Cinderella is based on the French story Cindrellon, by Charles Perrault.
A coming of age story – a young girl loses her mother at a tender age, and her stepmother arrives with her two stepdaughters.
The inner child in every man and woman’s psyche loses a sense of being protected by their mother as we transition to adulthood. The stepmother in us rules our desires and love for social belonging and validation. The two stepsisters, our alter egos made of jealousy and greed, are nurtured by this constant need for social validation. As we do our chores, it’s easy to start believing that we are doomed, but there is always a ray of hope.
The proverbial Prince Charming arrives, throwing balls while Cinderella scrubs vessels and eats instant food out of a pot. Social validation, greed, and envy all push her to go for the ball, and she does. Apparently, he falls in love with her at first sight because her fairy godmother has dressed her up so beautifully, by turning a pumpkin into a carriage no less. She sets herself a timeline that she’ll be back before the next day begins. Unfortunately, she leaves her cover behind, the glass slipper.
(Did the slipper have to be transparent? Maybe it represents clarity at some level. It’s an interesting coincidence that today clear heels are associated only with strippers)
Her masculine psyche, her innate charm, the Prince Charming of her psyche, finally manages to find its way back to her, despite her circumstances!