The Glass Slipper

People often say “Oh Joanna! Life is not a fairy tale,” and it always makes me wonder what they mean exactly. Well, I guess they are inferring that day-to-day life is not all fuzzy feelings, singing birds, and soap bubbles perfect. But then, neither are fairy tales. Granted, characters occasionally break out into song and talk to animals, but in essence, fairy tales are just fables or tales that when paid attention to, deal with characters facing adversity, just as we do. Since I was a child till now, I’ve had some of the same conversations with people who have told me that I’m idealistic. When I tell people I believe in dreams coming true and that fairy tales are not too far off from life in terms of what we should expect, they say I’m naive and tell me that one day I’ll grow up to the harsh realities of the world. Well, I am grown up, yet I still think the same way because it is truth. Truth does not exist within the confines of time, it is constant, which allows one the choice to believe it or not. So here’s the truth and what I believe as told through the deconstruction of a fairy tale: Cinderella. The point of Cinderella is not to have little girls spending their time dreaming about fluffy ideas, big puffy white dresses, balls etc. The story is about how to preserve innocence and hope all while being in the line of palpable darkness. Cinderella was not rescued by a prince; she was her own knight in shining armor. The prince and that whole castle thing, well, that was just a manifestation of things she had already projected from the very beginning of the story. In essence, Cinderella’s happy ending was a vision, a belief saturated with imagination; it was the crux of her pure heart & mind flipped inside out.

I strongly believe that Happily Ever After can and will be attained for those who live by the means and codes of their ‘happily ever after'. And for those who think the idea a cliché, a naive thought process, a child’s outlook on things, well, you are right to the extent because you are what you believe. The story of Cinderella teaches us that our beliefs and our ability to hold on to our ideals is what builds our reality and brings to the forefront the actuality of living a happy life.

Note: Please be advised, movie trailers or programmes used in this post are for a review purpose only, and their use is a classic example of commentary purpose, which is a well-established use under the Fair Use categories.