I always admired how it was implied that Aurora met Phillip from "Dreaming." I mean, It doesn't sound too believable, but they seemed to be pretty happy to dance in the woods through the rest of Once Upon a Dream, even though he surprised her. It felt like Aurora knew who he was through Dreams and Sleeping, and she saw Phillip in person for the first time in her life. Animated movied were a lot simpler back in the 1950s-60s, so it's Best to admire the smaller details instead of just comparing them to modern animated features.
My question is, is that shark in the beginning scene an assassin? Or was he just too hungry to care that he was literally trying to kill and eat Flounder and Ariel, AKA *King Tritons youngest daughter?* Like that always bugged me even as a kid as all the other sea life seem to respect her and her siblings or at the very least don't go out of their way to mess with them. Why was this shark the one to try anything outside of "the plot demands this happen because REASONS"?
I grew up with this film and a variety of Disney movies being played in my house, so in my heart of hearts, I just can't bring myself to hate it. "I Stand Alone" was my anthem for a good majority of my life as an introverted person and I loved finding beaver sticks in the woods near my grandfathers house and practicing pole-vaulting and attacks with them to mimic Garretts skill in combat. That being said the film has its flaws to be sure but I don't think there's anything particularly *WRONG* with it. No bad morals, no bad messages, just plain old good entertainment. The music alone is worth at least 1 watch. And honestly I think in this world of overly preachy, hypocritical, bad messages we need more films like Quest For Camelot. Films that inspire us, entertain us, and whisk us away to worlds and timelines we could only ever hope to dream of. Also fun fact: Gary Oldman, the VA for Ruber, actually downed a few shots before doing his lines in order to be more in touch with the insanity of Rubers character. And I say he succeeded with flying colors.
My only complaint is that she’s not the star of her own movie, but that’s Disney’s fault not hers. And when they decided to make a remake of Sleeping Beauty they decided to make Maleficent the star and not Aurora? Like really? I don’t think we needed a Sleeping Beauty version of Wicked (that’s how I viewed it since they made Maleficent a sympathetic villain)
Really enjoyed this clip and agree with your points. I liked the first Wonder Woman film a lot, but I found WW 1984 underwhelming and disappointing. It shows Diana cheating as a child and then being taught a lesson on this, but later she is shown to be doing identity theft and stealing (a jet) as an adult. She kind of learns her lesson, but it's clumsy writing and exposition for a character who should be portrayed as a shining beacon of strength, wisdom and kindness in the DC film universe. Looking forward to checking out more of your videos :)
I have long held the view that this version of the story of sleeping beauty isn't about her or Prince Phillip. The story is about the battle between the 3 fairies and Maleficent and how all the human characters, especially Aurora and Phillip, are just pawns in the game. The fairies literally tell Phillip "the road to true love is barred by many dangers that YOU ALONE will have to face" right before they give him a magic sword and shield and then proceed to help him THE ENTIRE WAY.
In defense of Snow White: Prince Florian was returning the kiss Snow White sent him through the dove at the beginning of the story. It was also clearly a goodbye kiss, and the hang up of kissing a dead body is a cultural difference. The story of Snow White wasn’t written in 1920s America.
Nitpicky here but...Disneys Aurora didn't even sleep for a long time, so no, it doesn't even have that in commonnwith the original tale -She slept, yes, but only for like a few hours... My Fav princess was first Aurora, then Ariel, then Belle, and then Rapunzel, which still has the top spot.
Sleeping Beauty was always one of my favorite classic Disney movies. It was also the first of the Princess movies where the Prince had any real character. Personally I would have preferred if maybe Aurora and Phillip had been sneaking out to spend time together with neither knowing the other's true identity for a longer time.
Minor thing but I like it how everybody on the good side of the film are struggling with some kind of conflict with themselves. Aurora is going through a identity situation since she likes who she is but also have to somehow becomes the type of person that her kingdom needs her to be when she someday becomes queen. Philip is struggling over exceptions to marry his father's best friend's daughter but also want to have someone who he truly loves. The fairies are struggling over knowing that Aurora have a important role to fulfilled but also truly want to see her happy as well. King Stefan and Queen Leah are struggling with both excitement and nervousness over meeting their daughter for the first time since she was a baby. King Hubert is struggling over his desires to have his and his best friend Stefan's kingdom united but also want his son Philip to be happy. The beauty of the film is how all of these characters end up coming together for a happy ending and a long awaited family reunion. P.S. I like to think that Aunt Fauna was the one who handled the sewing although of course Aurora had to keep her distance when she was making/mending the clothes and the sewing needles were locked in the chest so that Aurora couldn't get to them. Meanwhile Aunt Flora took care of the garden. What do you think?
I don't see Aurora as a protagonist, but more as the central character of the movie. She doesn't deive the story, but is the most important character in it and everything revolves around her. I don't think this type of character is bad, the problem comes when people expect them to be the main one.
This is so needed , ugh I remember becoming biased for aurora at like 10/11 bc always cursed to love the least popular characters . she deserves more recognition and defense essays just like Cinderella and Snow White 🩷
I’m surprised about those. I knew the flak Cinderella get’s, and Snow White, along with Ariel (she is a teenager who was given an enticing deal after a major fight with her dad, of course she’s not looking for red flags and taking it at face value)but this is new for me.
I LOVE all the Disney Princesses and in my opinion it doesn’t make sense to criticize any of them. All the criticism they get are based on pure misogyny and lack of empathy. I’ll defend all of them until the end!!!
Out of all Disney Princesses, she has the least amount of screen time, 18 minutes to be exact. During those 18 minutes, she said only 18 lines, which makes her, out of all the Disney Princesses, to have the least amount of lines. Her first line was delivered 19 minutes into the film, and her last line was delivered 39 minutes in, with the last sound she makes when she arrives at the castle and cries over thinking she'll never see her loved one again. So technically, this makes the Fairies the real protagonists instead of her, as well as making her the only Disney Princess to be a false protagonist.Coincidentally, Tiana has the second least screen time as a human (19 minutes). Her film did not originally do well at the box office nor was it ever re-released in Walt Disney's lifetime. Sleeping Beauty was also the last Princess film made in Disney's lifetime, and the fairy tale genre was not returned to until The Little Mermaid in 1989.However, the film developed a loyal following in later years and Aurora has gained much popularity when the Disney Princess franchise was created.
For a long time I thought that this kind of a romance that Aurora and Philip have is not realistic, but then I experienced it myself just a couple years ago. There was a guy I danced with during one evening, talked to him a bit, and I was in love - and we started dating. Sometimes just one dance with someone can tell a lot about that person, and yourself, and also raise so many feelings. Those who are not lucky enough (or dance) and don't meet people this way don't understand that a perfect romance like this can actually happen in real life. Love at first sight is rare, but not impossible.
Im looking forward to this. She is the trickiest princess to defend. In my opinion, Sleeping Beauty was more appealing to boys because at one point we fantasized about being a knight or prince fighting dragons and saving princesses. Nothing wrong with that
i think it also should be mentioned that aurora is possibly the best singer out of all the disney princesses except maybe ariel because she canonically has the power of song or something. in most musicals it's just a given that people can sing, especially women. gaston can sing while maybe in that time period singing was considered okay for him but nowadays theatric men are seen as less macho, tiana's voice is amazing while her whole character is that she's too busy for fun. and of course that is completely reasonable, musicals gonna musical. but aurora's voice is fully canon. actually i don't believe anyone brings it up that she clearly does it frequently because she just likes doing it, and the prince found her because of it, it was a power given to her by the fairies but it's very much her own power. it's just not the kind of superpower hercules has where there is a clear use for it, you can't defeat a dragon with song in this movie, when playing dnd disney princesses aurora would deffinitely be able to vicious mockery malifiscent to death but the movie has a more grounded view of what song is for, it's for her own amusement first and foremost, malefiscent notably doesn't seem like she can carry much of a tune, almost like the act of singing is inherently good. but i think her power really reveals something about how people saw magic back in the day, it didn't need a use, it didn't need to slay dragons for it to be valid, heck it barely had to do anything. her magical "beauty" which might have more than one effect, not just physical appearance but also her grace. and song, are just there. you can argue that she had to be hidden from the world because there is no one else like her, malefiscent didn't find her because her minions didn't realise they were looking for a teenager but if the world had found out who she was the news could've easily reached her soon enough. the power of aurora is just that she's a neat girl, she wouldn't just be adored because she's the princess but even without people knowing about the fairy gifts, she would get a lot of attention just for being her. i also wonder wether or not meeting the prince in her dream is as metaphorical as people say, it would be super romantic if they actually had known each other for a while. after all do you really tell someone you just met to love you at once? unless it's the way they did once, once upon a dream? either way i think it's noteworthy that a lot of more modern super powered characters don't actually have to be good people or good with their powers as long as there's an expectation that they are useful. disney's hercules wasn't hated because they were scared of the concept of his power, it's because he's clumsy and probably destroyed his surroundings more than that we saw, most girls can do better at pretending to be girly than mulan if it was really important and no one mentions mulan had no gaurantee of getting home in one piece. tiana needed a crocodile to get her restaurant and we don't know what would've happened without it, sure aurora had it easy because the saving is up to someone else but when saving people you must always be humble and say that being the victim is usually just as hard as being the one supporting them even if they don't have to do a thing themselves, the thing they do is process the emotional strain. mulan had it worse than her father but her father still suffered having been saved by his daughter worrying he could never tell her how much she meant to him and that his stubbornness caused her to take such a risk, it deffinitely has to be said that she took it knowing she had already failed at being a woman, i wouldn't say she intended not to return but i don't think mulan deserves praise either for putting herself into danger since there were options for her to avoid it. i think the real point is that wether or not a character can use their talents to look cool is all about plot contrivence which is completely valid, we love mulan and her fan, but that makes it so aurora as a character could've easily done something cool too if the writers permitted it, it depends on how much you anthropormorphise a character. and it's a valid critique that women in older movies didn't get enough of those moments, but i also think that when anthropormorphising characters it should be said that many of them only have their moments due to "chance", eric can't kill ursula without a boat, philip can't sail a boat to kill ursula, he needs a fairy spell and a sword he can throw, simba can defeat scar but most disney princes can't because he's a freaking lion, and we don't know what a lot of disney princesses are like when they aren't being abused or if they were, maybe snow white would open a restaurant and maybe tiana wouldn't do so well abused by her stepsiblings, basically if you got to the end of this massive wall, then you have probably realised you are a badass at reading and i have gotten us to a rather weird place,
Aurora has always been my favorite too. Also worth mentioning concerning her reaction to being told she can't see Phillip again... her reaction isn't just about not seeing Phillip. As far as she knows, she's just been told that she is going to have to marry a complete stranger! Immediately after having her first date with a guy she actually likes. Talk about having the rug pulled out from under you!! Her reaction is entirely realistic for a teenage girl. Honestly, running away would've been a very childish (and somewhat vindictive) reaction and I think Aurora was too responsible to ever even consider doing that. Sidenote: Disney's Sleeping Beauty is specifically inspired by the French version of Sleeping Beauty (i.e. the Charles Perrault version), as well as, the Sleeping Beauty ballet by Tchaikovsky. Both are specifically mentioned in the film's opening credits. I believe the only version of the story with the "assault" you speak of is from the much lesser known Italian version, which isn't even called Sleeping Beauty (it's called The Sun, Moon, and Talia). It really has no relevance to the other versions other than as an interesting anecdote.
I didn't watch sleeping beauty as a child, but as an adult I think Aurora is the best and most feminist Disney princess. She has this charming cottage life growing up, meets the guy of her dreams, finds out she's a princess, then takes a little nap and afterwards wakes up to find she has everything she's ever wanted - her fairy family, her parents, wealth, a kingdom, and it turns out her dream guy is the prince she's supposed to marry anyway who literally just fought a dragon for her! Name me a single adult who wouldn't like to wake up one morning and have everything in life be as you've always dreamed it to be! And she gets all this without having to endure the rags to riches sort of abuse story that most of the other Disney princesses experience (though I'll concede living for 16 years believing you're an orphan is no picnic). And for those who poo-poo the love at first sight she has with Phillip, I'd argue it is not actually love at first sight because they both met each other previously in their dreams (if that's not the definition of romance I don't know what is). And for those who still don't buy that as legit, then I think that makes Phillip out to be even a better character - he meets this girl once, goes back to see her and gets captured, escapes, but rather than run for his life, he literally fights off hundreds of guards, busts through a cursed thorn forest, fights and defeats a dragon - the freaking MISTRESS OF ALL EVIL - all on behalf of a girl he's known less than 24 hours. How many modern day dudes would do even a smidgen of that??? Anyways yeah I love Aurora, and I agree that I wish we got to hear a little more of her story and thoughts fleshed our, but she is the most classically princess-y of all the princesses and I LOVE her! 💕👑🧚♀️✨ (I do have to say though as much as I love Merriweather, if she had just kept her cool instead of insulting Maleficent, none of this would have happened 😅lol)
1. Thank you! I totally agree with everything you said! And 2. (This is totally off topic, but it needs to be said) I clicked on this video not knowing who you were, and your voice is really satisfying (for lack of better words) to listen to!
Also an intriguing detail, Aurora actually comes off far more pessimistic than the other princesses. Yes, she did believe in dreaming hard enough in your wishes, but she speaks to the animals about how she had dreamt so many times sadly and speaks of how her aunts always treat her like a child, implying a dissatisfaction with her current circumstances and might be starting to lose faith in a better future before Phillip comes in. It’s fascinating potential. Aurora is my favorite for untapped potential and her color palette is the closest to a Disney Princess wearing red that I will get currently. (Or it was until Moana came) It’s also why Ariel was number two after Aurora. And thank god someone has enough sense to read between the lines. I don’t believe you are wrong to note a sense of duty might have had something to do with Aurora’s decision to accompany the fairies. Yes, she laments not seeing Phillip again, but she should at that point know what she is getting into by going with the fairies. She is not just marrying a prince. She is gonna attend to her duties as a princess (or queen maybe), which would require someone with a sense of responsibility to her people. At the very least, we could at least infer she has respect for her aunts, meaning she feels obligation for them at least, who would be held responsible by the king and queen if Aurora were not to fulfill her duty.
My wife has always favored Aurora (but she insists on blue-dress Aurora, being annoyed by the color pink). Her reaction to seeing the opening image was "Oooh!" So thanks for that.
I'm mad about the way the movie seems to take an interest in anything but her, that's what makes her 'lacking' as a character for me. We barely see her, she's mostly asleep (lol) or just talked about. Instead of having this useless unfunny scene between the two kings, they could have put this time on Aurora AND her romance with Philippe. The chemistry between these two is less fleshed out than the one between their fathers, that's crazy. And that's also the reason why I prefer Snow White and Cinderella more, because we really see them in their own movies and have more compelling personalities. I kinda think of Aurora as this cheap copy of Snow White due to them having both similar stories and 'characterizations'.
In the case of Snow White’s Prince we get them having a connection and when he’s kissing her he’s actually kissing her out of grief, saying goodbye to a woman he wanted to explore a relationship with and expected to see again only to find her missing and dead as far as he knows. Also Disney wanted to give the prince some more time and character with the queen kidnapping him and him being rescued by the animals to reach Snow White but it got scrapped since they were struggling with realistic male characters. Obviously this concept was reused for sleeping beauty
Also in Jasmine’s case notice she does try to escape and meets Aladdin in the process but also sees how people like Aladdin get treated and tries to use her authority to stop the guards “by order of the princess!” And when she finds out Jafar gave the orders and is told BY Jafar (liar) he’s automatically carried out the death sentence without her father’s approval she sees how corrupt her government is and takes responsibility by going along with her marriage system if only to make sure people like Jafar don’t do this again with “at least some good will come out of my being forced to marry. When I am queen I will have the power to get rid of you!” But she’s not gonna throw herself at any guy or put herself up as an object or trophy with “I am not a prize to be won!”
More to the point is that she’s also crying because not only can she not be with the guy she’s made a connection with or deepen the relationship with him but she’s also just been told her entire life has been a lie and that she’s a princess who has to marry a complete stranger as far as she knows yet after letting those emotions out she’s gracefully and dutifully going along with it until the crown is put on her head so the weight literally and figuratively hits her again. Also while we don’t know or see if she’s been told of her curse you can see either way she prob doesn’t care anymore because to her knowledge and situation either way she’s lost any independence she may have had or dreamed of as even if the curse breaks or is avoided she faces a political marriage.
For me, Aurora was my favorite because she felt like an introvert like me. Not all Disney princesses have to be talkative and bubbly/extroverted/expressive as that's also a stereotype. It's unique to see one who is sensible and a dreamer. She reminds of Francesca Bridgeton like her power lies in the mystery of her being a quiet character and having a pleasant and adaptable personality.
I love her character. She was a princess but raised to be a normal peasant girl. When the fairies finally tell her the truth, she’s crushed because she doesn’t want to be a princess with all its trappings, she wants to stay a normal girl and maybe be with the guy she just met (whom she doesn’t know is royalty). The prince has a similar arc, when he tells his dad he no longer wants to marry Aurora but wants this peasant girl he’s fallen for. His dad threatens to disinherit him, and he couldn’t care less. They both care about life and love more than power or wealth, and they’re a good match in personality.
I mean... if you're up against some evil witch that can turn to a dragon with fire powers if you can't outsmart her like prince philip you're cooked.. LITERALLY
I’m not sure if anyone else has thought of this before, but I can’t help but notice the parallels that the characters from Sleeping Beauty have to the Legend of Zelda series. Philip reminds me of Link because both can ride horses, wear a tunic, courageous (Link himself has the Triforce of courage) have brown hair like in some but not all depictions of Link, both have are good with a sword & shield, and the sword can become enchanted to defeat a certain being that could only be defeated by this specific weapon, which is also an important detail that both the Sword of truth & the Master Sword have in common, and fights goblin like creatures. Aurora reminds me of Zelda because they both seem to be soft spoken, both have blonde hair, both are princesses, exemplify wisdom but especially in that scene where Aurora stays in the castle instead of running away after the 3 fairies brought her there/listens to Merriweather to not touch the spindle albeit briefly, (Zelda herself has the Triforce of wisdom), plus in Zelda 2: the Adventure of Link, Zelda falls asleep due to a curse just like what happened to Aurora, in Disney’s Enchanted Tales, Aurora also gets to use a magic wand, Zelda herself also has magical abilities. Maleficent reminds me of Ganondorf because Maleficent is said to be the mistress of all evil and Ganondorf is said to be the king of all evil, Maleficent is also likely one of the most powerful of all the Disney villains (Ganondorf himself has the Triforce of power), both have magical abilities, have forms where they can transform into giant beasts, can only be killed by a certain sword, have goblin like minions. The three fairies represent the 3 pieces of the Triforce, Flora wears Green which represents the Triforce of Courage, Merriweather wears Blue which represents the Triforce of Wisdom & Fauna wears Red which represents the Triforce of Power, you could almost say that they fit with those colors and what they represent in a way. Anyway I just thought this would be a cool thing to bring up, and I loved that you made a video defending Aurora & Philip, they’re each my favorites. 😊
We don't get to see much but she seems to be pretty good at running thru the forest. There's a short scene where she casually runs over a stream by using steppingstones
Aurora's my favorite Disney Princess, too, but I'm ashamed to say that it's for more shallow reasons (like the color pink or the fact that "Sleeping Beauty" is one of my fave movies). Nevertheless, I make it a point to look to the Disney Princesses as role models. I admire them for their kindness, politeness, and various strengths, and I try to emulate such. I only hope they've made enough of an impression on me so I can be a good person.
sleeping beauty is reminiscent of a greek myth/epic; all-controlling fate, the three fairies acting as "mentors" (think athena guiding odysseus home), terrible, unimaginable evil (and pettiness! like maleficent, the gods were so petty, especially zeus), transformations (maleficent into a dragon), curses. aurora "has things happen to her" not out of weakness but because she was quite literally "born into ruin." think the necklace of jocasta, oedipus so desperately trying to avoid his family's curse, of him killing his father and sleeping with his mother--and yet it all happens anyway, tragically, ironically. the hypnotic pull of the spindle, mirroring that of the necklace. "true love's kiss," odysseus stringing his own bow--tests of truth, a return to the self.
Thank you!!!! She was my favorite Disney Princess too. Mainly because I loved her voice and she’s just so ridiculously pretty 😍. You gave me more reasons to love her now!!
It’s true that Aurora doesn’t get to do much, but she is charming, and she is actually interesting from a narrative standpoint. She was cursed as a baby without being able to do anything, she was never meant to have agency. That's one of the main themes of the story, lack of agency... which gets way darker in some of the older versions of the tale... Anyways. That's why is nice to her gain her freedom in the end, which includes being with the boy she likes instead of being forced to marry someone else. She is a likable side character, because yes... The critique that the "female lead" doesn’t get enough to do has always been curious to me because the *ACTUAL* protagonists of the movie are clearly the three fairies. Three single women on the older side being the most important characters? I love that for them. As for the bad reputation that people assign to Phillip, I think many have never actually seen the movie. Everyone recognizes the iconic image of the kiss, so they assume, "Oh, he randomly kissed her while she was unconscious-assault." Phillip is actually nice for what it’s worth; he’s one of the better Disney princes. These movies tend to be more princess-centric, so I’m not bothered by the prince getting a little bit of screen time. I like his fight with Maleficent, it’s a gorgeous sequence. Overall, the movie is extremely beautiful. People need to watch it carefully and appreciate the animation, character design, and backgrounds. I love this movie, even if isn't like... lore heavy enough for some people? like, okay, have you ever tried appreciating a stunning piece of visual art? Also, Aurora is easily one of the prettiest Disney characters in the canon. People can fight me on that! I love her design, and I’m kind of sad we’re unlikely to see it being used again. On a slightly unrelated note, I really dislike the modern redesigns that Disney has done recently of the classic princesses for their merchandise. They are ugly.
Thank You! It’s like Osmosis Jones meets that Eddie Murphy film. Don Bluth said it best basically saying how she is a puppet they control what to do. Also I can’t stand a majority of “Coming of Age films”.
Omg I didn’t know people didn’t like her :( she’s my favorite princess!! She’s playful and beautiful Her man fights a dragon for her like that’s awesome 💕💕
Aurora is so prettty. I loved her design sm. Her hair looks like it’s shining and her features are so modelesque. Her singing voice is also insane. And she’s so elegant. I just like watching her.
