or pursuing her dream career. 

Ok, pleasantries aside, let’s break down these broken gender roles.

How Cinderella 2021 Disrupts Gender Roles

1. Fab G

Let’s begin with the most obvious form of gender roles being disrupted in Cinderella (2021): having a genderless fairy god-person. Rather than the traditional older woman playing this role, Billy Porter, a gay man, stepped into this role instead. 

The godmother role has typically been reserved for women but rebranding this role as Fab G didn’t tie this magical role to being either male or female-centric. Rather, it allowed the space for Billy Porter to step in and make the role something that has not been seen in earlier adaptions of the Cinderella story.

Dressed in glitter and gold, Fab G brings a magic that unfortunately fails to ignite any real magnetic energy in this flat, soulless retelling of the Cinderella story.

The novelty of a genderless fairy god-person is not magical enough to grant the wish of making this film worthwhile.

2. Cinderella Choosing Her Career

In most societies, we’re so used to seeing women up and leaving their lives and dreams behind to conform to their husband’s life. That’s just normal. But to see a man leave his life behind to follow his woman’s dreams is so incredibly rare.

I fear that the man may build resentment or feel demasculinized in the future because of societal expectations that men are expected to lead. Their egos may be bruised from following a woman.

But going beyond whether the man is following the woman or vice versa, either way, the pair has to be a good team. In this particular scenario with the Prince and Cinderella, I don’t think they were a good match overall. 

Their lives didn’t converge. 

Realistically, I think they should have gone their separate ways. 

Cinderella knew what she wanted out of her life, the Prince still had no idea and followed the tide. 

One day he’s going to realize that he never really lived his own life but rather followed where the wind blew and maybe he’ll have resentment towards Cinderella because of that. Maybe not, but the future doesn’t look promising.

I like that Cinderella knew what she wanted and chose herself over a restrictive life but in this particular context, I don’t think the Prince should have followed her. They still barely knew each other. 

3. Women Having a Voice in The Royal Family

When the queen negated the King’s decision in front of the kingdom, I was like, eep, you bout to get thrown in the dungeon. 

But instead, the king just smiled it off cuz it was the end of the movie and they didn’t have any screen time for additional drama. 

In medieval times, the queen may have been punished for her defiance, but in this version of Cinderella, women aren’t punished for voicing their opinions.

Another example of women having a voice is the Prince’s sister becoming Queen. Traditionally, it would have taken a lot of time, convincing, and tears for society to even accept the idea of a woman leading the kingdom, but again, only so much drama can be allowed in limited screen time. 

The princess was far better suited for the role of Queen obviously because of her passion for a better world. Fortunately, her gender and traditional expectations didn’t get in the way of her stepping up as Queen. 

Besides the Gender Roles…

I was rolling (pun intended) my eyes by how cheesy and unoriginal every other aspect of this film was.

The town crier rapping like a Dollar Tree version of Hamilton was painful to listen to. Just cringe to the max.

The stepmother and her children (one round and one skinny, as usual) trying to be the Dollar General version of the Schuyler sisters again showed how badly this music wanted to be like Hamilton (and failed miserably).

The Ball scene trying to be the Five Below version of Bridgerton. 

(They really shouldn’t have put this musical up against these top-notch masterpieces. It just emphasizes the poor quality of the film.)

The random choir to support the soulless Prince lead. 

The three annoying mice.

It felt like a hodgepodge of pop-culture references and musical elements randomly thrown into a pot and mixed together. 

There was no cohesion. It was just a glorified greatest-hits album really.

In Conclusion…

The way that Cinderella 2021 disrupts gender roles and steps outside of the traditional boxes of gender was the only original aspect of this movie and it was done very mediocrely. 

At this point, I think we’ve overcooked the Cinderella story beyond the point of consumption but just wait 10 – 15 years. It’ll be back with another version. 

We all know the Cinderella remakes should’ve ended with the Brandy version of Cinderella (Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella). If you haven’t watched it yet. Do yourself a favor. Cleanse your palate. Watch it. 

But as for Cinderella (2021) —

Rating: 4.6/10

Any other ways that Cinderella (2021) disrupted traditional gender roles? Let me know in the comments below!

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Peace, love, and lots of popcorn,

IMO