The Cinderella Story:

A study in our gender typology

- Part One -

Post 248

If our real lives, like Moses and the Exodus people, are only a Type or analogy of something even more real than our very lives, then it is extremely important that we properly understand the Types that speak to our own Typology. In otherwords we must be careful to apply our instructional Types in wisdom or we will find ourselves playing the negative Type instead. In that light I offer a three-part further detail to the concept of the previous post regarding the Types that our genders portray.

What is it about Cinderella that endears her to us? Is it the wicked stepmother, the punishing stepsisters, the forced slavery, her physical beauty or (as a young woman recently offered) the singing? No. While these are indeed elements that sponsor the endearment, they are not what endears her to us. (We will discuss the answer later).

As we observe through the progress of time, there have been written many very similar stories of various application with the same “princess” theme; Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, to name but a few, and each of these have been rewritten many times in book, animation, play and movie, yet in every rendition the consistent theme persists, though typically less obvious with each progression until in the twisting upon twisting the very point of the story is utterly decimated beyond recovery while the story remains, yet with a new meaning to the message.

For most of my life I saw these Fairy Tales as completely godless since they always included magic, humanized animals and items, and castles-in-the-sky fantasy that “could do no good” in reality, but some years back I was quite curious that of all the names to name a cat, why would Walt Disney choose to name Cinderella’s house-pet Lucifer back in 1948?

Being sensitive to the concept and purpose of Jordan Stones (Joshua 4:6), by inquiry I used this name as a keystone to overlay the spiritual message onto the Fairy Tale to see what would emerge. I was dumbfounded at the result:

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Identifying the Types:

Following is a list of the primary types we find in this Cinderella fairytale.

Holy Spirit:

The most obvious conflict to reconcile was the magic in a possible Christian message. But if we overlay the Holy Spirit onto the Fairy Godmother Type, we can easily see that from the human view the Holy Spirit and his power is indeed supernatural. In a Fairy Tale, supernatural = magic. No problem.

Devil:

Next, although simply a side gag with no apparent connecting significance, the cat is named Lucifer (the Devil himself), how is this Typed?

By understanding that the Devil is nothing more than an influencing spirit, we see the type that by being the house pet, Lucifer is the seemingly disconnected spirit of evil that fills the home through the resulting natural actions of those who lovingly approve his residency. The story does not fail to provide this mysterious element as we see the cat seem to manipulate all but Cinderella, though he sure can frustrate her efforts.

Evil Authority:

The obvious role of the wicked stepmother is the unavoidable authority of evil oppression, not to everyone in the home (jurisdiction), just the righteous Cinderella who labors painfully under her oppressive “government”. It is only vital to the story that Cinderella is not her natural daughter if the story is an accurate type of the present Christian condition in a world where she is governed by Godless authorities.

Evil Society:

The role of the stepsisters as the natural children of the evil authority, who live with Cinderella as siblings, goes very deep indeed. Gender is also important here in the accuracy of this type as we all dwell on this earth. Though “apparently” equal in the station as children, it is painfully obvious that the different lineage between them is the key agitation that makes Cinderella despised and abused. Note in the fairytale that Cinderella’s mother is representationally insignificant as she is given her “pedigree” and rightful (though stolen) position in the home through her father. And the conflicting “theft” comes after the father departs and dies apparently leaving Cinderella to fend for herself. Only quietly on our own do we consider the very significant and obvious fact that Cinderella is not the child of the stepmother. DUH! This is powerfully important to why she is abused by all the women in the house. This concept will come clear in Post 292 if we contemplate that Isaac will soon be living with Hagar and her children in Cinderella's own home, as Israel is today.

The Father:

represents Adam the father of all humanity who died on the day that he ate the forbidden fruit by bringing sin upon the earth and left mankind under the evil control of death, therefore the actual lineage of distinction comes through the mothers: one “life”, the actual unnamed mother of Cinderella, and the other “death” a poor replacement as a stepmother that assumes the job with self-serving motives. The importance of the mothers will not become clear until Post 292 Beyond the Harbingers (http://when-did-reason-die.blogspot.com/2013/03/beyond-harbingers.html). In the meantime, the unexplained absence of her mother and the death of her father is what grants this evil woman dominating jurisdiction over Cinderella in her own home.

Unexpected Aids:

The habitual introduction of magical little helpers into every story is a curious gag. Without these side gags the story somehow falls flat and becomes a bit boring, yet these remain but side issue comedy never developed into anything significant in themselves yet become critical to Cinderella’s success. These “magic” animals and items are the ministering angels of God who by God’s very design are not to be given more importance than ministering aids to God’s plan (Colossians 2:18, Revelation 22:8-9). Today’s unwise focus on Angels is to inappropriately give the mice “star billing” in the story. But it is a very curious thing to see the supernatural battle between the Devil and the Angels acted out by the non-human characters in the story.

The Christian:

Next we come to the apparent main character of the story; Cinderella herself.

The whole story is about her, she is the star, she is the point, she is the center around which everything revolves. But what story would there be without the conflict? Without the stepmother, or the stepsisters, or the slavery and abuse? The story is only a story because of the conflict… but it’s an endearing story because of her response.

What makes Cinderella so endearing is the very thing that keeps her stepsisters from being Cinderella. Clearly they want to be the favored woman of the prince and work hard to achieve that aim by any means available, and I think they genuinely believe they have a chance. Does Cinderella also want to be that woman? Yes. So in this we do not see a difference between them. But strangely enough, though far more probable to be, she is the one who does not chase after that hope because she rightfully feels unworthy where her siblings have no such hindrance of humility even though they are less qualified. And in this we begin to see her endearment.

The thing, The ONLY thing, that endears us to Cinderella and all her “princess compatriots”, is her response to her bad situation. Not a “proper”, applied response but a genuine response of the pure and humble heart. Most anyone with effort can be acceptably trained to respond properly by following rules of etiquette, but this is not as captivatingly endearing as Cinderella’s “untrained” perfect heart of humility. The thing in Cinderella that captivates us is her unnatural perfect response to horrible circumstances. This response is found in her selflessness.

The Christ:

But a Cinderella story remains horrible and unfulfilled until she is granted miraculous audience with the prince. She does not engineer the events, create her success, or promote herself, but rather she is simply caught in the current of things she experiences as an observer, so to speak. Without control of her circumstances she is who she is, good or bad, she cannot present herself to be otherwise. Unlike her stepsisters, she needs no self-fluffing to make her presentation; in rags or in refinement she is still endearing. But without the fairy godmother there is no opportunity to meet the prince. In fact the evil authority and society intentionally guarantee that no such meeting occurs. This tells us many things but among them is that the authority and the stepsisters are well aware that Cinderella possesses favorable qualities that they do not. Instead of seeking to acquire such qualities themselves, they only hinder/lockup Cinderella in the effort to promote themselves. The fairy godmother is sent to miraculously foil the evil intentions against her and promote her in beauty before the prince. In this way, although the story is all about her, it’s actually about the prince. The Stepmother knows it, the stepsisters know it, the fairy godmother knows it, the magic animals know it, Cinderella knows it, and we know it. The prince is the all-important desire in the story though our focus is on Cinderella. In every point and in every way the prince is the savior and without the prince there is no redeeming story.

God The King:

There are many reasons why this fairytale has a prince and not just a king. Primarily the obvious is that the prince is yet unmarried. But why not an unmarried king? The entire story changes in nature if Cinderella was pursued by an established king. A prince is on her plain so to speak; they are both “young” with the anticipation of experiencing the future kingdom together. This is new love, it is virgin love, it is the unadulterated ecstasy kind of relationship that comes with the Son of the King and not the King himself. The king has the burden of the kingdom while the Son and his new bride are free to explore their relationship in the benefits of the kingdom without the burden of it yet.

Obligations come later but this is the fairytale part that begins this happily-ever-after relationship. And while the animators love to make the king out to be a silly old fool wanting grandchildren (*1), the real king is, after all, the father of the prince who is the ultimate in love. Therefore we know that the king has his own amazing story, and remarkably it is often correctly described as an unhappy marriage (*2) or not referenced at all. In the Cinderella focused story He is simply the ultimate provider for the prince’s setting. A prince is not a prince without a king and a fairytale is about the anticipation both for Cinderella and for the Prince… (and for the loving king too!).

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The Message:

A fairytale has a story and a good fairytale has a message. And this timeless classic has the grandest of all messages; the gospel message of Salvation. Though the story is most easily received by young girls dreaming of their future prince charming, it cannot now be denied to be the more dominate spiritual message to all humanity. Cinderella and her stepsisters are all humanity seeking, by various motives and tactics, to become the bride of the savior with all the benefits.

So back to the original question; What makes Cinderella so endearing?

We know that it is her natural pure and humble heart response to bad circumstances but how did she get that heart? The fairytale does not tell us (beyond a persistent hope of better things to come) but what it does do is inform us that such a heart is invaluable if we are to marry the prince. The obvious difference between Cinderella and her stepsisters shows even young girls, that of two very different approaches. While the stepsisters had no limits to their self-centered approach, Cinderella’s entire approach was non-self-glorifying. This is not a natural heart, which is obvious by the high percentage of wicked stepsisters all wanting to be Cinderella (without the whole slavery bit of course).

Now here is the strange part:

With all the available interviews of both the animators and Walt Disney himself regarding the making of this animated fairytale, it is highly unlikely that they had any idea of the spiritual message that was hidden in their own work. To them it was a rags to riches “you can do it” message that appealed to them while God had an entirety different message in mind.

The fairytale provides, to even the very young, the motivational representation to seek the Cinderella heart. But while the religious pagan world receives the message but applies it with all their might incorrectly through diligent effort (works), the Christians are instructed by their faith how to acquire such a supernatural heart without the rules of regimented etiquette (Daniel 1:8, Zechariah 7:9-10, 8:17, Malachi 4:5-6, Matthew 5:8, 6:21, 11:29, 22:37, Luke 4:18, 6:45, John 14:1,27, 16:22, Romans 2:14-15, 5:5, 10:10, Ephesians 3:16-19, 4:32, Colossians 3:14-15, etc. etc.).

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The Story:

So while we have an incredible accurate salvation message lightly hidden in the fairytale, can we discover even more accuracy of message in the story itself?

What Types might be represented by the end of the magic and return to servanthood at midnight, after a brief bonding with the prince? What part does the glass slipper Type? or the following hunt of the prince for an unknown bride? Are these just filler story in which to hide a message or is the story itself also a part of the message in all its detail?

In the other “princess” stories there is the conflict and the waiting before the rescue and happily-ever-after, but in this story there is yet another conflict and more waiting in hope (Hebrews 10:32). In fact this story is full of this repeated pattern even as the mice (angels) in great struggle reach Cinderella’s door with the key to freedom just to be foiled by Lucifer their very powerful adversary (Daniel 10:2,11-14). The theme that permeates this tale of dashed hopes after coming so close, is the word "believe". This is also the repeating theme of both the Jews and Christianity at its very core identified as faith (Hebrews 11:1+). Christ Jesus met his betrothed when he came to earth, but the conflict of evil tore them apart again to leave the girl once more in desperate straights in an evil house but with the memory and joyful belief they would again be reunited (Hebrews 12:1-3, Hebrews 10:37). In that period the prince makes ready for her and returns to find her. But in his absence there are many who claim to be her (Matthew 7:21-22, 25:2), how is he to know his true love? The scriptures tell us it is by the mutual Holy Spirit of promise (Galatians 3:14, Ephesians 1:13, Romans 15:13) accurately represented by two matching unique glass (transparent) slippers, one in her possession and the other in his. Without this validating Holy Spirit that produces the endearing heart, there can be no marriage to the Prince of Peace.

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Gender Typing:

If we can get over the present stereotypes and feelings of inequality between genders we can see that as humanity, regardless of gender, we are all Cinderella candidates and Jesus Christ is the evaluating Prince. Therefore regardless of gender we all need, no, we are all required to possess the captivating pure heart of our namesake. In this I confess that women have the greater advantage over men as it is more naturally built into their gender to grasp this perspective.
Therefore Satan the house pet and prevailing spirit in this world has influenced our governments and societies to persuade us by abuse to abuse our own respective roles unknowingly disparage the types we desperately need to understand. Men, like governments, in their granted power of authority, dominate cruelly and un-Christ like bringing oppression to their women, and in un-Cinderella like response women “rise up” in liberation from the oppression to demand their equal rights. In the resulting turmoil of confusion, men in the bride role toward Christ also rebel against him, their own “husband” figure, to demand their rights too. And Lucifer quietly laughs that catlike grin.

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(*1) The King’s Grandchildren:

It really doesn’t matter how things went before, Grandchildren seem to be universally loved by grandparents everywhere! It is not actually a stretch for this animation to present the king as a longing grandparent wannabe, even to the point of silliness in hope. But can we dare to suppose this too might apply scripturally? What does the scripture have to say about any children from the Christ?

With expectation of expanding this topic later we find that Moses, the Christ Type, was not “married” to the Hebrew Exodus people he led out of Egypt; they were God the Father’s bride. But Moses went away earlier and married a Gentile and we are told she had two sons (Exodus 18:5-6). If this was not prophetically important it would not have been included in scripture. Therefore I believe we have evidence of the later offspring between Christ and the Church. These are the possible Grandchildren of God!

(*2) The King’s Unhappy Marriage:

It certainly does not take much search to find the scriptures are utterly bursting with the theme that God the Father (the King) has an unfaithful wife the Jewish people. In fact He sent his prophet Hosea to painfully act out this relationship and wrote an entire book of the bible documenting it. God makes plenty of promises that he will one day win the heart of this unfaithful wife and end her wandering, but such a day is still in the future and he comforts himself with the upcoming marriage of his son.

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