Bleeping Beauty
Published May 01, 2003
My daughter Ngnat got a special Sleeping Beauty napkin with her dinner tonight, a leftover from the early birthday party we held for her on Saturday. It went well with the leftover hotdog. She got upset when the Sainted Wife handed me a plain napkin, though.
S.W. explained to her that these were special napkins, for a special girl, and that's why daddy didn't get one.
Ngnat was having none of it. "Daddy's special too!" she said, and burst into tears.
So I too had a leftover Sleeping Beauty napkin with my leftover hotdog, and all was well with Ngnat, if not with me. I hate Sleeping Beauty.
Hate her, despise her, pull for the witch to cast her and all her tribe into a pit of molten lava for eternity her. It's a horrible annoying video, worse than Barney at his smarmiest, or Barbie at her boobiest. The heroine is Walt Disney's blandest of all time, not to mention the crappiest female role model for little girls since Marie Antoinette. She makes Snow White look like a paragon of forcefulness.
For all of the claims that Barbie is bad, she has a career, at least, and lives on her own. Briar Rose, the supposed center of Sleeping Beauty, has no will of her own, is totally acted upon throughout the entire movie, and doesn't even speak for the last third of the film. Or the first third, for that matter. Out of the entire movie, she has 31 lines of dialogue, almost all of which are either about meeting a handsome prince or her flirting with a handsome prince. She's an absolute cypher, especially when compared to Disney heroines like Ariel or Belle.
Every ostensibly good female character in the movie is either incompetent, or powerless. The only female character with any power, Maleficent, is of course evil, not to mention jealous, and is dressed like a lesbian Viking with a Goth fetish to boot. Everything about her suggests frustrated male, from her cuckold's horns to her weirdly obvious name. She's not so much female as she is an Eisenhower era vision of a drag queen, the whole of that period's view of homosexuality wrapped up in one tight package.
Her enemies, the good fairies, are only remotely competent when in the presence of a man, and then only as supporters of his actions. They bless the sword the Prince uses to pierce the Dragon lady, who then dies, slain by a gleaming white phallic symbol. By themselves they do horribly stupid things like practice magic for the first time in sixteen years, on the very last day that the Sleeping Beauty curse can be invoked, conveniently drawing the notice of Maleficent's familiar just in time for her to bedazzle the all too easily ensorceled girl. And why pray tell, was magic so sorely needed? Because they were arguing over the color of a dress. Females, just too flighty for words, don't you know?
- Bleeping Beauty
- Published: May 01, 2003
- Type:
- Section: Video
- Filed Under: Video: Animation, Video: Family
- Writer: Bigwig
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Comments on this articleComments
You sure sound like a feminist to me! Why the disclaimer? Being a feminists is a good thing. Your daughter would be missing out on a lot of rights without us!
sleeping beauty is my favorite. it's so classic, she's so beautiful and that nature/romance/action are what make it good to kids
i have a question 4 u "bigwig" how come u would rather have ur child killing people and smokeing, then singing and talking 2 animals?by the way all the disney princess' r as thin as a noodle if u havent noticed. and in ariel they say tramp, just 2 let u no. this is a very good movie and u have no right 2 criticize(even if u do have the right) u should pick on snow white i dont like her.i like ur daughter better then u. i mean im kinda a feminist 2 but i c nothin rong with this movie it is a wonderfull movie that toke a lot of hard work 2 make ok. and u have problems.if u think ur so good y dont u make a better movie? huh?
so u think ur all high and mighty just co u hate this movie? grow up already. there is nothing wrong with this movie, its one of my favourite disney movies and its been more successful then u could ever hope to be. dont critise the character its a childrens film and even though shes a cartoon shes probably 100 times better looking then u will ever be! so grow the hell up and if u dont like the movie then dont watch it!
Hollie: So you love this movie, grow up! There's nothing wrong with bigwig for not liking it and giving her reasons why.
Briar Rose is by no means meant to be a "heroine". The point is love and fighting for it. The point is the male, namely Philip in this movie, is putting his foot down and fighting for the woman he loves. And I think that we all need to put this into perspective...this is a children's movie. It is an old fairytale of love and an enchantment. We are all entitled to our opinions about movies and what we like or don't like...So..I actually truly believe that it is a bit childish for everyone to get on each others' cases about preferences of movies, even if they seem a little strange or out your view...I love the movie, to be sure. Sleeping Beauty is my favorite Disney princess, but that doesn't mean that I have a right to criticize other peoples' opinions about the movie...
I agree with Jordan, why would you rather have your daughter watching a movie about a girl who smokes and shoots people than a nice, sweet girl?
Also keep in mind that Sleeping Beauty is only 16. It might not be because she's a female that she's not exactly Wonder Woman, it might be because she's a just a kid! And FYI, all girls dream about boys sometimes! Although I wish she did talk more, I think she's fine the way she is!
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Uncle Walt and Uncle Roy did have their own vision of how people should be, didn't they? I'd love to see American McGee's Sleeping Beauty
Penny Arcade's censored American McGee's Strawberry Shortcake and
the image removed by request of American Greetings.