Sleeping Beauty

Sleeping Beauty was made in 1959 also set in a French kingdom and was the last fairytale Walt Disney produced. Something that separates this movie from the first two is that it is not a Grimm Brothers fairytale which could give answer to some of the differences.

Also there is quite a divide between the first three movies and the later four. In Sleeping Beauty and the other two the female character was very meek, and always the fair beauty, later on things take a very different approach.

After watching this movie I think it is the harshest princess movie so far. Maleficent has so much spite for Princess Aurora that is simply based on not being invited to her christening which is unlike the other two movies where their hatred is based on jealousy for the Princess' good looks.

Not only does the hate seem unfairly based but also takes up the majority of the movie. Most of this movie is focused around defeating the evil. The main character, "Princess Aurora...appears for fewer than eighteen minutes in the film" - Wikipedia.

Also the darkness of the character Maleficent adds to the overall scare factor. Not only does this character hide in the shadows and appear from a fog, but she also changes into a huge fire-breathing dragon that the prince has to defeat. With so much of the movie focused on this intense amount of the evil force I give this movie six fairies out of ten.

Cinderella

Cinderella was made in 1950 set in a French kingdom. Cinderella fits in with some of the happenings of the late 1940's. Her hair is the most noticeable to this as a medium short wavy cut seemed to be pretty popular.

Also the story line could be said to follow the transition the 1940's went through. Cinderella experiences turmoil for the majority of her life, like world war 2, and in the end gains her own independance. Women were also going through this as men went to war the ladies left behind found their voice.

I would say that the amount of fright that comes from watching this movie is very minimal. This time the "witch" character is her fairy godmother who is a nice person and she does good for Cinderella. The stepmother and sisters, along with their cat, are the evil forces in this movie.

And because cats always try to eat mice and an unlikeable parent and siblings doesn't seem too harsh I would only give this movie two slippers out of ten. Cinderella is an overall 'happy ending' movie :).

Snow White

Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs was made in 1937 and was the first full length animated film. While watching the film you could tell that the environment, decor and fashion were from somewhere in Europe, my guess was Dutch? But it turns out to be German.

Snow White is known as the 'fat' princess, and in a way this is true, but when you look at the fashion of the 30's she is romantically accurate. By no means is she fat, but curvy could be argued. Her hair style is also very current to the times. Many pictures I looked up also have short, dark haired bobs.

As for the point of my study I am looking at the evil force in each of these movies and comparing them to the times and the intensity that comes across to the viewers.

Here we have a jealous Queen that practices witchcraft to disguise herself in order to kill the princess, Snow White. Witches have been talked about for centuries and were considered an evil all throughout the world. "Witchcraft came to be seen as a vast diabolical conspiracy against Christianity, and accusations of witchcraft led to large-scale witch-hunts, especially in Germanic Europe." - Wikipedia

This quote I found interesting because in the movie Snow White prays before bed which shows how popular/common Christianity was during that time and that it mentions Germanic Europe which is the location of the story.

As to the intensity of the Queen/Witch, I think it came off as strong but only lasted for a short bit considering she dies after poisoning Snow White. So I would give this movie four red apples out of ten for its scare level. While the Queen/Witch is rather unpleasant the evil and longevity of the character was not that bad.

Princess Study

So yesterday my mom and I were talking about the newest princess movie The Princess and The Frog, which is a super cute movie, but we were talking about the magic in it. The magic in that movie is really dark and a kind of voodoo that I believe is real.

So we got talking and I got to thinking how has the magic in each of these movies changed over the years. So I plan on watching each princess movie and putting down my thoughts on what is in each movie. So I've seen The Princess and The Frog recently and I will start with Snow White and go on from there.

Snow White (1937)

Cinderella (1950)

Sleeping Beauty (1959)

The Little Mermaid (1989)

Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Aladdin (1992)

The Princess and The Frog (2009)

I don't feel Mulan or Pocahontas truely fit the "princess" mold so I will not include them in my study lol.