Missed a Spot...

Hey there, Cinderella, you missed a spot. Yeah, right there. It's just where my heart fell on the floor - no big deal.
So, the typical Disney story, right? A woman, in one of the most dire situations, is finally rescued from her woe by a fairy godmother who bestows upon her beautiful clothes, a carriage, and attendents. This is the only way that she mets Prince Charming, who eventually rescues her again with a magical slipper that will only fit Cinderella's foot. Perhaps it's not what Cinderella does that crawls under my skin, but what she doesn't do.
Take this story for example:

At the grocery store one day, my daughter noticed a little girl sporting a Cinderella backpack. “There’s that princess you don’t like, Mama!” she shouted.
“Um, yeah,” I said, trying not to meet the other mother’s hostile gaze.
“Don’t you like her blue dress, Mama?”
I had to admit, I did.
She thought about this. “Then don’t you like her face?”
“Her face is all right,” I said, noncommittally, though I’m not thrilled to have my Japanese-Jewish child in thrall to those Aryan features. (And what the heck are those blue things covering her ears?) “It’s just, honey, Cinderella doesn’t really do anything.”

She just doesn't really do anything. She's not teaching us to be strong women by rebelling against unjust people, she just allows us to go on believing that if we're "good" girls, do what we're told, and just wait, a fairy godmother will drop out of the sky and a wonderful prince will just whisk us away from all that causes us tears.
Why couldn't the movie focus on the only strong woman in that movie - the "evil" step-mother. Yes, I said it. The antagonist is really the protagonist for us women. Think about it - she lives by herself, is ultimately responsible for herself, her two daughters, Cinderella, the house, and who knows what else? She's independent and that's what's really scary.

Orenstein, Peggy. "What's Wrong with Cinderella?" The New York Times 24 Dec. 2006. 8 May 2007 <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/24/magazine/24princess.t.html?ei=5088&en=8e5a1ac1332a802c&ex=1324616400&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=all>.