The Ugly Stepsister

Never have I hated a tapeworm more in my life let me tell you.

%WARNING!! - SPOILERS AHEAD%

  So, women. And not just women, women in   P a t r i a r c h y.

  The Ugly Stepsister follows the life of Elvira in the tale of Cinderella, through a series of events, trials and tribulations to become more and more beautiful, so she can win the heart of the prince at the ball and live her happily ever after.

  This movie is not for the weak of stomach. It has depictions of gore, body horror and mutilation. It is an adaptation closer to the Grimms' grim tales after all. I watched the Substance not so long ago, so the theme was not as shocking to me. There's something quite intriguing about women's self image and what the patriarchy and misogyny make us believe of our own bodies, looks and worth as human beings. And while this is a post on the Ugly Stepsister, I believe it has a lot of parallels to be drawn with the Substance, so I recommend if you haven't and you are intrigued, go watch both! Stellar performances!!

  The first thing I clocked in this story, was how I saw so much of myself in Elvira, mostly when I was a teenager. As a young girl, I was fascinated by the hetero-normative stories of old about a prince coming to save a princess from a cursed tower, or evil stepmother, or a life of poverty. I adored the idea of being adored by men, loved by them, cared for, chosen. I think what ailed Elvira, and made her so infatuated with the poetic prince, was in part loneliness, and in part placing men's desire on a pedestal, the same malady that ailed her mother, and made her seek solace in sex. In many ways its the reason why she chooses to overlook the prince's grotesque personality and friends- delusions of fairy tale love as an escapade from reality, because to her, only the prince could save her and truly love her.

  Elvira was stuck in her imagination. Her idea of what love was and should feel like and what the prince should do often did not match reality. And what's worse, the men and women around her, even the ones that showed her kindness, were perpetuating her insecurities by enforcing what she was lacking. They were propelling her to destroy herself by eating tapeworm eggs, break her nose to mold it to what society deems a perfect one should look like(which is bullshit hooked noses RISE!!!) the look of her teeth (she was wearing braces man cmon) hair, clothes, make up, and of course....weight.

  Don't even get me started on fat phobia, that girl was perfectly healthy in the beginning of the movie, she just never developed a healthy relationship with food, which, fair, given how and with who she grew up. 

  One big aspect that I loved, besides the fact that it didn't pull any punches when it came to interpreting the sentence "beauty is pain", is how it depicted men vs women in day to day life.

  The women in the movie were in a constant battle. They turned against each other, were jealous and mean towards one another, and even at times violent. Like their own desires and likings were not important, they were presented to men as show dogs by their own mothers, who treated them as such (there's the hint at internalized misogyny that a lot of mothers pass onto their daughters, which really isn't a hint at all its pretty blatant and true to reality). They underwent weeks of intense etiquette lessons and were under constant pressure and anxiety to be perfect, because to most, the future of their household depended on a good marital contract. 

  Meanwhile the men hunted poor birds in the forest whilst laughing about assaulting women for fun. Older men creeped on younger women like absolute rotten evil villains. Most were outright disgusting. One even got together with the stepmom for some fun time after dancing with her daughter at the ball and showing interest in marriage.

  This need the women in the movie have for male attention, validation and security (through titles via marriage contract) were contrasted only in two different settings. The etiquette teachers, who were lesbians (albeit they still perpetuated misogyny in different ways) and the younger sister who is supposed to be Anastasia- Alma. 

  Alma was completely uninterested in anything that was happening around her (go queen) and only ever spoke to oppose her sister taking the tapeworm, leaving her stranded in the forest (based, if ur gonna destroy urself im not gonna help u), to oppose her mother cutting the other foot (based yet again, the mother was clearly not in her right mind and in the end it didn't even matter) and to help her sister escape that place with her as she had no intentions of getting married (slay). 

  In the end, I believe the big point of the movie is that we, as women (and that includes trans women btw fuck u JK Rowling) need to support each other through thick and thin. We have to help each other, lend a hand, because misogyny is a disease deeply entrenched in our culture and society which causes so many people to suffer, and the ironic part is that it's not just women that do. 

  We are not held to the same standards as our male counterparts, and for the longest time, we couldn't do anything about it because the world was centered around them. 

  Now, we don't need to make ourselves small, break our bodies just to build them back up for the male gaze, or silence our voices and endure the rest of our lives being married to the worst possible person for financial security (which often times led to financial ruin). We can get educated. We can work. We can love who we choose. We still have a long way to go because whenever there's a call for equality, the privileged will retaliate to keep their position, but that doesn't mean that it's not a path worth taking.

  No matter what your mother tells you, or your aunties, your cousins, your uncles, your father, your classmates or coworkers, or even your government. Please watch this movie, and remember these wise words from a legendary human being:

  Your prince (or princess, or monarch) will love you for you. In every reincarnation. 

  Even if you're a worm.