Cinderella vs. Sleeping Beauty

"'Sleeping Beauty' is a milestone of a certain type of film that we never did again," said Marc Davis, one of the film's directors and principle animators. "We did a lot more design with the characters than we had ever done before. Sleeping Beauty herself was designed in a two-dimensional way." She was made even prettier and more mature than Cinderella to make the film Disney's most romantic to date.

i recon that every little girl wants to become a princess when there older princess cathrine was very lucky to end up being a princess thats why cinderella comes over top of sleeping beauty

Both are fairytales where a young woman is subject to troubles not of her own making. In 'Sleeping Beauty' it is her parent's unintentional disrespect of the uninvited witch. In 'Cinderella', it's her father's poor choice of a new wife. As a result of the misfortunes they face, Cinderella must endure the life of a penniless servant, dressing in rags, doing all the work, being verbally abused. Sleeping Beauty, by contrast, enjoys the pampered life of a princess up to the moment of getting pricked by the spindle, then drifts off to an enchanted sleep. As an aside, Cinderella probably didn't get much sleep, living as a low-born servant. In both stories, a Prince saves both young women: with Cinderella, he falls enough in love with her to travel throughout the kingdom, seeking out the mysterious woman who left the ball but dropped her shoe. In Sleeping Beauty, the Prince comes upon the castle, hears and is intrigued by the story, fights through the enchanted overgrowth. He comes upon the sleeping Princess, is overcome by love, and breaks the spell by kissing her.

In terms of choice, if any of these were to be my fate, I'd have to choose 'Sleeping Beauty'. You have a cushy life, everything you want, then you go to sleep and are awakened by the love of your life. Cinderella does all the hard work, is never rewarded for it, instead is bullied by her step-family. And her father, who she presumed loved her, brought these hateful people into her life without considering that they might make his daughter's life miserable. That's got to have an impact upon the feelings she has for him.

I've kid of got mixed feelings about these fairy tales, and the message they give to young women. At the time and place they were written, women had no power of their own (except for women who possessed the ability of witches). 'Sleeping Beauty' is the ultimate story of a passive victim. She is unable to do anything to affect her fate or outcome. She is saved at the end by a man, him being a Prince denotes someone of good standing and character. In 'Cinderella', there is the lesson that passive endurance of abuse and injustice will be rewarded. Ha! On what planet? Were it not for the Fairy Godmother, Cinderella would grow old and broken as the continually disrespected object of the stepfamily's scorn. The Fairy Godmother's magic enables Cinderella to be in a position to catch the eye of the Prince, and he falls so in love with her from that one meeting, that he scours the kingdom for her. Again, no effort on her part. Yet she finds the Holy Grail of a man, one who, instead of holding another ball and hoping she turns up, goes out and does the legwork, with the shoe. And, he falls in love with her. Not infatuation, but real, happily-ever-after love. he isn't put off by the fact that she's a commoner, has no money, no education.

How unrealistic! Even in the movie 'Working Girl', the character played by Melanie Griffith, doesn't win the Prince character by staying in the low-status job of secretary, but instead takes action to achieve what she wants. She changes her clothing to something more upscale, works to change her accent from the streets, and does actual work and research to prove she's exceptional and smart. THEN, the Price is attracted to her, and they have a happy ending.

Do we really want our daughters to grow up with the messages of these fairy tales as guiding inspiration? Are we actually living in a world where passive women who endure abuse and are acted upon with malice, who do nothing to better their situation, are "rescued" by attractive men of good standing and financial means? These men will immediately fall in love with them, wisk them away from their hardships and marry them? What a handicapped belief system girls grow up with, having this as an ideal aspiration. And this isn't just a minor part of a young girl's life. Girls grow up playing "princess", essentially a passive role

I grew up looking at Cinderella but I started watching sleeping beauty when I was about 13. I love both movies very much, but can't really decide what one is better