Cultural Analysis Of Sleeping Beauty By Charles Perrault

Giambattista Basile’s dark rendition of “Sleeping Beauty,” entitled, “Sun, Moon and Talia,” is a story that brings the reader into a world that encompasses the idea of women being submissive creatures only valued for their beauty and at the mercy of men. The 2014 movie Maleficent, directed by Robert Stromberg, tries to subvert the notions of a male patriarchy by establishing Maleficent as an unlikely hero whose motivations go beyond the classic architype of a handsome prince claiming a one dimensional princess. Despite the movies attempts at establishing a more feminist friendly view of “Sleeping Beauty,” both Maleficent, and “Sun, Moon and Talia,” reduce the central characters of Aurora and Talia to simple props; completely devoid of

The story of Cinderella has become a classic fairy tale, known around the world, and past down from generation to generation. Yet, over the years, the story has been rewritten to better relate to different cultures. While some things never change, authors still manage to convey different messages by making the story their own. This can be clearly seen when the Grimm brothers version of Cinderella is compared to Charles Perrault’s version of Cinderella. While the core of the story does not change, the moral, tone, and “magical” aspects of the two stories are clearly shaped by the different cultures in which they were written in.

The portrayal of women, gender roles and stereotypes in Disney films has long been a controversial topic. Disney’s 1959 animated film, ‘Sleeping Beauty’, and Robert Stromberg’s 2014 live action remake, ‘Maleficent’, each provide a different take of Charles Perrault’s 1697 fairy tale, ‘La Belle au bois Dormant’ (‘The Sleeping Beauty’). The comparison of Aurora, one of the main characters from both films, brings into light the stark contrast in portrayals of gender roles as well as physical ideals and stereotypes in women. Emphasis or lack thereof on physical characteristics and gender representation from both texts challenge and reflect ideals and stereotypes that are impactful to the audience.

We have often seen numerous folktales that appear to be similar among different cultures. Often at times, the characters or locations change to accommodate the surrounding culture, but the message or moral of the story stays the same. In the case of the story, Sleeping Beauty, we notice that the earlier versions of the story are more crude and “adult” and as time passed on, the story evolved to become more suitable for a younger audience. Sleeping Beauty became a story of “rape, adultery, sexual rivalry, and attempted cannibalism” (Hallett, 1) to the clean and innocent Disney version we know today. The three versions of Sleeping Beauty that I will compare are Sole, Luna, E Talia (Sun, Moon, And Talia) by Giambattista Basile, The Sleeping

In Sleeping Beauty, the Prince is portrayed a strong and courageous person, he can be seen as a great character because he overcomes many obstacles to be able to help the Princess survive. Although Sleeping Beauty is a fairy tale and is stereotypically more admired by girls, the masculine tale might be liked by the male population because they aspire to be the male hero. Maleficent shows the feminine tale and warns the girls that not men cannot be trusted in some cases, and that there is no need to have a man by your side. A woman can survive on their own using her own intelligence and courage to overcome any obstacle that she might face. For the female population, this change is very important because this “hero” story helps us relate to the character and our desire to do great and special acts (Seger 387). This film proved that a woman is capable of defeating evil, and brings a new perspective into Disney

Disney's sleeping beauty was my favorite of the four sleeping beauty’s and Beastly being my favorite of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tales. I highly suggest the Beastly movie and also the basic Disney Sleeping Beauty movie if you have not already saw it, and if you have seen them i’d watch them over again because they are great movies. How different did the less commonly heard movies seem too you?

Walt Disney Films are known to be as an incredible and outstanding fantasy stories producer. It created more than a hundred of films. Majority of what has been produced rely on fictional stories. The films that were released used animation to capture children’s interest and musically performed as well. Walt Disney produced fantasy stories like The Little Mermaid 1989; Sleeping Beauty 1959; Beauty and the Beast 1991; Cinderella 1950 and more. The tales most often than not were always about the life of a princess in search of her prince charming.

Children 's stories have been around for some eras. They have been read to kids everywhere throughout the world in view of how they can identify with youngsters regardless of what society they originate from. One of the even more surely understood children 's stories is 'Sleeping Beauty '. The most generally known form today is the Disney motion picture, made in 1959. This film depended on the Grimm 's variant of Sleeping Beauty called 'Little Brier-Rose’, which was composed in 1812 in Germany. Another less known rendition of Sleeping Beauty is 'Sun, Moon and Talia’, which was composed in 1634 Italy by Giambattista Basile. The primary parts are a princess reviled to a profound rest until an aristocrat wakes her with a kiss. The characters in the stories may have numerous distinctions however; the key qualities that are perceived in Sleeping Beauty characters are still evident.

More specifically this tale takes place in the Victorian Era, in which many of the characters do not reflect the values that were taught open them this time period. Where aggressive and dominating behavior is seen as masculine, and sensitive and submissive acts are considered feminine, Carroll paints a picture of a society where these qualities are switched. The Victorian Era was a strict time for women, where they were expected to act “proper” at all times, especially in public and in the presence of men, emphasizing that a woman was expected to be innocent and almost completely arrogant of intellectual opinion at all times. Additionally, Charles Perrault’s “Sleeping Beauty in the Wood”, demonstrates the traditional expectations upon males at the time, portraying masculine characteristics through the prince. He is shown as a power figure, as his relationship with sleeping beauty expresses his need for dominance as she is the damsel in distress. The tale reads, “A young and gallant prince is always brave, however; so he continued on his way, and presently reached a large forecourt” (Perrault 51). Due to the expectation of bravery, independence and assertiveness upon males, the prince had saved the princess from the 100-year slumber, satisfying his masculinity. Furthermore, an English poet named,

Fairy tales have existed for years, some starting as oral stories for decades before ever being recorded on paper. These tales continue to hold an importance in the present such that they reflect the changes in time and progression of thought and ideas. Over time, many fairy tales are retold for various reasons including reforming them to be used for new audiences to make the story more relatable or to convey a different point of view to various specific audiences. This can be seen in various renditions; Andrew Anderson’s Shrek can be compared to Steig’s “Shrek!” and Perrault’s “Sleeping Beauty in the Wood” and evaluated as a retelling of either based on specific criteria. Although some may argue that William Steig’s “Shrek!” appears more closely similar to Anderson’s Shrek, as evaluated from the presence of similar characters, general plot structure, and targeted audience, the movie Shrek is more closely a retelling of Charles Perrault’s “Sleeping Beauty in the Wood.”

The original story by Giambattista differs from Disney’s new interpretation in that it explores rape. In Disney’s version of sleeping beauty the princess named Aurora is awakened from a true loves kiss. The story is told to children all over the world and is seen as appropriate for them. The original version of this story involves Talia, the princess, being raped. The Prince laid the dead princess on her bed “where he gathered the first fruits of love” (Basile). This version of the story is grossly inappropriate for today’s modern generation of children and is far from the happy ending we are used to. Fairy tales where not originally intended on being entertainment for children however through constant revisions they seemed to target their imagination, essentially causing them to be successful tales. Clearly the earlier version of sleeping beauty contains ideas that are not yet suitable for

"Once upon a time in the land of nothing" said Aria "Really? That 's the name of the land?" Said North "Yup, got a problem with it?" "Not at all. Asides from the fact that I think it 's stupid" "Yeah well you know you didn 't have to come here." said Aria "Well how else would I tell you how stupid your stories are?" "Whatever" "Well keep telling me the story." "No sorry I just remembered that I have to go today remember?" "Oh. Right sorry." "I know I think it 's stupid but what ever, The king 's rules" "Right. Anyways I should probably go anyways. Bye!" "I liked North, He had lit blond hair and was really tanned, he was almost always outside, you 'd think he 'd be cursed to never come into the shade. I laughed at myself.

In Margaret Atwood’s poem “There Was Once”, Atwood uses irony to point out the societal problems within the genre of fairy tales. Charles Perrault, the author of the short story “The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood”, writes about fantastic creatures, magic, and love, following the generic conventions of fairy tales. When compared to Perrault’s short story “The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood”, Atwood’s poem both compliments and contrasts Perrault’s. These two texts, although similar, offer different views on the genre of fairy tales.

After Sleeping beauty pricks her finger and falls into the deep sleep, the struggle is then on to revive her. The prolonged period of time that varies between the stories depends on the hero, whom overcomes the evil villain with the help of the good fairies. The penultimate sequence in which the hero defeats the villain transformed into the dragon, to me resembles the legend of Saint George and the Dragon. The prince then finds the princess and gives her the kiss of life and she is awoken. He then returns with the princess and gets recognised as a hero when they get married. However this is not the end in the Charles Perrault version as the prince’s mother is not happy with the marriage, and tries to eat the princess and the newly married couples children, eventually she throws herself into a vat of vipers and dies.

Fairy Folk Tales are the most popular types of literature. The tale is an orally transmitted tradition by generations through the time; some events are changed to fit reality and society. Folk fairy tales deal with the dualism of the good and the evil. They are basing on a conflict between the good and the evil forces. The conclusion comes from aspirations of the human desire to achieve the justices. There are no known authors and sources for ancient’s literature. We have many versions of the story; they are credited by many authors later. Each tale is very like some other culture’s tale. Each culture has own tales, but all the tales are similarities and differences in some points. This essay will compare between two fairy tales, “Cinderella” and “In the Land of Small Dragon”. The tale of Cinderella is a French tale. It is credited by Charles Perrault; it is published in 1697. The in the Land of Small Dragon is a Vietnamese folktale; it is told by Dang Manh Kha in 1979.