Sing, Slumber and Silent: A Sleeping Beauty Film Analysis
By: Lauren Oppenheim and Caitlin Rundle
Princess Aurora is well known for her slumber in the Disney film Sleeping Beauty. While this film is considered a classic it contains themes and ideas that parallel an earlier work titled “Sun, Moon, and Talia”. While these tales differ in their setting, name, and specifics, they both display an unacceptable portrayal of women and a major lack of feminism.
“Sun, Moon and Talia” begins in a similar manner to “Sleeping Beauty.” The king’s daughter, Talia, is predicted to endure great danger from a splinter of flax, so he orders all related materials to be placed near him for safety. However, Talia does receive a splinter of flax under her fingernail and dies. Her father lays her to rest in a great house and leaves, never planning on returning to her. Another king happens upon the house and finds Talia. He becomes so obsessed with her beauty that he rapes Talia while she is still asleep, and nine months later, Talia gives birth to twins. Mistaking her finger for a breast, the children suck the splinter out of Talia, waking her. Later the king returns and he and Talia fall deeply in love. After the discovery of his affair, his queen orders Talia to the palace and tells the cook to kill the children and feed them to her husband. The cook spares the children secretly. The queen summoned Talia and ordered her to be burned, but Talia is saved by the king, burning his wife and marrying Talia. This tale by Giambattista Basile features some unsettling stereotypes of women. After being raped, and falling for her rapist, the female protagonist is seen immediately serving her role as a mother before serving a role to herself to find out what had happened since she died. Then the jealous queen discovers her husband’s affair, and instead of blaming her husband for having the affair, she turns on Talia. Talia undresses before the court to try to save herself from burning, insinuating that she believes the only way to be saved is by putting herself in a vulnerable position. That mindset is then reaffirmed because Talia wasn’t burned, and in fact, became queen.
In 1959 Walt Disney Pictures produced the film “Sleeping Beauty”. Directed by Clyde Geronimi, the tale follows the magical story of a young girl. Aurora is born and gifted with many bountiful qualities and wishes as well as one curse. This curse is the cause of her growing up outside of the kingdom in hiding. However, this concealment is not enough and the wicked jinx causes her to go into a deep slumber after she pricks her finger on a spinning wheel. This slumber is not confined to the princess and it spreads across the entirety of the kingdom. Eventually, the slumber is lifted by the kiss of a young prince. In many ways, this movie seems like a perfect friendly fairytale. However, if you take a closer look there’s an inherent lack of feminism and a portrayal of women as objects from Aurora’s birth till her wake. Upon being born the young princess is given wishes. The first of these is beauty. The idea that the initial want for this young girl is for her to be beautiful shows how much that is worth in the setting. The wish was not that she should be intelligent, or kind instead they wanted her to be beautiful. This action itself shows how little females were worth in society without looks. Another noteworthy example of a lack of female respect is the treatment of Aurora’s mother. The Queen is never named, she is simply called a queen and that is it. Her husband however is saturated with discussions and lines but the person who gave physical birth to the main character is not even granted a name. Lastly, the princess herself has less than 20 spoken lines in the movie. While she is asleep for a portion of the tale it seems problematic that a girl is depicted as being cursed, thrown into the woods, and woken by a non-consensual kiss and has less than 20 lines to say about it.
These stories are intertwined with each other. The female protagonists both face danger from some sort of wood, the children of Talia are cared for by fairies similar to the way Aurora is raised by Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, and both main characters are valued and noticed for their beauty in many ways. However, there are many more problems shared between the two; both depict the mistreatment of women and normalize a lack of feminism. In both stories, there is an unfortunate showing of non-consensual sexual activity. While this is troublesome on its own it is even more so because the female protagonist and male counterpart are shown to be in love after it occurs. Additionally, the female protagonists are shown as typical damsels in distress needing the saving of a male. The male is then only discussed for falling for superficial aspects of the princess rather than intelligence or personality. Overall both stories show a female lead who is lead of nothing at all, instead, she is simple, sleeping, and silent about her mistreatment.
Young girls dress up as princess Aurora. They slip on crowns, pink ball gowns and sing as they twirl around the room. Upon first glance this whimsical imagination might seem pure but how beneficial is it for women to dream of being a character with little to no worth depicted besides her singing voice and Barbie doll looks. Sleeping Beauty has been a classic movie for generations however itself and its inspiration contain themes that display an undeniable lack of feminism and respect for women. Therefore, it is time that recognizes the problematic depiction of the female sex in these stories.
