Bleeping Beauty
Published May 01, 2003
The virginal heroine, protected from the outside world for 16 years, falls into a deathlike trance after encountering her first prick* and is only saved by a prince, coincidentally the possessor of the second and presumably last prick she'll ever encounter. Yep, unless those pricks are part and parcel of the embodiment of true love, they'll ruin you. To rescue her, the prince not only has to kill the evil drag queen, but must first hack his way through a forest of thorns, which resemble nothing so much as the most threatening, coarsest and blackest patch of pubic hair ever animated. Pubic hair with thorns, yes, but her name is Briar Rose. Where do you think she got it from?
Someone should remake this movie with a man as the sleeper, and a hard-drinking, foul-mouthed Briar Rose as the rescuer. Have her invade the witch's castle amid a torrent of gunfire and acres of blood, execute Maleficent with a graphic shot to the back of her head, light a cigarette and leave the prince to his slumber.
At the very least, she'd be a better role model for my daughter the Disney's limp blonde noodle is.
It's hard to decide which is worse in the movie, the off hand yet absolute depiction of women as powerless objects, or the horribly twisted sexual subtext of the whole thing. As Song of The South is to African Americans, so Sleeping Beauty is to women. It may be worse. You don't have to be a feminist** to see the stuff I noted above; it's two-by-four to the side of the head obvious, so there's probably a lot that I overlooked. I'll get more chances to review it, that's for certain. Ngnat shows no signs of realizing how bad it is, no matter how many times I explain the word "subtext" it to her.
*this is a pun. What she actually encounters is technology with a phallic symbol attached, and we all know how women are with technology, right? She touches the phallic symbol, which makes her bleed, quelle surprise, then falls down in a faint. La petite mort, indeed.
**and god knows I'm not, though I did once write an end of term Women's Studies paper for a girlfriend, who had freaked out and was screaming "This is all such bullshit!" at her textbook the night before it was due.
It got an A.
- 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.