a softer side of boys and men

i had my grandkids over the day and we were trying to decide what movie to watch. nonnie doesn't have as many movies and mommy and daddy do. frankly i was pretty much tired of watching the same things over and over again. so i pulled rank and said we were watching cinderella. first of all the two grandkids who were here are 7 and 5. great age for cinderella right? nope they are boys. so you can imagine the grief i got over my choice. that's a girl movie and i'm not watching it. is it in cartoon from? no? then no way. on and on and on. finally i said if you don't want to watch it go play in the toy room because i'm watching it. so in it goes. this cinderella movie isn't a cartoon or a real movie as we know it. it was a play adapted for tv. a rodgers & hammerstein production. it stars lesley ann warren and general hospital star stuart damon. the first time i watched it as a child i was sold. as were quite a few other girls of my age. i can't tell you about the boys because they weren't saying anything other then yuck!!!!
so anyway the movie comes on and they can see the background looks like a cartoon. more grief, but they haven't left the room yet. then on comes the prince and white horse. i never heard another sound out of them. it was typical to hear oh yuck, it's a girl movie and i heard it one more time from their about half way through when he came to pick them up. he also sat down and i didn't hear another peep out of him either. when the movie ended i asked the boys if they liked the movie and i got a definite yes. so i decided to go for broke and asked them if it was because of the horses or the prince or the mice. the answer i got was not one i expected. the answer was no. they liked the princess and they really loved her gown. they were happy that the prince found her. from their dad i got wow, you can really tell it's an older movie because of the princess's teeth. in today's lifestyle the actress would have had her teeth fixed. but he also said he liked the princess.
am i losing it or are today's boys and men a little less worried about their image as guys and let their feelings out a bit more? i think it's great. i also think that my grandson's will be watching a bit more of a variety when it comes to movies. if they can handle cinderella they can handle anything. no i'm not going to turn them into girly boys, but it won't hurt them to check in their softer side once in awhile. if they can, they will make some girl very happy some day.