Is it worth to be in love in 2021

Why is love so easily dismiss in the New Cinderella 2021? Is that a feminist trait?

After being bombarded by a heavily marketed new Cinderella movie by omnipresent Amazon marketing, I decided to sit and let myself be entertained by this controversial new spin on a classic tale. You might be wondering; do you need that kind of content? No, I don’t, that movie was not targeted for me, I’m no audience for it, but I was curious to see how can you make this story more modern and up to date with today’s younger audience.

All right, were do I start? I’m not here to ramble around if a musical should have originals or covers, or if the back story of some characters actually make the story stronger or weak, is up to you to decide. What really bothered me is that this trend of giving a love story a bad reputation for being unrealistic is taking this kind of content by storm.

Again I’m not here to criticize artistic decisions by the writers, but, is this really a reflection of our times? Is this what the feminist movement looks for? All over the movie this clash of women against men really bored me. You know what, among all those women lost in thought with bitter faces there was one that looked happy, radiant, the only one actually trying to follow love in a conventional way. Weird isn’t? Malvolia, one of the not-so-evil-on-this-version Cinderella’s stepsisters played by the beautiful Maddie Baillio is the only female character to whom I could feel empathy for. Could it be just because she looked happy?

To my eyes, this battle between love and independence is so tiresome, the whole story circles around that premise over and over again. Cinderella 2021 shows us that love is not her main goal. On this new spin of an old tale, she sees the ball as a marketing opportunity for her designs, she is not there to look for love. She is looking to become a business woman, not a princess. Is this what’s all about? To be happy you need to build a clothing empire to be a role model in 2021? Is this the only goal of the younger generation?

On the other hand, I got something positive to say about the movie. Just because of a cameo I consider it a true reflection of our times. More than a year ago, a young drummer named Nandi Bushell, from Ipswich, UK, posted a drum cover of the song “Everlong” from the band Foo Fighters. On the video, she called out Dave Grohl (former Nirvana drummer) for a drum battle.

The video went viral and Dave Grohl gladly welcomed the challenge. During this drum battle, Dave accepted defeat and as soon as the Covid-19 restrictions had eased asked her to go on stage to play one of their songs. How cool is that? Well, I find it fascinating that a video you made on your parents living room could take you to make a cameo on a movie. This is what (to my eyes) makes it a true reflection of our times. I knew about her and the whole video challenge “controversy,” when it went viral. It was so uplifting to hear such stories in the cumbersome state that we were a year ago. I followed the development of the whole challenge with great joy and admiration towards Nandi and the band.

To my surprise, while watching the movie I saw this happy girl drumming and I almost jumped from my seat. “That’s the girl from the drum battle! That’s her!” I saw the scene again to make sure she was the one. After an incredible fast Google search, I was right, the girl made a cameo. Again, I had to ask, how cool is that?

To go back to Cinderella 2021 plot, is it bad for feminism to pursue love as a worthy cause? Now I wonder if love is an outdated idea for a younger audience. If a character chooses to be alone, does this trait makes it more real? Love is not worth it anymore? Sad to acknowledge that this hustle culture takes what make us human from granted.