Adrienne on the Hoping to Adopt blog wrote a post called Multicultural Cinderellas that reminded me of a movie that I hadn’t seen in ages. It was a Disney remake of Roger & Hammerstein’s Cinderella. I think I was in college when it came out and I remember being slightly awed by the movie because for once no one paid any attention to the way things “should be” and they just created it the way it “aught to be.”

In this story, the queen is Black and the king is White – but the Prince is Asian (and very cute). Generally, if a character has traditionally been White, then that character is White in all of the remakes and spin-offs. In this one, they didn’t seem to care. Cinderella is Black. Her stepmother is White, but one step-sister is Black and the other is White.

Did it ruin the overall meaning of the story? No. Was the music still wonderful? Yes. Ultimately, did any child (or adult) who watched it think about casting? Okay, maybe there are some purists out there who did care, but I didn’t care at all. It was wonderful.

I understood what Adrienne was talking about when she said she didn’t understand why there wasn’t a Black princess in the Disney world yet. Until Mulan, there weren’t many Asian princesses either – still aren’t actually.

Anyhow, after I was reminded of the movie, I had to sit down and watch it. I bought it shortly after it came out on video and then again when it came out on DVD. I put it away before my son arrived and I’ve been too busy to pull it back out. I love the music and I love the scenery. I love that the cast was Black, White, Asian and (in some cases) polka-dotted.

If you would like to comment, but not on this site, please e-mail me at adoptkoreablog@adoptionmail.com.