Thiel-a-Vision Review: Sleeping Beauty (1959) / Beauty and the Beast (1991)

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Two of Disney's greatest animated features are Sleeping Beauty and Beauty and the Beast. Despite their similarities as fairy-tale Princess wish-fulfillment, they are two vastly different films echoing the sensibilities of their respective times.

Sleeping Beauty was the first of Disney's animated films to be produced for super-widescreen 70mm format, and the visuals remain breathtaking even today. The character and background designs are of a highly-stylized nature unique to this film, one which did not find favor with some within the Disney organization.

The familiar story of a princess cursed to fall into a death-like sleep is expanded to feature length by beefing up the roles of the fairies who set events into motion. The good fairies--a colorful trio named Flora, Fauna and Merryweather--take the infant princess to a woodland cabin to raise her as their own child out of sight of the wicked Maleficent.

If any one thing sets Sleeping Beauty above most other Disney features, it has to be Maleficent. Sleek, beautiful and demonic, her voice resonates with silky evil. Unlike many cartoon villains, Maleficent never indulges in comic schtick or mwah-ha-has her way through the part. She remains sinister in her most charming moments and displays a mean sense of humor when she taunts her captive Prince with the prospect of releasing him to awaken his Beauty with love's first kiss...in a hundred years. She is greatly aided by a creepy musical theme and by yellow, cat-like eyes peering out of the darkness of her rich, purple cowl. 

The closing ten minutes of the film are exceptionally exciting, as the good fairies mount a rescue attempt and Prince Philip must battle his way out of the dungeon, hack through a forest of thorns and confront Maleficent herself in the form of a terrible, black dragon.

With all this talk of fairies and Princes, what of our Princess? Well, this film was made in the 1950s, when Princesses largely reacted to events rather than taking action themselves. (I think that it's telling that of all the major characters, Princess Aurora's mother has no name other than "Queen.") Aurora balks when she discovers that she is destined to marry a Prince and not the apparent commoner she has fallen in love with--not knowing that they are the same person--but puts up no resistance. She quickly falls under the evil fairy's curse, and it is up to others to save the day.

Flash forward to 1991 and Beauty and the Beast. Although this film is ostensibly themed around the difference between inner and outer beauty, I think that it has more to say about the changing role of women in society. To be sure, our heroine Belle ultimately finds her destiny by marrying a Prince. Yet her desire at the beginning of the film is not to receive love's first kiss, but rather to find adventure away from the monotony of her French village. She reads of faraway places and fantastic tales, and this makes her somewhat of an outcast despite her unparalleled appearance. Although she winds up with a man, one could see her getting along perfectly well without one.

She certainly rejects Gaston, the town's local hero, and thus makes this as much about male vs. female as about beauty vs. ugliness. The handsome, yet repellent Gaston desires Belle as his wife solely on the basis of her looks: as the prettiest girl in town, she must also be the best. However, he ignores what makes her truly unique: her love of books. Gaston is presented as an uber-male, covered with hair and "roughly the size of a barge." He hunts, he drinks, he womanizes and is all in all quite a Neanderthal. 

Contrast that with the Beast, who is initially even more hirsute and predatory in his appearance. He ultimately wins Belle's love by overcoming his masculine temper and by recognizing and honoring her interests. By responding with gentleness, he succeeds where arrogant macho fails. 

Perhaps this is overanalyzing a film featuring a musical number with dancing silverware, but I find it interesting that Belle is much more proactive than a traditional Disney princess. It may still fall to the Beast to slay the villain, but she makes all of the major choices in the story, and is her love that rescues the Beast, not the other way around.

Oh, and did I mention that the film is really funny, too? This is where Disney's musical-lite formula really took hold. The lyrics are clever and silly ("I'm especially good at expectorating...") and the cast of animated household objects are charming and not above a bad pun ("I always say, if it isn't Baroque, don't fix it.")

There are a few things that still trouble me a bit about Beauty and the Beast. First, assuming that every animated dish and fork is a transformed human, just how many servants did the Beast have when he was a prince? And isn't it grossly unfair that everyone in the castle was faced with the possibility of remaining forever cursed when it was only the Prince's arrogance that was being punished? Finally, over what domain was his Princehood? We're told that the curse has been in effect for ten years, so presumably he was lording it over the locals a mere decade ago. Why is it that no one seems aware of the nearby castle? Was he forgotten because he failed his royal duties? Or am I expecting too much logic out of my fairy tales?

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