Tragic Stereotypes In Disney's Sleeping Beauty

1000 Words2 Pages

Young children are unable to interpret female stereotypes in the television shows, or movies that they watch. When I was approximately five years old, until about age 13, I thought that Disney’s, Sleeping Beauty, was the most eminent movie ever. Until I reached age 14, I never noticed any female stereotypes or problems with feminism in this 1959 Disney classic. As I am growing up, and noticing more and more issues in different movies, I am beginning to recognize the issues in Disney films, especially Sleeping Beauty. The most problematic stereotype portrayed in the major motion picture of Sleeping Beauty, is the theme that physical appearances are a priority necessary in order to be successful. In the movie, Aurora is given three gifts, …show more content…

Additionally, the stereotypical appealing, exceptional, heroines of the story are not active at all. In Sleeping Beauty, Aurora never does anything to change her future, she is always told what to do by every other character. She does not try to take control of what could happen, but rather listens to everyone else telling her what to do. Because of this, young women are persuaded to be passive and wait for good things that may or may not happen in the future. Young women in society are against being active, because in numerous Disney movies, “the most prominent, active women in the [Disney] movies, the critics note, are almost always evil” (Bruce 2). When women are shown as active and strong-headed, they almost always end up dead, locked away, or banished. Maleficent, the villain in Sleeping Beauty, is shown with horns originally, and is dressed in all black and purple. She is not, what is typically called, gorgeous. She is different that other girls, and that is seen as not tolerable, and she is not accepted in the kingdom. At the end of the movie, she transforms into a dragon to protect herself from getting murdered and ends up getting slayed, defeated and dies. From this movie, girls could easily receive the message that if they are not pretty, they will not be successful because, clearly, Maleficent is not a traditionally pretty female, and she ends up dead. This is just one of several messages that could be picked out from Sleeping

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