My name is Ella. A fairy tale of equality and diversity
Do you remember the fairy tale about Cinderella? The story of a beautiful girl with golden blond hair, abused by her step-mother and her step-sisters. A girl who doesn’t lose her spirit of happiness waiting patiently until she is rescued from her predicament by a prince riding in on a white horse who she can marry and live happily ever after.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with having dreams about a family, but growing girls should know that they also have other options in life, and that everything is a matter of choice. And this is what the latest movie “Cinderella”, which I watched together with my 6-year-old daughter on Sunday evening, illustrates wonderfully. I am really delighted by it!
The film touches on so many important aspects connected to – wait for it – diversity that we have been talking so much about in business lately. About what a burst of creativity acceptance is, which is a component of building diverse teams. Diverse in terms of gender, skin color, culture, the way people express themselves through their dress or hairstyle. This is all included in this film. Look at the actors playing the roles. This is most accurately represented by the fairy godmother herself. Meet Fabulous Godmother, who transforms from a butterfly into a beautiful black man in a stunning feminine outfit consisting of a dress, stilettos and jewelry. Billy Porter was born to play this role.
I think that all women reading this text will smile at the scene in which Cinderella asks for more comfortable stilettos, because it’s very hard to walk in those high, glass ones. We know this pain, right? But it turns out that “even magic has its limits” 😉
But let’s go back to Cinderella, or rather to Ella. Ella is no longer a blonde-haired beauty, but a gorgeous, feisty Latina (played by the very talented Camila Cabello) who dreams of going to the ball, not because of the prince, but for purely networking reasons. At the ball she can meet a lot of potential clients, and Ella is a dress designer and wants to run her own business. And of course she is stigmatized and ridiculed because according to the ideology of the virtues of womanhood, her role is to get married and look after the house.
Imagine the moment when the prince says: “I have chosen you to be my princess.” And Cinderella replies:
What about my job? I have dreams that I have to chase. I choose me.
And don’t think this movie isn’t about love. Because it is, and love wins. And it’s the most beautiful love, because it’s based on partnership, on rooting for each other, on finding compromises.
There is nothing more wonderful than showing our little women that we are not defined by who our partner is, but by who we are. And this applies to entrepreneurial businesswomen as well as moms who are busy raising children because that’s the role they feel most comfortable in.
No matter what path we choose, we should be proud of it. However, it is very important that we define who we want to be and that we have the strength to fight for our place in life. We will face plenty of obstacles on the way, no doubt, and they will be much worse than the stepmother herself.
I invite you to watch the film, which is also filled with wonderful music. I can’t forget to mention The White Stripes “Seven Nations Army”. The theme song “A Million to One” sounds great too, which we hum with Zosia on the way to kindergarten, and I identify with its content throughout. I hope that my Zosia will define her path in life based on her own desires rather than the expectations of others, and that she will accept diversity and look for the beauty within every being.
In the meantime, on the way to adulthood, we sing out loud: “You’re gonna know my name!”
Photo: press materials of Amazon
