Strength is subjective. Different people in different circumstances show strength in different ways. We would point at a woman trained in martial arts and say she’s strong, but we should also look at a woman balancing three kids and her own career as strong too. When we watch Cinderella, we may be inclined to think the message of only finding happiness by marrying a man is problematic, but that isn’t the main point of the story anyway, at least in my opinion. A major part of story is spent showing Cinderella’s humbleness and silent strength in the face of evil and greed. She is still able to find comfort in singing and her animals despite the tyrannous nature of the people she is around. There is strength in gentleness, and silence. Strength is not equivalent to brute force and loud voices.
Thinking about Cinderella as a narrative provoked me to write this post. I feel like recently, and maybe for the last two decades, I’ve seen this idea in many films and media in general: it is the idea of female empowerment through showing women with conventionally ‘male’ attributes ( masculinity is not any specific thing of course). Women who are good at fighting, who are stoic and emotionless with a poker face are portrayed to be symbols of female empowerment. While a couple characters like this is not a problem, in the wider spectrum, it is propelling an unhealthy notion that having no emotion makes you stronger and better. And while I think this largely plays into issues with female empowerment and representation in media, it is also damaging to notions of male strength. Males are also being fit into this societal construct that looking a certain way, being aggressive and stoic is this ideal notion of strength, when this is not true regardless of what gender you identify as.
I think it is important to normalise different forms of strength, in different people. It is such a multi-faceted concept and media like film are great ways to explore it. It is important to identify the problematic nature of conforming people to this standard, especially in discussions of female empowerment. There should be a better representation of what it means to be a strong woman, that doesn’t make her conform to popular ideas of what it means to be a strong man.
I have always felt like that in order to be strong you had to be emotionless and show no fear. I hate this stereotype. I am a very emotional person, but that doesn’t mean I don’t think i’m strong. Emotions can be such a good way to show strength and that is what is normal in our society. Why should we preach something different? That seems toxic to me. Love this post.
This is such an interesting take on how we perceive strength in our lives. You’re right- when we think of strength, the first thing that comes to mind is a buff, built man. In actuality, strength can be just as powerful as silence or resilience. Recently, stories like Cinderella have been shut down by the media because of it’s depiction of so-called gender stereotypes when really we should be praising the actions that showed Cinderella’s quiet strength. Women don’t have to become “shredded” to be seen as powerful but instead, strength can be felt through their actions, words, and choices.