History WesternAnimation / Cinderella

It is also one of the movies featured in ''Franchise/KingdomHearts''. Cinderella herself has a minor (but important) role as one of the seven Princesses of Heart driving the plot of the first game. Nothing from the series appears again until ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'', where it gets an entire world called ''Castle of Dreams''. The film has a [[{{Film/Cinderella 2015}} 2015 live-action remake]], with [[Series/DowntonAbbey Lily James]], Creator/CateBlanchett, [[Series/GameOfThrones Richard Madden]], and Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter.

-->'''King:''' I can't understand it ! There must be at least ''one'' who would make a suitable mother!\\

* RippingOffTheStringOfPearls: The sequence where the ugly stepsisters ruin Cinderella's first gown is kicked off when Drizella wrenches a string of blue beads off Cinderella's neck. Not quite ''pearls'', but the the overall effect is similar -- Anastasia and Drizella proceed to rip the terrified Cinderella's dress to shreds just as their coach is arriving. They exit, and a wide shot shows Cinderella in aftermath of their attack: clutching the remains of her ragged dress, staring in disbelief at the scraps of torn fabric and loose beads at her feet.

** The Duke on seeing that Lady Tremaine hid a girl from him in the house, whose manner, [[ClarkKenting face]] and [[FootFocus feet]] match the description of the girl he saw dancing with the prince, [[KirkSummation only has to say one sentence]] in response to her trying to dismiss Cinderella: "[[WithAllDueRespect Madame]], [[MeaningfulEcho my orders were]] ''[[ExactWords every]]'' [[MeaningfulEcho girl]]".

* NiceShoes: The glass slippers were certainly drawn to look nice.

* BreakTheCutie: Cinderella tries to stay positive and graceful despite witnessing her father's death at a young age, having to work day and night for family that won't even give her a morning greeting, and seeing her desires crushed. Case in point: she merely wants to go to the ball for a night out, and her stepfamily racks up the abuse UpToEleven with ExactWords and LoopholeAbuse to ensure that she won't go. It says a lot that what finally makes her cry is not being overworked so that she has no time to make a dress, but having a dress to wear to the ball. . . and getting it ripped to shreds while she's wearing it.

* MusicalisInterruptus: Cinderella's rendition of "Sing Sweet Nightingale" is cut short when she noticed Lucifer dirtying the floors she just washed.

** Lady Tremaine tripped the footman, resulting in breaking the glass slipper, so Cinderella couldn't try it on and prove that she's the girl the Prince danced with, but she ''did not'' expect her stepdaughter to have kept the second glass slipper.

* JerkAssHasAPoint: The stepsisters become enraged when they see Cinderella wearing Drizella's beads and Anastasia's sash. It doesn't excuse them from tearing the dress apart, but they did have a right to accuse Cinderella of stealing.

* {{Jerkass}}: Lady Tremaine and her two daughters are thoroughly unpleasant people, and the former is manipulative to boot. The stepsisters destroy Cinderella's dress because she "stole" their beads and sash to make it, conveniently ignoring that they had thrown away those trimmings mere hours before.

** Sometimes you need a dream in your life to cope with terrible things happening because dreams are the one thing that you can control. When Cinderella tries to simply attempt to have a night out and enjoy herself, her stepfamily sabotages every step out of spite and jealousy. It takes her friends' help and a fairy godmother to finish he jounrey.

It is also one of the movies featured in ''Franchise/KingdomHearts''. Cinderella herself has a minor (but important) role as one of the seven Princesses of Heart driving the plot of the first game. Nothing from the series appears again until ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'', where it gets an entire world called ''Castle of Dreams''. The film has a [[{{Film/Cinderella 2015}} 2015 live-action remake]], with [[Series/DowntonAbbey Lily James]], Creator/CateBlanchett, [[Series/GameOfThrones Richard Madden]], and Creator/HayleyAtwell.

** She has a very obvious reason for using Cinderella as a servant - it provides free labour. This is why slavery has been so rampant throughout history and continues to be today. Lady Tremaine likely did want to degrade Cinderella due to her own vendetta, but her method also resulted in a cushy deal for her and her daughters for about 10 years.

** Playing the long game would have been a riskier bet for Lady Tremaine. Even if she thought ahead and recognised that the Prince would want to marry in about 10 years and that the three girls would be the right age, she would have known that no matter how charming her stepdaughter was, that wouldn't guarantee that she'd be able to marry the family into royalty. Whereas making her into the family slave provided free labour and a convenient way to degrade her stepdaughter. But that also made it likely that if Cindy did get to marry the prince, she'd tell Lady Tremaine and the stepsisters to eff off, leaving them with no royal perks AND no free labour. So she had a vested interest in keeping Cindy from getting near the Prince.

* AdultFear:
** For a parent's side, dying and leaving your only child in the hands of guardians who will abuse them.
** For the child's side, suffering the TraumaCongaLine of your father dying, and your stepmother revealing herself to be cruel and heartless.

* HateSink: [[WickedStepmother Lady Tremaine]] is a despicable AbusiveParent and SocialClimber who is cruel and petty in ''every'' scene. she's in. It says a lot that a lady with no magical powers, evil henchmen, servants, or ambitions beyond social-climbing manages to be one of the vilest characters in the entire Disney canon based on her personality alone.

** After spending life as a servant, with any chance at happiness squandered by her step-family, Cinderella finally escapes her abusive home, regains her social status as an upper-class lady, marries a man for his kindness, and finds true happiness. Her animal friends also come to live at the palace, mice and all.

* DomesticAbuse: Lady Tremaine treats her stepdaughter as a slave and constantly belittles and mistreats her, a vice she encourages in her biological daughters. Moreso than [[WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame Frollo]], the Evil Stepmother is arguably Disney's most chillingly realistic villain, the one who lives behind closed doors and commits [[EvilIsPetty petty]] abuses against a helpless and innocent victim on a daily basis.

* PraiseTheFatherAndPassTheCigars: When the Grand Duke tries to inform the King that Cinderella ran away from the ball, the King believes that his son has made the decision to wed her already and, [[IWantGrandkids unable to wait for his grandchildren to come]], stuffs the Duke's face with cigars ("Got to practice passing these out"!).

* AbusiveParents: Lady Tremaine is overbearing, manipulative, and cruel to Cinderella. She's only a few notches better to her own daughters.

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