My Big Fat Greek Wedding
(Joel Zwick, 2002) provides
another ‘Cinderella’ update in which romantic interests coincide with
the heroine’s career ambitions. Toula (Nia Vardalos) is another outsider
character, lacking self-esteem and stuck in a rut until night school offers
a means of gaining control over her life. It is seemingly to fit in with
her college peers that prompts the makeover we have come to expect
from such scenarios, trading glasses for contacts and investing in outfits
that defy her father’s limited appraisal (‘you look so old!’). The result is
a visibly rejuvenated woman who gets herself a loving husband, largely
through the increased confidence her new skills have given her.
A further variation on the theme of outsider heroines is
Miss Con-
geniality
(Donald Petrie, 2000) in which female cop Gracie Hart (Sandra
Bullock), routinely overlooked, gets the chance to prove herself by
going undercover at a beauty pageant. Cue a parody makeover in which
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Fairy Tale and Film
she is starved, plucked and groomed to fit in with the other contest-
ants, eventually earning recognition from her boss for successfully
unearthing the security threat posed, and even becoming a national
celebrity. From awkward tomboy, Gracie ends the film with a sense of
personal as well as professional triumph, gaining a new admirer in the
form of her work partner, Eric. In an interesting attempt to confront
rom-com expectations, the film’s sequel,
Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and
Fabulous
(John Pasquin, 2005), reveals that this romance ends after only
three weeks, putting Gracie in a tailspin of depression.
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Allowing her
bosses to make her ‘FBI Barbie’ again, she loses herself in the superfi-
cial role of a media PR person, and it soon becomes evident that the
core relationship in this film is with her security officer, Sam (Regina
King). Eventually bonding after countless fights, Gracie dispenses with
the bitchy demeanour used to hide her pain and the film delivers its
message: getting the man is not the point, and neither is prioritising
looks. Eric is forgotten, Sam becomes her new partner at the FBI, and
Gracie returns to the job that ultimately provides her with a sense of
self-worth.
What these heroines share is a mutual sense of awkwardness that may
attract amusement yet also makes them both endearing and inspiring.
None conforms to the conventional stereotype of approved ‘femininity’
in terms of their dress and demeanour, yet neither do they rely on the
idea that a man is the answer to their troubles. In fact, they each provide
the solution to their problems through their own resources and abilities.
As ‘Cinderella’ stories go, we would be hard put to find more empow-
ering messages. In addition to the non-stereotypical looks of the chief
protagonists, or the relative absence of wicked stepmothers, who gets to
play the fairy godmother is also of note, with men selected in most cases,
revealing that gender roles are being interestingly revised. ‘Cinderella’
provides an apt means of playing with such ideas, with its emphasis on
costume, disguise and transformation, and it seems film-makers are keen
to take advantage of such features to play with convention.
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The most
progressive examples revise our understanding of heroines as figures to
be applauded rather than pitied. However, this is by no means the only
fairy tale to have inspired cinematic updates via the rom-com. While
‘Cinderella’ emphasises marriage as the heroine’s desired goal (an aspira-
tion altered in modern variations, which have heroines improve their lot
through making the most of their abilities, rendering any love interests
secondary), contrasting tales feature heroines who evince reluctance
about finding a partner, yet are forced to overcome such feelings, with
disguise and transformation key tropes once again.
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