Have courage and be kind: gender depictions, female empowerment, and modern audience ratings in film adaptations of Cinderella from 1914 to 2022.

This article investigates how film adaptations of the Cinderella fairytale depict gendered traits and their relationship to female empowerment in the United States and modern audience reception. Analyzing 31 English-language Cinderella films produced over a century, the study finds that Cinderella is consistently portrayed with more traditionally feminine traits and the Prince with more masculine traits, though both characters exhibit a mix of masculine and feminine behaviors. Notably, Cinderella’s femininity decreases as female empowerment indices rise, while modern audiences tend to favor films where Cinderella displays stronger feminine traits, indicating a tension between media production and consumption regarding gender portrayals. The findings suggest that fairytales may offer a nuanced space for renegotiating the value of feminine-coded traits, though this potential is complicated by societal and industry dynamics.