Into The Woods Film Analysis

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The movie, Into the Woods, directed by Rob Marshall disregards the concept of karma, which is a spiritual principle in which your intentions and actions determine your destiny. If you do good to others, good will happen to you and vice versa. The movie depicts the Grimm’s version of Cinderella in the first act. However, the movie then critiques the moral of the traditional fairy tale by offering it a second act. The central theme of the fairy tale portrayed in the first act is that being good guarantees a happily-ever-after ending. In the second act, in contrast, goodness does not always promise positive outcomes or good karma. First, despite patiently dealing with her stepfamily’s ill treatment towards her, Cinderella’s sanctuary is destroyed. …show more content…
Her stepmother and stepsisters treated her as free labor and would make her carry out challenging tasks just so that she would suffer. Consequently, whenever she felt grief or was in need, Cinderella would turn towards her mother’s grave for help. Similarly in the Grimm’s version, Cinderella’s ultimate salvation was also her mother’s grave. As a result of her patience, her mother’s grave rested tranquilly under a hazelnut tree with two pigeons guarding it. In the end of the fairy tale, no harm was done to the grave. In the movie’s first act, similar to the traditional tale, Cinderella’s stepmother did not allow her to go to the ball unless she picked up every tiny lentil from the fireplace that the stepmother herself threw. She was obedient to her stepmother’s commands and then resorted to her mother’s grave for help. There she asked to be transformed from rags into a gorgeous gown and her wish was fulfilled. In the second act, unlike the traditional tale, the movie suggests that being good does not necessarily promise good karma. Cinderella’s goodness of being patient and obedient to her stepmother and stepsisters could not stop fate from destroying her mother’s