Sleeping Beauty and Enchanted: Comparing and Contrasting the Two Heroines - Essay Example

? Sleeping Beauty and Enchanted- Comparing and Contrasting the Two Heroines Table of Contents I. Introduction 3 II. Discussion 3 III. Conclusion 8 References 9 I. Introduction This paper undertakes a comparison and contrast of the heroines of 'Sleeping Beauty' and 'Enchanted', two Disney films that are separated by eras. While the two movies are separated by decades, and represent two very different eras, one at the cusp of the 1960's, and the other made at the turn of the century, the heroines Giselle in 'Enchanted and Aurora in ''Sleeping Beauty' shared many aspects of their individual stories in common, and their lives can be construed as journeys filled with many challenges and difficulties, which they overcame en route to finding happiness and bliss in the company of the men they love. On the other hand, this paper posits that with regard to the way the two heroines faced life and their problems, in 'Sleeping Beauty' Aurora was more a passive character whose fate was decided by the protection of the people who love her and the contrasting evil intentions of the witch Maleficent, whereas in 'Enchanted' Giselle, though thrust into a modern world against her will and in a passive sense as well, was an active participant in the shaping of her future and destiny. The paper develops this latter comparison and contrast of the passive versus active engagement of the world as represented by Aurora and Giselle respectively (IMDb; IMDb (b)). II. Discussion There is a way to view 'Enchanted' as a modern version of 'Sleeping Beauty'. For one, both heroines in the two movies, Aurora and Giselle, were pursued by witches and both were the subject of assassination attempts by those witches. In 'Sleeping Beauty' the witch is Maleficent, who cursed Aurora to die on her 16th birthday by through a prick on the Princess' finger. In 'Enchanted' on the other hand Narissa wished to kill Giselle through the poisoned apples that she asked Nathaniel to give to the young princess. In the end the two witches would turn into dragons to try and slay the princes and prevent the heroines to be with the men that they love. Both are pure in heart and innocent too. In 'Enchanted' we see that Giselle had a pure heart, demonstrated by her total lack of concern for money, the purity of her belief in true love, the way she was able to command the rodents and the vermin of New York, and her genuine concern for the couple whose divorce Robert was overseeing. Her positive effect on the couples separating, as well as her positive effect on Morgan and Robert, also testify to Giselle's good vibes and pure spirit and intentions. Meanwhile, In 'Sleeping Beauty' we see Aurora also growing up under the shelter of the three good fairies who tried to protect her, and the purity of her person can be gleaned from the way he was able to identify the love of her life Phillip from just one meeting. Then too we see the purity of their persons and their hearts from the way they were awoken from their sleep and freed from the evil spells of the witches that pursued them, by the kiss of their true love. There is something pure and potent about this love, that corresponded with the love and the purity that was in the two heroines as well. Love was the lock that was required to wake up the love that was found in them as well. The correspondence spoke of what was in the hearts of the two heroines. Indeed, except for some minor changes in the plot, such as Giselle ending up in New York instead of the woods, and of having the father and daughter pair of Robert and Morgan for company instead of the three fairies of Aurora, one can say that the lives and the way the stories unfolded for the two heroines share many very similar threads, highlights and milestones. The two also would end up happily ever after in the end, with Aurora in the company of the love of his life and the person who saved her from the sleep, and Giselle in the company of Robert and Morgan (IMDb; IMDb (b)). On the other hand, there are differences too in the lives and the general nature of the characters of the two heroines in the two movies. Superficial differences include that where Aurora stayed within the boundaries of her fairy tale world, even when she was in the forest with the three good fairies, Giselle was made to go into a very real world and one that is contemporary, in the modern streets of New York. Where Aurora was a teenager who was on the cusp of womanhood at the time of her sleep, Giselle was relatively more grown up and more fully formed as a princess in full control of her womanhood and ready for her lover. Then too one can see that where Aurora seemed to have powers that hewed more closely to her innocence and youth, in 'Enchanted' Giselle seemed to possess a kind of naivete of her own, but one that seemed more ready to face the darker realities of modern society, including the reality of criminal people living in New York, the reality of wounded and cynical people, single parents, divorcing couples, and all kinds of failures and all kinds of emotionally-broken people. It is true that Aurora faced a great evil in the form of the witch Maleficent, in 'Enchanted' Giselle faced and dealt with a greater number of people with varying degrees of good and evil in them, and so one can say that in a superficial way Giselle's character is more fully formed and have more dimensions, closer to the modern understanding of people as being complex individuals, and closer to the understanding of a world that is not like in fairy tales, but also more complex, nuanced, and full of good and bad people and good and bad circumstances. In a way from these differences one can say that Giselle's character is more suited to an adult and modern understanding of what a woman is, whereas the heroine Aurora in 'Sleeping Beauty' is more simplistic and more suited to younger people, children and adolescents. The depth of the characterization shows too in the way in 'Enchanted' the final resolutions of the lives of the people around Giselle are more complex. Nancy and Edward, the two people who were supposed to be the respective partners of Robert and of the heroine Giselle respectively, ended up together, something that reflects the maturity of the understanding of love of Giselle as well. In 'Sleeping Beauty' on the other hand the trajectory of the love between Phillip and Aurora was more straightforward, and so was its resolution. 'Enchanted' in this way is also a kind of critique of the love between the heroine Aurora and Phillip in the original 'Sleeping Beauty'. That critique is summed up in the way Robert was amused that Giselle knew Edward's love for her was true, and that they were destined to be together, even though they have not dated. In this way the psychological maturity of the heroine Giselle can be said to be more advanced in the end in comparison to the flatter, less nuanced psychological development of Aurora in 'Sleeping Beauty' (IMDb; IMDb (b)). Going deeper, one can see that there are also other, more profound contrasts between Aurora and Giselle. In 'Sleeping Beauty' it was the fairies who aided Phillip so the prince could vanquish Maleficent and in the end save Aurora and the kingdom from their sleep, with the lover's kiss. In 'Enchanted' on the other hand we see that even though Robert did save the life of Giselle by kissing her and in so doing nullify the poison apple's deadly sting, Giselle would go on to save Robert back, when Narissa the dragon dropped Robert and Giselle caught him and stopped his fall. There is also the element of Giselle stopping to check her old assumptions about what true love is, by inviting Edward to a date. In this way we see a divergence in the characterization of the two heroines and the development of critical thought in Giselle, that was not present at all in the more simplistic depiction of pairing between men and women in 'Sleeping Beauty'. In 'Enchanted' fate would intervene, yes, by bringing Giselle and Robert together in New York, but Giselle had to act proactively too, and not just be a passive princess to be saved by his prince. It turns out anyway that the original prince, Edward, could not save her from death. Be that as it may, the proactive and discriminating aspects of the character of Giselle separate her from the more passive characterization of Aurora in 'Sleeping Beauty' (IMDb; IMDb (b)). III. Conclusion To conclude, one can see that there are many parallels in the lives and characterizations of the two heroines Giselle in 'Enchanted' and Aurora in 'Sleeping Beauty'. In the purity of their hearts and their persons they are very similar to each other. In their facing similarly evil adversaries the two are also similar. On the other hand, they are also different in many vital and fundamental ways. Giselle seems to be a more fully developed heroine psychologically and emotionally, more vital and relevant to modern audiences. Aurora in comparison seems to be more simplistically rendered as a psychological and emotional woman on the cusp of adulthood. Moreover, whereas Aurora seemed more passive and more helplessly subject to her fate, Giselle seemed more proactive and more in control of herself, her femininity, her being a princess, and even her sexuality (IMDb; IMDb (b)). References IMDb. “Synopsis for Sleeping Beauty”. IMDb.com. 2013. Web. 2 December 2013. IMDb (b). “Synopsis for Enchanted”. IMDb.com. 2013. Web. 2 December 2013. Read More