Calliope is one of the secondary antagonists in the 1997 film Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella. She is the older daughter of the Stepmother and the taller of Cinderella's stepsisters. Biologically, she has a shorter sister named Minerva.
Role in the film[]
On a trip to the market, Calliope spots an unusual purple hat topped with fluffy pink feathers and makes a grab for it, but her sister, Minerva, is faster. They ask their mother who it looks best on, but she smoothly dodges the question before she steps into a shop. Unsatisfied, they turn to their stepsister, Cinderella, and ask her opinion on the matter. She answers honestly, saying she doesn't think it looks good on either of them. Highly offended, Calliope dismisses her answer before snatching it off Minerva's head and making a break for it. An angry Minerva catches her and they resume fighting all the way into the hat shop.
When they emerge, Calliope is the proud new owner of a unique green flowered hat with an explosion of long feathers. Minerva makes fun of Cinderella for being lazy, but Calliope mishears her and thinks she's the one being insulted. Minerva snaps that she is stupid, but she clearly meant Cinderella. Calliope is mollified for a moment before taking offense at being called stupid.
On another day spent shopping in the market, Calliope and Minerva are choosing lollipops from a candy shop when their mother bustles in, exclaiming that Prince Christopher is throwing a ball in order to find a bride. They hope he will propose to them before their mother puts their lollipops back and drags them off. When they get home, Calliope glares at Cinderella along with her mother and Minerva until she opens the door for them and takes their hats, bags, and gloves. Their mother wastes no time in training them to be graceful, respectable ladies and places a book on each of their heads, instructing Calliope to keep her shoulders back. Before they can even sit down their mother orders them all upstairs to take their tea.
On the day of the ball, Cinderella helps Calliope with her hair, watching in slight terror as her mother tightly laces Minerva into her corset. She then asks them how they plan on impressing Prince Christopher. Calliope drops an unusual curtsy before fluttering her eyelashes, then proudly declares that she will laugh infectiously at all of Prince Christopher's jokes, demonstrating by giggling so hard she starts to snort. Her horrified mother begs her not to do so in front of him, reminding her and Minerva that they must hide their flaws until after the wedding. Cinderella, however, disagrees and vocalizes her thoughts of love to Calliope and Minerva, who find her ideas beautiful. Their incensed mother snaps that love doesn't matter. Marriage does. They drink up every warning about the follies of falling in love as they undergo facial masks and pedicures and other methods of beautification before they saunter out the door with feathers in their hair and stars in their eyes.
Soon enough, Calliope and Minerva are waiting impatiently in line for their chance to dance with Prince Christopher. Soon after Minerva's disastrous shot at dazzling him, Calliope eagerly seizes her opportunity to win his heart by immediately launching into a giggle-spree. Alarmed by her incessant snorting laughter, he signals his loyal servant, Lionel, to take her away. Nevertheless, she fights him every inch of the way by doing her very best to cling to him before Lionel finally manages to wrench her off. Not long after, Cinderella arrives and sweeps him off his feet. Not recognizing her, a jealous Calliope fumes with Minerva from the sidelines as Prince Christopher and Cinderella dance around the ballroom. When they whirl right outside, Calliope and Minerva follow and spy on them all around the gardens. They complain that just because the mysterious girl is beautiful, graceful, and unusual, that doesn't mean Prince Christopher has to fall for her rather than one of them. Hastily backing out of his line of sight, they topple over each other into a fountain.
Returning home after the ball ends, Calliope and Minerva tell Cinderella slightly-exaggerated stories of it, although they grudgingly admit that there was some other girl who captured Prince Christopher's attention as well. She mentions her ideas of what it may have been like, enchanting them with dreams of charming princes and floating ballrooms before their disapproving mother sends them off to bed.
The next day, Prince Christopher has devised a way to find the mysterious girl by having every single eligible young maiden try on the glass slipper she left behind until he finds the one whom it fits. His search eventually brings him to Cinderella's house, where Calliope tries it on first. She pretends that it's a perfect fit, but Lionel sees through her charade and tries to take it off, but she holds onto it firmly before he tickles her heel (which sticks out of it) and slaps her foot away. She observes petulantly as Minerva tries and fails to put it on perfectly, and then in shock as her mother tries it on herself and it fits.
When their mother starts shrieking that the glass slipper is cutting off her circulation, Calliope and Minerva hurriedly help Lionel yank it off. Prince Christopher asks them if they are sure there are no other eligible maidens in the house. Knowing that Cinderella is in the kitchen, they hastily and conspicuously attempt to block its locked doors. With renewed hope, Prince Christopher orders them opened. After a brief struggle, Lionel manages to secure the key and unlocks them before Prince Christopher walks inside. Everyone crowds around the doorway only to see that Cinderella is clearly not in there, much to her stepfamily's relief. Prince Christopher prepares to leave but is stopped by the Stepmother, who absolutely begs him to take Calliope or Minerva as his bride. She praises Calliope's "charm and elocution", promising that she's much smarter than she looks as she holds the glass slipper high out of Lionel's reach. Losing patience, Prince Christopher orders the chaos to stop and marches out the door, running right into Cinderella. He places the glass slipper on her foot and it fits perfectly, as her stepmother screams in despair and collapses into Calliope and Minerva's arms.
On the day of Prince Christopher and Cinderella's wedding, her stepfamily is shut outside the palace gates, although that doesn't stop them from unsuccessfully trying to climb over them.
Trivia[]
- Calliope was named after one of the Muses (off whom those from the 1997 Disney animated film Hercules are also based).
- Calliope favors slim straight dresses in multiple layers and various shades of green.
- Calliope drinks tea with warm milk.
- Calliope's preference of green clothing could be a reference to her inspiration, Drizella Tremaine.
Gallery[]
See also[]
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