Cinderella, Prince Charming, and True Gentlemanliness
My wife and I enjoy periodic date nights, and for our most recent night on the town, I took her to see Disney’s new production, Cinderella. To be honest, I was a bit leery as Disney has ruined a good deal of movies lately with post-modern deconstruction (Maleficent paints the evil witch in Sleeping Beauty as a sympathetic, complicated, pseudo-satanic character). What would they do to this classical tale of good and evil? I wondered.
I am happy to say that despite my apprehensions, Cinderella was a pleasant surprise and one of the best Disney movies I have seen in a long time. The film was completely faithful to the original story, with zero cynicism or liberties taken. Most importantly, it joyfully presents goodness, kindness, and forgiveness triumphing over the evils of jealousy and hatred in the best possible way. It was truly a good movie in the fullest sense of the word, presenting a right-side-up Christian worldview from start to finish. For Disney, this was very much a surprise!
My point here is not to review Cinderella, however—others have done a fine job of that already. What I do want to focus on is how the film portrayed one of the most important characters, the Prince (known in the original animated film as Prince Charming).
It is common for Hollywood to portray men as either bumbling buffoons in need of rescuing or as rebellious bad boys in need of reforming, and story lines often focus on the wise and adroit women who swoop in to save their men. Cinderella is quite different in this respect. The Prince, played by Richard Madden, is presented as kind, noble, and above all humble. He is not a clown, nor is he an arrogant fop. He is truly a good and courteous man. He is a gentleman.
Here are some of the ways