Music and Feminism: Cinderella Snapped by Jax

Disclaimer: This article is not in any way meant to insult Jax or her music, it is only meant to discuss the song and it's meaning.

I recently came across a song, Cinderella Snapped by Jax. This wasn't the singer's first feminist song - a year earlier that she'd released the song Victoria's Secret, about the unhealthy body standards the brand promotes. The singer explained that the song was inspired by a feminist retelling of Cinderella that her grandmother wrote for her. Jax also wanted to write about all the Disney Princesses having priorities other than marriage.

I do think that parts of this song are valid and incredibly meaningful. For example,

"I don't need no prince to save me, I'm a Godd*mn CEO Don't Call me Baby, Equal Pay me"

This calls out the damsel in distress trope, mentions women in powerful roles, and the wage gap all in one verse, all of which are important notes, some in the context of the song and some just in general. The damsel in distress trope is quite common in Disney Princess movies, especially ones from the early to mid-1900s, and calling out the princesses needing to be 'saved' by a prince, like Snow White and Sleeping Beauty is a good point. While the wage gap isn't something you would really find in Disney movies, it's still a very real problem and it's interesting to see it being addressed in a song about Disney Princesses.

However, the song is not without it's flaws. One verse goes

Rapunzel shaved their head, so there was nothing to climb on/ Jasmine made out with Mulan/ Sleeping Beauty sued the dude who kissed her while she was asleep/ And Ariel was confident without any feet/ Tiana went and got a Biomedical Degree/ And Beauty realized that she was the beast

Some of these lyrics do call out the Disney movies well, particularly the line about Sleeping Beauty. It discusses consent, and speaking up for yourself, both of which are important things that aren't exactly considered in Disney Movies. However, some of these lines either ignore the already existing meanings and messages in the movie, or just consider the movies on surface-level.

Firstly, Jax wanted this verse to be about the princesses having priorities other than marriage, but many of these princesses did. Firstly, some princesses, such as Merida don't even have love interests. But for the ones that did, I think it is important to understand that though they are from romance movies, romance is not their only priority. Rapunzel, Tiana, Mulan and Beauty all had their princes, but they also had motivations and dreams other than marriage.

Let's look at each line individually.

Rapunzel shaved their head, so there was nothing to climb on.

This lyric matches the tone of the song, certainly, and it's a form of rebellion against opression, but the person who opressed her due to her hair was Mother Gothel, her mother figure, not her man. Therefore, I don't think it's really related to the overall meaning Jax intended for this song. Another way to look at Rapunzel shaving her head could be about her freeing herself from her opressor rather than being saved by a man, but I think that if that was the intention it's somewhat unclear. If it's meant to be symbolism in relation to bodily autonomy and choice, or going against traditional beauty norms, that's also an important message to include.

Jasmine made out with Mulan

Disney Princess movies certainly lack queer characters. While many fans see Elsa as queer, or Li Shang from Mulan as bisexual (due to him seemingly being attracted to Mulan, even when she was disguised as a man), neither of these were confirmed by the movies. While this line does bring attention to this glaring issue in representation, I think important messages in Mulan's movie have been ignored. If Jax's issue was princesses being focused only on marriage, then Mulan and Jasmine could have been mostly left out.

Firstly, while Jasmine did end up getting married, marriage was Aladdin's priority, not Jasmine's. We see time and time again that Jasmine does not want to get married - Aladdin does, which is an important distinction - Getting married, is different than it being your only/top priority. Secondly, Mulan does get married in the sequel, but like Jasmine we do not see marriage as her priority - she goes to the matchmaker for her family, not for herself. Additionally, Mulan is arguably one of the most feminist of the disney princess movies. It's about her joining the army and becoming one of the most successful people in it, despite the sexism that forbids women from doing so. Her story is literally one of overcoming gender discrimination.

Ariel was confident without any feet.

I've already covered my opinion on Sleeping Beauty above, so let's move on to Ariel. I think something most people forget when discussing The Little Mermaid is that Ariel didn't exactly 'leave everything behind for a man.' We see in her grotto and trips to the surface that she has always loved the surface and it's inventions. Prince Eric wasn't her entire reasoning, he was her beaking point - her already existing interest in the surface, combined with fighting with her father, and her crush on Prince Eric combined led to her ultimate decision. That said, I don't fully disagree with Ariel being included in this lineup of princesses who need other priorities. If Ariel loved the human world, she should have been exploring a lot more in the movie, rather than spending all her time with Prince Eric. We should have seen her making friends, going to markets and parks and seeing the world.

Tiana went and got a Biomedical degree

The only connection I can find between Tiana and biomedicine is that for the majority of her movie, she's a frog. I think this lyric completely forgets Tiana's story. While the movie was mostly focused on her adventure as a frog, Tiana isn't a girl with only marriage on her mind - The movie clearly shows her as an ambitious, driven young woman. We see her working two jobs to make the money to afford her dream - to open her own restaurant, to run her own business. Women in STEM are an amazing inspiration, but so are women with ambitions to open their own restaurant. I'd say Tiana being a woman in the 1920s who's first and foremost priority is to run her own business is pretty inspiring and powerful. I think by adding her to this lineup, with this lyric, ignores her already empowering character. Additionally, while none of the Disney Princess movies have characters in STEM fields, the show Elena of Avalor shows Princess Isabella as a technological genius.

Beauty realized she was the Beast

A youtube short by Jax shows an illustration of Belle working out. Like Tiana and Mulan, Belle had priorities and other things to her life than men. Firstly, the villain of her movie is a man trying to force her to marry him and we see her turning him down and is so important that him harassing her is clearly shown as wrong. But this also shows that her only priority isn't marriage. We also see her caring about her father, even sacrificing her own freedom for him. These are both things that I think should be noted about this movie. But in direct relation to this line, Belle was already a great role model. A girl who's intelligent and reads is also important to see, as well as girls who work out. I think this once again flattens out her character and ignores parts of her film. However, if this means that she could have fought the wolves in the movie herself, or escaped from the Beast herself, those would both be interesting points, but she promised Beast that she would stay in his palace, not because of love for him, but for love of her father.

In conclusion, I think this song meant well, and certain parts of it have great meaning, symbolism and nuances, but it also sometimes flattens out and ignores traits of characters who already had empowering storylines. While it is important to bring attention to issues with sexism and popular media, it's important to think about details and not just a basic, overall look. Feminist reimaginings are important and are a good thing to see in media, but by oversimplifying older characters and media to the trait that fits your argument best, we risk losing already existing empowering characters.

Listen to the song here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRfEqCap1I8