Cinderella (character)

Cinderella is the main protagonist of Disney's 1950 animated feature film with the same name and its two sequels. She was voiced by the late Ilene Woods in the original film and by Jennifer Hale in the sequels and in current appearances. She is the second and oldest Disney Princess.

Development
As done with other Disney films, Walt Disney hired actress Helene Stanley to perform the live-action reference for Cinderella. She later was asked to do the same kind of work for the characters of Princess Aurora in Sleeping Beauty and Anita Radcliffe in 101 Dalmatians.

According to Christopher Finch, author of The Art of Walt Disney, Disney insisted that all scenes involving human characters should be shot first in live-action to determine that they would work before the expensive business of animation was permitted to start. The animators did not like this way of working, feeling it detracted from their ability to create character. The animators, however, understood the necessity for this approach and in retrospect acknowledged that Disney had handled things with considerable subtlety.

Personality
Both her mother and father passed away. She has been poorly taken care of by Lady Tremaine, her evil stepmother. She worked in the kitchen; her only friends were Major the horse, Bruno the bloodhound, Jaq, Gus, her Fairy Godmother, and a few more mice all of whom helped her go to the ball. At the end of the first movie, she marries Prince Charming.

Cinderella is a strong willed and independent young woman who is truly beautiful because she doesn't let her anger and sorrow get the better of her. She is kind to most and is in no way depicted as naive or childish. She is extremely mature and has shown that she can overcome her obstacles without the aid of magic. She has also been shown to have a slight sarcastic side to her, as seen in her comments about her step-family and Lucifer, but usually keeping such comments to herself. Cinderella has shown to be rather intelligent and/or clever especially thinking of how poorly raised she was after the absence of her parents. She is also resourceful by using her mother's old fashioned dress and imagining a beautiful ball gown. She has also shown That she is very patient and calm

While her love for Prince Charming is incredibly strong, prior to them meeting each other on the night of the ball, marrying and/or finding her "prince" was not her main priority. As opposed to earlier princess Snow White, Cinderella simply wanted to live a better life and escape the harsh world of her wicked stepmother and sisters.

Physical Appearance
Cinderella is a beautiful young woman. She is tall, slender and softly shaped with a mild face. Her skin is fair, with pink lips and twinkling blue eyes. Cinderella's hair is strawberry blonde in color, and shoulder-length, with soft bangs, although in the sequels it appears her hair has become blonder.

Before her Fairy Godmother, she was often seen in a maid's outfit. She wore a dark brown shirt with blue sleeves and a skirt with a lighter shade of brown. Her hair was tied together in a large blue bow. She also wore matching shoes. She once wore a sleeveless pink and white gown with pink ribbons before her step-sisters tore it up. As a princess, she wore a sparkling light silver dress with blue glass slippers. Her hair was put into a bun with a light silver band over it and a black choker around her neck.

Cinderella
In the original film, Cinderella is shown as a mistreated young woman (child to Madame Terain) who dreams of escaping the torturous lifestyle she has to endure working as a maid for Lady Tremaine, Anastasia, Drizella, and Lucifer the cat. She is notable for being silenced repeatedly by Lady Tremaine, creating the assumption that Cinderella's job as scullery maid requires her to do chores without speaking out. One day, when the family is invited to a royal ball at the Castle, Cinderella was told once she finished her duties she can go. The mice help Cinderella by making her a dress, but they used supply from old dresses from Anastasia and Drizella. When they see Cinderella in the dress, the girls tear it apart and scream about it. After they leave for the ball without Cinderella, she is visited by the magical Fairy Godmother. She gives Cinderella a dress and a coach. She also turns the mice into horses and Major and Bruno into a coachman and a footman. She goes and ends up falling in love with Prince Charming, to the point that she loses track of time and she rushes back home, leaving one of the two magical glass slippers. The Prince orders The Grand Duke to find whoever fits the slipper.

Before the Duke reaches Lady Tremaine's home the next day, the wicked stepmother locks Cinderella away in her tower. Jaq and Gus retrieve the key but must battle Lucifer. The birds alert Bruno and he scares Lucifer into jumping out the window. Cinderella is free but before she can try the slipper on, the wicked stepmother trips the page who is carrying the slipper and it shatters into pieces. Cinderella pulls out the other slipper from her apron much to her stepmother's dismay and it fits. She and Prince Charming marry and they live happily ever after.

Cinderella II: Dreams Come True
Jaq and Gus set off to make a new book to narrate what happens after the ending of the previous story, by stringing three segments of stories together, making three stories: "Aim to Please," "Tall Tail," and "An Uncommon Romance." In the first story, Cinderella and Prince Charming return home and soon a party begins. In "Tall Tail", she works on planning to build up a festival. The mouse named Jaq in the previous film has transformed into a human named Sir Hugh. In the third story, called "An Uncommon Romance," she helps her stepsister Anastasia reconcile with the baker. Towards the end of the film, she reads a book the mice have already made for her to them all.

Cinderella III: A Twist in Time
Cinderella and Prince Charming are celebrating their anniversary when Fairy Godmother accidentally loses her wand to Anastasia. She immediately takes it to Lady Tremaine and Drizella who learn the power of the wand and how to wield it properly. The villains reverse time to before Cinderella tried on the slipper. By using magic, the slipper is able to fit Anastasia. Cinderella tries to convince Lady Tremaine that the slipper belongs to her by showing her the other. Instead, Lady Tremaine calls her night with Prince Charming nothing more than a dream and destroys the other slipper. Cinderella is left at the château while her stepmother, sister, and Lucifer, make way to the castle to meet her prince. Devastated and confused, Cinderella begins to attend to her normal duties but regains her confidence and decides to meet with the prince herself knowing he should recognize her when he sees her. Cinderella, Jaq, Gus, and two bluebirds, sneak into the palace and begin their search.

When she finally bumps into him however, he fails to recognize her. Heartbroken, Cinderella tears at the loss of her love. Jaq and Gus arrive to expose Lady Tremaine's villainy. Upon finding out that Lady Tremaine used the wand to wipe Charming's memory of Cinderella and make him believe Anastasia was the one he danced with, Cinderella forgets her sorrows and jumps into action. At Lady Tremaine's room, Jaq and Gus sneak in to grab the wand. They are almost exposed by Lucifer until Cinderella enters disguised as a maid. Lady Tremaine discovers her anyway and a chase follows. Jaq and Gus hand the wand to Cinderella but before she could flip the spell, the guards arrest her. Lady Tremaine regains the wand and orders the guards to send Cinderella to the next ship leaving the kingdom to have her banished.

Jaq, Gus, and the bluebirds meet up with Charming. He finds his memory again and begins to remember Cinderella. He rushes off on his horse to rescue her before the ship sets sail. He is too late, but manages to find himself on board. The couple reunite and heads back to the palace. There, the King orders the Grand Duke and the guards to search the castle for the stepfamily to have them arrested. As Cinderella is preparing for her wedding which is to occur that night, Lady Tremaine and Lucifer appear out of the shadows. Tremaine transforms Anastasia into a beautiful and exact copy of Cinderella and plans to have her marry Charming in her place. Tremaine then sends Cinderella, Jaq, and Gus to be killed by a human Lucifer.

Still, Cinderella manages to escape her death and uses her time to make way to the castle. Charming and "Cinderella" are ready to marry but Anastasia refuses and reveals herself. Enraged, Lady Tremaine becomes mad with power as the guards prepare to arrest them. She turns them into animals and decides to turn Anastasia into a toad. Cinderella blocks her path making Tremaine much more comfortable with the process. Using his sword, Charming blocks the magic and repels it to Tremaine and Drizella. They are transformed into toads themselves and end up in the palace's basement. Cinderella and Charming marry while Anastasia transforms into her ordinary self. The King welcomes Anastasia into the palace putting aside the past. Together, Cinderella and Anastasia return the Fairy Godmother and the wedding continues.

House of Mouse
Cinderella makes numerous cameo appearances in the animated series House of Mouse. In the episode "The Stolen Cartoons" when Donald was left in charge, she fled away from the bad show, leaving behind her glass slipper. In the episode "House of Scrooge" she lends Mickey the dress the mice made for her and after he thanks her she replies with "That old thing?". She also appears in Mickey's Magical Christmas, in which she is trapped in the House with the other guests. At one point, she talks about how she is thankful for friendly mice who make nice evening wear (this segment was also used in the series episode "House of Turkey").

Teacher's Pet
Cinderella makes a cameo appearance at the end of the Teacher's Pet movie; she is shown holding a frog during the closing song.

Kilala Princess
In the manga series Kilala Princess, Cinderella plays an important role in Kilala's quest of royalty. Kilala enters Cinderella's world after getting shot in the back and transferring her conscience into it. While helping Cinderella with her chores, the maid also teaches Kilala how to eat, dance and walk like a princess. Her mouse friends secretly help her make a dress for the royal ball. After her sisters tear it apart, Kilala confronts them and accidentally loses her Magic Tiara. The Fairy Godmother shows up later than expected, and makes a princess gown, carriage and escorts for Cinderella. Affected by the tiara's magic, the Fairy's power will run out sooner than expected if the tiara is still in the Tremaine sisters' hands.

With the fairy godmother's magic, Kilala manages to get to the palace and steal back the tiara before Anastasia can use it to hypnotize the prince. Cinderella and the prince meet and dance romantically till midnight.

Kilala later receives a clear crystal.

The Art of Vacationing
Cinderella made a brief cameo in the short starring Goofy, located in Walt Disney World. As Goofy attempted to have a meet-and-greet session with her, he quickly turned around in shyness.

Video Games
Being one of Disney's most iconic characters and its most popular princess, Cinderella goes on to appear in a large amount of video games including those with the Disney Princess franchise including Disney Princess Enchanting Storybooks, Disney Princess: Enchanted Journey, and Disney Princess. She also has her own chain of video games including Disney's Cinderella Dollhouse and Cinderella Dollhouse 2. A costume of Cinderella is also an add-on costume in Disney Universe. She is also set to appear in the upcoming Disney Princess: My Fairytale Adventure.

Kingdom Hearts series
Cinderella is one of the classic Disney characters who appears in Kingdom Hearts. She plays a small but important role in the game as one of the Princesses of Heart. Her world was destroyed by Maleficent, but she was taken into captivity.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
Cinderella's role and backstory in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep is more or less the same as it is in the movie. During Ventus' visit, he assists her mouse friend, Jaq, in making a dress for her while Cinderella finishes her chores. Despite his appearance, Cinderella believes him to be a mouse due to his unexplained 4 1/2 inch size.

After Anastasia and Drizella angrily tear apart her dress, Cinderella runs to the garden in tears just as Terra arrives and encourages her to continue to believe in her dreams for a better future. Eventually, her Fairy Godmother helps her make a beautiful ball gown and a carriage to take her to the ball, with Terra as her bodyguard. While at the ball, she meets the Prince and they fall instantly in love with each other. While dancing, she and the prince are suddenly interrupted by a gigantic Unversed until Terra comes to their rescue. But not soon after the Unversed is defeated the clock strikes midnight and she is forced to leave the ball before the Fairy Godmother's magic runs out. As she runs through the Grand Hall, she loses a slipper.

Prince Charming declares to find the girl of his dreams with the glass slipper by letting every girl in the kingdom try it on. Lady Tremaine, having discovered that Cinderella is the girl at the ball, locks her in her room and attempts to make one of her daughters the Prince's bride. However, Aqua and Jaq cooperate and manage to free Cinderella just before the Grand Duke is able to leave. Like in the film, Lady Tremaine trips him and the slipper breaks to pieces before she is able to try it on, but Cinderella pulls out the second glass slipper from her pocket and uses it to replace the broken one.

The Grand Duke is about to take her to the castle when Lady Tremaine summons a gigantic Unversed to attack the princess. Aqua manages to destroy it and bring her safely to Prince Charming.

Sometime after Xehanort's defeat, she is seen dancing around the ballroom with the prince while Jaq and the Fairy Godmother look on.

Kingdom Hearts
Sometime after Birth by Sleep, her world was consumed by the Heartless and she was taken and held deep within Hollow Bastion until all seven Princesses were collected. It is unknown when she was captured but from scenes it can be assumed it was before Snow White and Alice placing her as either second captured or third either before or after Belle.

Once her heart was restored, she stays behind in the castle of Hollow Bastion with the other five princesses to hold back the darkness lurking out of the Final Keyhole, until Sora returns and closes it. Though the Final Keyhole is sealed, Cinderella and the others feel another dark power approaching from somewhere else (End of the World where Kingdom Hearts is held), and asks Sora to stop Xehanort's Heartless from fulfilling his evil plans while they remain behind to protect Hollow Bastion.

When Kingdom Hearts is sealed, Cinderella is returned to her own world.

Kingdom Hearts II
Cinderella is absent in Kingdom Hearts II, though her name was part of the password that allowed access to the DTD dataspace in Space Paranoids.

Kinect Disneyland Adventures
Cinderella plays a major role in the game, appearing as a meet-and-greet character near the Village Haus restaurant in Fantasyland. When she meets the player for the first time, she gives them a magic wand from the Fairy Godmother as a gift. Cinderella will also ask the player to accompany her to the ball and gather some supplies so that she and the mice can make an outfit (male players will get a Prince costume, while female players will get a Cinderella costume). While the mice are making the dress, Cinderella asks if the player to find food (buckets of popcorn) for them. She also asks if the player can find more thread. Cindy also participates in the Mickey's Soundsational Parade and Princess Fantasy Faire mini-games.

Songs
Songs preformed by Cinderella
 * 1) A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes
 * 2) Sing, Sweet Nightingale
 * 3) So This is Love
 * 4) Perfectly Perfect
 * 5) More Than a Dream
 * 6) If You Can Dream

Disney Parks and Resorts


Cinderella appears at Disney parks around the world in parades, shows and as a meetable character. In every show with mixed Disney characters, there is a princess scene. Cinderella is in every show that have mixed Disney Characters. Cinderella has also become an icon for the Disney Parks.

On the Disney Cruise Line, Cinderella can be briefly found in the shows "The Golden Mickeys", "Believe" and "Dreams". Cinderella also has a spell card known as "Cinderella's Magic Ribbon" in the attraction Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom.

Dream Along With Mickey
In this show, Cinderella appears when Minnie wishes to be a princess and Cinderella and Prince Charming enjoys a dance along with Snow White, The Prince, Aurora, Prince Phillip, Mickey and Minnie.

World of Color
Cinderella makes an appearance at the end during the show's finale. In her scene it shows her transforming into a princess from the Fairy Godmother's magic.

Fantasmic!
Cinderella appears in the popular live show Fantasmic! where she joins Snow White, the Prince, Ariel, Prince Eric, Belle and Beast. Cinderella stars in her own sequence in the Tokyo DisneySea version.

Disney Princesses
In the Disney Princess franchise, Cinderella has proved to be the most popular and iconic. Her statues acts as a symbol of a princess as well even being referred to by fans as "the leader of the Disney Princesses". In promotional images, Cinderella is often placed in the center as a way to point out her leadership. Recent polls throughout 2009 and 2010 have shown that even with the new princesses who gained popularity rather quickly inducted into the franchise, Cinderella has still been able to maintain her title.

Trivia

 * Cinderella is the first Disney Princess to be seen as a little girl, before Tiana in 2009 and Rapunzel in 2010.
 * Cinderella is the second Disney Princess, joining the franchise in 1950, after Snow White in 1937.
 * Cinderella's hair color has often been the subject of debate among fans. In the original film, Cinderella's hair seems to be of a light orange tone, classifying her as either a redhead or a ginger as her hair had been offically called 'burnt orange'. In the franchise and in the Disney parks, Cinderella's hair is publicized as bright yellow, making her a golden-blonde, although her hair remained orange-ish in the original film and the second sequel. The most common consensus is that she is a strawberry-blonde, which is blonde hair bearing a reddish tint.
 * Similar to Snow White, Cinderella is forced to be raised without a father for the majority of her life. Instead, she is placed in the hands of a cruel and jealous stepmother. Another similarity is that the two are forced to be household servants in an attempt to hide their outer beauty.
 * Cinderella is the first out of the four Disney Princesses to not be of royal blood, paving the way for Belle in 1991, Mulan in 1998 and Tiana in 2009.
 * Her shoe size is mentioned in the third movie which is a size 4½ in woman's.
 * The symbolic message of the glass slippers is that Cinderella is so delicate that she can walk in glass shoes and not break them. It is also symbolic how she can be comfortable in glass shoes, meaning to she can easily adapt to typically "uncomfortable" situations.
 * Cinderella is considered the "leader" of the Disney Princesses, often being positioned in the center of publicity photos. This has been subject to some controversy, however, because she is the second Disney Princess, after Snow White. Some feel that Snow White deserves to be the leader, because she is the main protagonist of Disney's first film, and was introduced to the world 13 years before Cinderella.
 * Cinderella is the most popular Disney Princess among children.
 * Cinderella is the only Disney Princess to wear a normal servant attire inside her castle. The other princesses wear royal princess gowns inside their kingdoms.
 * Cinderella is derived from the French word Cendrillon, which translates in English as "little ash girl".
 * The only mention of Cinderella's mother was in the first movie when she showed the mice a dress that belonged to her that she was planning to fix up for the ball.
 * Cinderella never sang a song in her second film, infact, none of the songs heard in Cinderella II: Dreams Come True were sung by any of the characters.
 * Unlike how Cinderella's iconic Ballgown is featured in the original feature film, there are few differences in its depiction in the Disney parks and ice shows. The first being is that a bow is part of the gown, the second being is that silver slippers are worn in the park, instead of transparent plastic type slippers to pass for 'glass' slippers and the third part being is that the hair is blonde and not burnt orange. The choker around Cinderella's neck remains black as it is in the feature film.
 * In the movie, Cinderella wears a sparkling silver dress to the ball. However, in most merchandise, this is published in a bright blue shade (most likely to make her dress seem more like a ballgown as opposed to a traditionally white wedding dress) and the choker at most times is put as blue, instead of black. In the Kingdom Hearts series, the ballgown is correctly colored, the choker is black and as for the the hair color, it remains blonde.
 * Cinderella is similar to Quasimodo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, as both are mistreated and abused by their parental figures. Ironically though, Quasimodo is mistreated because he's unattractive and Cinderella is mistreated because she is attractive. They also dream of something better for them.
 * Cinderella is the Disney princess with the biggest number of animal companions, which conclude the mice, her dog Bruno, the birds, and horse Major.
 * Cinderella is the first Disney Princess to have a horse companion being Major, the other two princesses that have horse companions are Belle (Phillipe) and Mulan (Khan).
 * Cinderella is the first Disney Princess to have a dog companion being Bruno, the other three princesses that have dog companions are Belle (Sultan) Pocahontas, (Percy) and Mulan (Little Brother).
 * In the original french story, Cinderella got her name when her face was covered with ashes and cinders. Possibly, in the original film, Cinderella got her name by birth, since her face is never seen covered with dirt. Cinder-clod was the actual name given in the french story, with the youngest stepsister being not so spiteful gave the name Cinderella.
 * Cinderella, being at 19 is the oldest Disney Princess. She is followed by Tiana, being the second oldest.
 * Cinderella is the second Disney Princess to be an orphan, the first being Snow White.
 * In the original French story there were two balls held in which both Cinderella had to depart from by midnight and unlike the original film where the stepsisters' fate is never known of after the glass slipper is fitted, the stepsisters in the French story ask for forgivness and are pardoned and are then married to gentlemen of high rank about the court, thus giving them their happy ending.
 * In the Grimm Brothers version of the story Cinderella's father is still alive as he goes to a fair and while there to pick up beautiful dresses and peals and jewels for the stepsisters. Cinderella's only request is for the first twig to brush against his hat. Unlike the original French story, she doesn't give her stepsisters a happy ending. In Grimm Brothers version the stepsisters cut a piece of their own foot to make it fit into the slipper. But Cinderella's bird friends catch on and reveal the trick to the Prince. Later at the wedding of Cinderella to the Prince, those same birds peck the stepsisters eyes out punishing them with blindness.
 * Yeh-Shen or Ye Xian is known as the Chinese Cinderella story. It was created in the 9th century and is one of the oldest if not the oldest and very first version. Part of assumption is due to the fact in Ancient China women bound their feet to make them look smaller and beautiful. Hence why in Cinderella small feet play a big part in the story line.

Gallery

 * For more pictures and screenshots of Cinderella, click here.

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