Is Cinderella Romantic?
The Cinderella paradigm is one of the most common in romance, at least in the west, and we even find it in slash, most commonly in hurt/comfort stories.
But is it romantic?
When I daydream stories to myself, in that phase where I'm flirting with them before deciding to commit to writing them, I sometimes tell stories in which I save other people, but rarely the other way around. I'm also not big on the total power inequality. If one character is poor, then they should be a secret ninja or something, and the Prince/ss should have a secret weakness. That way they each bring something more than good looks and money to the deal. All in all, I don't much like the gross inequality aspect of the Cinderella story.
On the other hand, I do *love* the secret identity idea, and also the revelation of the secret in a public and slightly embarrasing way. I'm totally down with that part of the Cinderella story.
And I do prefer the Cinderella story to the dark-misogynist-hero paradigm. By a *lot*!
Do you think Cinderella is romantic? What's your favourite romance cliche?
But is it romantic?
When I daydream stories to myself, in that phase where I'm flirting with them before deciding to commit to writing them, I sometimes tell stories in which I save other people, but rarely the other way around. I'm also not big on the total power inequality. If one character is poor, then they should be a secret ninja or something, and the Prince/ss should have a secret weakness. That way they each bring something more than good looks and money to the deal. All in all, I don't much like the gross inequality aspect of the Cinderella story.
On the other hand, I do *love* the secret identity idea, and also the revelation of the secret in a public and slightly embarrasing way. I'm totally down with that part of the Cinderella story.
And I do prefer the Cinderella story to the dark-misogynist-hero paradigm. By a *lot*!
Do you think Cinderella is romantic? What's your favourite romance cliche?