Cinderella or Fairy Godmother
By
Theresa Chaze

One of my favorite movies of all times is Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella. Not for the romance and the prince, but the concepts that when someone loves you miracles can happen and that love externalized as kindness opens doors like no other. In a broad sense both notions are related; it is one person going out of their way to help another for the simple reason of caring enough to be helpful without expecting anything in return.
When the prince appeared, Cinderella was afraid of her Stepmother so she was reluctant to give him a drink of water, yet her kindness over ruled and she helped him without knowing of his royal status. The Stepmother and sisters with all their negativity used fear and condescension to keep Cinderella in her place and to elevate themselves to false superior positions. However, it was Cinderella who did all the work; the stepfamily existed to look good and to fit in their expected positions. Whereas Cinderella still had the ability to envision a brighter future, they were only capable of seeing through society’s eyes of perfection, which made the sisters’ small imperfections into major defects. Their obsession with achieving material status, kept them from filling themselves from the inside out. Whether it was her pet mice, the prince or her stepfamily, Cinderella was able to remain a loving person in spite of how she was treated. Being left behind as the others went to the ball, she did her best comfort herself because she thought she had no one else. Yet she quickly learned that wasn't true as her Fairy Godmother appeared in a ball of light. Made from her best hopes and dreams, she taught Cinderella that nothing in life is impossible. It was her unconditional love that created the magic, which turned mice into horses and a pumpkin into a carriage. With a wave of her wand, she gave Cinderella the ability to go to the ball--all except for the shoes, which were separate from the magic. She handed them to Cinderella as a special gift. Created with love outside the enchantment, they were the only gift that remained after midnight. They were designed for one person and would fit only her. In the end, Cinderella’s kindness went beyond the magic to reunited her with the prince as she again offered him a cool dipper of water.
The characters symbolically represented the challenges we all face in life. The prince symbolized Cinderella's hopes and dreams. He was more than a person or a love interest; he was her idealized version of what made her happy. With the exception of the physical description, everything she said about him, could be equally said about her.
The stepmother was society's pessimistic messages of who we should be and what we should expect from life. The stepfamily represented the limitations, which are meant to keep people sensible by stifling dreams. Their message was stay in your place and don't want more from life. The Fairy Godmother was made from all Cinderella‘s beautiful hopes, dreams, and wishes. She represented total unconditional love. It is this love and Cinderella’s ability to have faith that made her dreams a reality. Without bartering, the Fairy Godmother made Cinderella's wish came true. However, the magic only last until midnight. In the end, it was Cinderella, herself, that brought her dreams into reality by offering a kindness. If she had given into the despair, her dreams couldn’t have come true. By having faith and continuing to be a loving person, she drew the love she sought to her through her courage and compassion.
The magic happened because someone loved her enough to make it happen.
In the scene when the Fairy Godmother and Cinderella sang about the sensible people seeing dreams as a waste of time and dreamers as “daft and dewy eye dopes”, I nearly always cry. It's a very happy scene as The Fairy Godmother proves the impossible is quite possible, yet it makes me sad. Like most people, I have always wanted someone to love me enough to help my dreams come true. That has yet to happen. So maybe I’m not that far along in my fairy tale. I’m still living with my stepfamily and my faith is being tested. If that be true, then I can hold on. But more than that, I can play a dual role. Until it’s my turn to be Cinderella, I can be some else’s Fairy Godmother--as long as I don’t have to appear in a ball of light; I haven’t learned that trick yet.