leia131 | In Defense of Disney 3: Return of the Rant!

Character: Aurora/Briar Rose, from Sleeping Beauty (1959)

Criticism: “Betrothed at birth to solidify a political position, she is killed by another woman out of spite. Her owner… ahem… fiancé saves her with a kiss. Again, sex is her only salvation.”

Ok, I can’t really argue with the first sentence, but then again, I don’t see a problem with it, nor how any of that is Aurora’s fault. Whether you like it or not, and whatever it says about humankind throughout history, women were treated as political tools rather than people all the time. Especially princesses. Therefore, it’s not unreasonable to portray this in a movie. Maybe they think that Disney didn’t need to include that bit, especially in a kid’s movie, but we’ll come back to why they did later. For now, I want to say that Stefan and his Queen (if we’re going to yell at this movie for sexism or whatever, how about the part where she doesn’t get a name?) love Aurora and want to see her safe and happy. I seriously doubt they would have gone through with the arranged marriage if she had really, vehemently opposed it. This is evidenced in the scene where Hubert and Stefan fight about their kids possibly not liking each other; the possibility that this might not work out has occurred to them. They end by reassuring each other that of course the kids will get along, but I bet that if they hadn’t, other arrangements could have been made.

She is ‘killed’, sort of, by another woman out of spite, that’s true enough. But I don’t really see how that’s a criticism. It’s called…a plot! Maybe they’re saying it’s sexist? Somehow? I don’t see how the circumstances would have been any different if either Maleficent or Aurora (or both) had been male, so I’m not sure why this is relevant. Unlike Snow White, Maleficent doesn’t go after Aurora because she’s pretty, or even because she’s a girl; it’s just to 1. be evil, and 2. hurt Stefan and his Queen. And Maleficent doesn’t have to be female either; the plot works equally well with a male villain. Sure, Disney could have made them male, but do we really want to advocate for fewer female characters, or for making the most badass Disney villain ever into a dude? I don’t think so.

Now, calling Phillip Aurora’s owner is both mean and wrong. Just because he’s betrothed to her doesn’t mean he owns her, and no one in the movie acts as if he does (at least, not any more than they act like Aurora owns him. Both of them get told they can’t marry the person in the woods, because they’re already engaged). If anything, going by tradition, her father still owns her until the vows are said. If you’re going to use that insult, at least do it right. As far as I can tell, Phillip doesn’t give a rat’s ass about his betrothed, since she’s mostly just a name to him. He wants to ride his horse around the kingdom and hunt, or whatever young princes do, probably drink and bang a few tavern wenches while he still can. He doesn’t like, sit around and think about how awesome it will be to own his future wife. In fact, he doesn’t think about his future wife at all. The only time we see his feelings on the subject are when he’s grimacing over her cradle (because he’s five, and girls have cooties!), and then blowing off the arranged marriage for some peasant girl.

Which brings me to my next point. When Phillip meets Aurora in the woods, contrary to what it says above, sex isn’t her only salvation. Fate, and magically magical one true love, are. I don’t even know that Phillip makes any remark about her being beautiful, and what initially draws him to her is her voice. Also, fate. Which is what this movie is really about, and Maleficent even says so (But see the gracious whim of fate - why, 'tis the self-same peasant maid, who won the heart of our noble prince but yesterday). The reason that Disney shows Phillip and Aurora being betrothed in the beginning is really so that the audience can appreciate how awesome fate is; even though she’s hidden away in the woods, and has no idea she’s a princess, fate brings the two people who are fated to be together, together. In conclusion: fate. It’s also so we can have that hilarious scene where Phillip tells his father he’s going to marry a peasant girl rather than Aurora, and the audience can chuckle and poke each other and know that everything’s going to be all right, because they’re the same person! Finally, fate serves to galvanize Phillip into action: Would he have raced to free Aurora from the dragon if she was just Some Hot Chick? Maybe, since he’s good and all, but it has so much more passion and meaning because she’s the peasant girl he fell in love with, AND his betrothed. Therefore, if he can only wake her up, everything will be resolved!

And yes, he does save her with a kiss. Because 1. that’s just the way it’s done in fairy tales, and 2. Kisses are basically symbols of love, and they’re each other’s one true love. Nothing can stop that, not even thorns, dragons, magic sleeps, or all the powers of Hell. Sex isn’t Aurora’s salvation: fate combined with love, is. The movie doesn’t teach that sex or beauty solves all problems, or that that’s all you have to have to be happy. It teaches that true love conquers all (which, again, Maleficent says), and with it on your side, you get help from fairies and can slay the HUGE FUCKING DRAGON with ease. You may or may not believe that, but it’s the main message here.

P.S. Don’t say that Aurora doesn’t do anything either. For her first 16 years, she has a very happy life and doesn’t know that there’s anything that needs to be done, besides gathering berries; it’s not like she has anything to escape from. Then, she has like, a few hours between finding out that she’s a princess (and do they even tell her that there’s evil afoot? I don’t think they do) and getting put to sleep, which she hardly could have avoided. (See: Fate). What the hell was she supposed to do? Kick Maleficent in the face? (Ok, that would have been cool, but dreadfully out of character. Besides, Maleficent is magnificent. She has to be allowed to succeed for a while, just through sheer force of her awesomeness).

To see the two previous entries in this series, please click on the 'in defense of disney' tag.