What Godmothered Gets Right About Happily Ever After
Happiness doesn’t have to be attached to a white picket fence.
The happily ever after (HEA) trope can often be seen as another tool of the patriarchy. Want to ensure your life will be filled with meaning, happiness, and hope, as a woman? Find the man of your dreams and watch the sparks fly. Hallmark movies are some of the worst culprits of this phenomenon, along with Disney movies. The fairy tale ending, girl meets boy, girl’s life is centered on catching said boy, getting married, having babies, and living happily ever after.
One of my favorite Disney movies turns this trope on its head. Frozen showed us that true love doesn’t have to come as romantic love, and that happily ever after can look like a single woman who runs her own country, living her best life.
Recently, I noticed a new movie being featured on Disney Plus, Godmothered. I sighed at the title, figuring this was going to be yet another traditional HEA story of girl meets boy and everything is perfect.
I can’t express how surprised and delighted I was to realize, Godmothered actually got it right in the end.
The remainder of this piece contains spoilers for Godmothered.
