“For with each dawn, she found new hope that someday, her dreams of happiness will come true” (Cinderella, 1950). Cinderella is a movie produced by Walt Disney Studios in 1950. It revolves around a young girl whose mother passed on at an early age. Her father, being an exceptional man made sure to provide for her every luxury and comfort. However, he still felt she needed a mother’s love so, he re-married a woman who already had two daughters.
Shortly after, her father died, leaving Cinderella with her stepmother and stepsisters. Upon his demise, Cinderella’s stepmother’s true nature was revealed. She was cruel, cold, and was jealous of Cinderella because of her charm and beauty. Marxism is a historic concept based on the political and economic theories of Karl Marx, characterized by the struggle between the rich and poor. (citation) In Cinderella, Walt Disney illustrates the concepts of class conflict, ideology and revolution through the Marxist lens.
Firstly, the concept of class conflict is portrayed in the movie where the cat, Lucifer, and the dog, Bruno, are offered different privileges based on their social class. The cat, in this case, is the bourgeoise and the dog, the proletariat. Lucifer lived with Cinderella’s stepmother under comfortable conditions. It slept on a luxurious bed and was served breakfast before all the other animals. It was mostly referred to as “Your Majesty” by Cinderella.
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Bruno, on the other hand, was a working dog whose job was to protect the chicken and horses down in the stable. It was never allowed to go upstairs because if it did, it would lose all its privileges. Bruno slept on a rag and was always downstairs in the stables. This shows how the proletariat who work tirelessly, day and night live under harsh, uncomfortable conditions, whereas the bourgeoise live comfortably. This also protrays that the bourgeoise do not care about the living conditions of the working class but always seek for their own selfish interests and self-betterment.
Also, class conflict was evident between Cinderella and her stepfamily. Clearly, Cinderella was the proletariat. She lived in a small room the artic, far away from her stepfamily with mice and birds whereas their stepfamily lived comfortably in the main house with each person having their own room. She worked tirelessly, cleaning, doing the laundry, making breakfast, feeding the animals as well as performing other strainuous chores.
Always at the beck and call of her her cruel stepfamily, she offered various services without complaints whereas her stepsisters lived like queens and called the shots. Her father’s wealth was squandered on the stepsisters while Cinderella was abused, humiliated and forced to become a servant in her own home (Cinderella,1950). Amidst all this, Cinderella was always cheerful, ever kind and still optimistic portraying the great hope and optimism possessed by the working class that someday, they would be free from their slavery.
