Sleeping Beauty - Different Ending (Beatriz Reis)

Sleeping Beauty

A great party was to be held in the kingdom, for the King and the Queen, who had longed for an heir for many years, finally had their wish granted: a daughter was born. There would be a magnificent feast and all the subjects and the noblemen were invited to the christening. The most honored and exalted guests were, however, the 13 fairies, who would be the Princess’ godmothers. Unfortunately, His Majesty forgot to invite one of the Excellencies, and so the forsaken fairy, outraged by the lack of finesse of His Highness, appeared suddenly in the middle of the palace’s hall with a thump.
“Well, what a terrific assemblage, my King”, she said. “I really felt quite distressed of not receiving an invitation”.
“I hope you are not offended, your Excellency. We meant no harm”, answered the King nervously. She smiled her wicked smile, and it sent shivers down the royalty’s and the gentry’s spines.
“I have the impression that this awkward situation is nothing more than the result of a silly oversight. But I cannot be sure of that, can I, your Majesty?”
The King found no words to respond and the castle had never been so silent. The fairy, who had an extremely mean and vengeful heart, prepared her long scepter to cast a spell on the little Princess. The guards tried to stop her, but she was way too powerful to be interrupted.
“Listen well, all of you!” she brushed a lock of coal black hair from her face and everyone held their breath. “The princess shall grow in grace and beauty, beloved by all who know her… Nevertheless, she shall have no right to know the Arts or History, or to journey to any place in this world! She will never know curiosity or independence! She shall remain a little Princess forever!”
A blinding green light came from her scepter and the cradle, where the Princess laid, trembled slightly. The wicked fairy was content, but His Majesty sighed with relief, and the guests sniggered. It appeared that, for them, the spell had been useless. What would the Princess want with curiosity anyway? And which woman would ever want independency?
The fairy huffed, extremely fed up with those fools. They were a disgrace to the forces of evil. Being mean to close minded adversaries was simply boring. She shrugged and turned her back to those imbeciles. She would concentrate her efforts on something else…
The fairy then called the most skillful men and women to build the grandest and most modern university of all times, and she lived happily ever after as its Master. The kingdom, however, failed its people, for the vain Princess only brought them negligence; all she ever aimed was to sleep all day long, dreaming about a Prince. It was their turn to be forsaken.

Cinderella 2.0, by Caio Bonatti

     Once upon a time, a widowed man married a mean woman for she had him utterly under her influence. Each one of them had their own daughters from previous marriages: the lady had two girls as vain as their mother and the man had the fairest lass you could have ever seen, a rosebud called Meredith Grey.
     Life, despite Meredith’s kindness, was not kind to her; she was forced to do each and every task her stepsisters assigned her, and so did her stepmother, who thought of Meredith as no more than a maid for them. None complaint was made for her father, though; he was happy with the new wife, albeit she was selfish and abusive. Meredith would never take away her father’s happiness, “he has already suffered much because of mom’s death”, thought her.
     The only who called Meredith by her name was her father; the stepmother and stepsiblings called her ‘Cinderella’ for she was always covered in grayish dust after the housekeeping and, obviously, to mock with her surname: “Little Grey’s always gray / Will never find a feller / Her dream is faraway / ‘Cause she’s only Cinderella” they sang.
     Cinderella was gazing at the sunrise in the meadow one day when she heard her stepsiblings shouting frenetically inside the house. Excited as they were, Cinderella was told immediately the cause of all that noise: the prince was looking for a wife and would give a ball in order to find one. The two soubrettes were already planning their dresses and ignoring Cinderella again; Later, they went to the ball and left Meredith home because she did not have a proper dress to wear and her father was travelling with his wife, so they not even thought of letting her wear a dress of their own.
     Alone, Meredith cried. She wished her life was not miserable and begged for help; then, a miracle happened: suddenly the entire room was filled with light and a sweet voice said: “Do not be afraid, child, I am here to bless you. You deserve my gifts.”
     “Who are you? What gifts are you talking about?” replied Meredith.
     “I am your Fairy Godmother! I am the one who must grant you happiness” said the now materialized fairy, a vivacious and kindly grandma.
     “And how are you supposed to make me happy?”
     “By giving you a coach, a gown and glass slippers! So that you can meet your prince and marry him.” jolly said the fairy.
     “I’m sorry, but that’s not happiness… in fact, that sounds just like a bimbo life and I’m pretty sure I don’t want to serve my husband instead of serving my sisters. I deserve better.”
     “Oh my… so how could I help you, my darling?”
     Meredith grinned with glee and made her wish. She became a rich woman and was free to travel wherever she wanted to. Later she studied Medicine and wrote one of the most famous human anatomy textbooks of all time.

Another Snow White story

One day, the Evil Queen was bored, making herself up in front of her magic mirror. Then, as usual, she asked it: “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of all?”, to what the mirror replied: “Queen, you are full fair, 'tis true, but Snow White is fairer than you.”

She got mad. “Come on! You’ve always told me I was the fairest of all! You know I spend a fortune every week on hairdressers and anti-aging creams!”

The mirror said: “But Snow White is younger. Anyway, don’t worry: she is younger and fairer than you, but not sexier. Nor smarter. I’ve heard that the Prince has an eye on her, ‘cause he needs a wife…”

The Queen, who had been a widow for a while, thought it would be a good idea to date someone, just like old times. All in all, she was an independent woman who was no longer into girly fairytales. “The Prince? Yeah, he’s cute. I’ll show him what a real woman is.”

She prepared her magic caramel apple recipe and bought a witch costume in a Halloween store. That would be enough to fool Snow White.

When Snow White opened the door, the Queen in disguise grinned: “Tricks or treats?”

“Oh, it’s Halloween! I’ll give you some candy!”

“No, thanks, I’m on a diet! But you look so skinny! Please, have one of my yummy caramel apples for free!”

“How sweet! Thanks!”

“Idiot”, the Queen thought as she left.

Greedy Snow gulped the candy – which was so caloric that made she gain instantly 50 pounds and… cellulite! Bursting into tears, Snow White went to hospital in order to make a lipo.

The Prince ran to the hospital to visit Snow. She, who needed desperately a reason to grab the Prince, thought: “I hope he feels guilty for not having proposed me yet.” She started mourning: “Oh, that bad, bad woman fooled me, and now I look like Shrek! My life is over! Marry me! Kiss me! Show me you love me, or I’ll die!”

The Prince felt guilty and confused, but, when he was about to kiss her, he saw something that made him change his mind.

The Evil Queen was standing right in front of them. She opened her cape, showed the red Victoria’s Secret lingerie she was wearing, told the Prince: “Just in case you change your mind. Call me”, and left. The Prince couldn’t control himself – he wanted a queen, a woman, not a spoiled little princess.

“Sorry, Snow. It’s not you, it’s me. I can’t resist Victoria’s Secret.”

Snow White got mad and started screaming: “BITCH! You’ll pay for this!”, until she was anaesthetized by the nurses.

All in all, the Queen and the prince were happy… until she got fed up and dumped him. She has an eye on the Big Bad Wolf now.

Stereotypes in EuroTrip, by Caio Bonatti

     The movie EutoTrip was released in 2004 and depicts several clichés—chiefly national stereotypes—an American teenager may have about Europe and Europeans. The plot is the following: Scott is dumped by his girlfriend Fiona during their graduation; his best friend Cooper mocks him all the time for the footage of Scott crying over Fiona in public just after the dumping. Scott sends an e-mail to Mieke, his German friend telling the whole story and Mieke cheers him up, immediately making Cooper say Mieke is some kind of pervert. After a party on which the twins Jamie and Jenny are presented to us, Scott, in a drunken state, sends a furious e-mail to Mieke; in the morning, Scott finds out Mieke is in fact a German girl, not a man as he thought. For Mieke had blocked Scott’s e-mail address, he and Cooper decide to fly to Germany: Scott for Mieke, his recently discovered love and Cooper for European girls and adventure. After a manly night on an English Pub, they both wake up in a double decker on route to Paris, where they later get together with the twins. After the team is complete, they start travelling and hitchhiking through the continent and its common places.
      Sexism is a constant: everything must involve sex in a chauvinistic way, especially for Cooper, whose primary objective was to get laid; for him, Europeans women are all nymphets waiting for men like him. The macho man stereotype is also explored on the English people: according to the movie, English are all football fanatics, hooligans, rude and violent but slightly dumb. As said on the beginning, Scott and Cooper wake in a double decker, as the English they met were going to Paris to see a football match. Surprisingly, the French stereotype are not overexploited, there is just a French street artist with a thin mustache who performs a robot and fight with Scott.
      At a train station Fiona meets Christoph, a charming prince: handsome, polite and rich; later he will be revealed as bisexual and married (still, he tries to seduce Jenny). During the train travel, a perverted Italian man causes confusion in the cabin; apparently, Italians are very passionate, sexual and abusive, while showing a naïve look. And they always wear fine suits and grease on the hair, of course.
      Amsterdam is shown as a city of drugs and prostitution; also, the drugs are sold by Rastafarian/Jamaican bakers. Eastern Europe is, accordingly to the movie, so poor that American cents can buy a luxurious lifestyle; the whole scenario is bluish and devastated. And the last stereotypes presented are the Germans: first as a crazy and violent old man who takes the group to Bratislava and later as Mieke’s little brother, who, out of the blue, paints a Hitler mustache and stars marching like the füher when nobody but Cooper is seeing.
      The movie is indeed a sarcastic comedy, but we must remind that these stereotypes come from actual ideas many people have and are extremely dangerous if taken seriously.

Stereotypes in Anastasia - Beatriz Gil

Anastasia is a movie released in 1997. The story takes us back to the Imperial Russia in the period of 1917 when the country was governed by Tsar Nicholas II.  Rasputin plotted against Romanov family with the intention to kill all of its members, but the youngest Tsar daughter, Anastasia, with only six years old, was able to escape this terrible fate. However, after she ran away, she suffered from amnesia, a disease that made her forget all about her past and about who she really was. The story goes forward twelve years and now Anastasia is a beautiful eighteen years old girl, wondering about her history, who she really is and who are her relatives.

The purpose of this essay is to link the real Romanov family history with the story built in this particular movie and the stereotypes which originate from the Disney’s version. Here, the focus is to show historical stereotypes related to evil and American way of life (capitalism).

Before directly discussing the Disney movie, a panoramic view about the Romanov real history is necessary in order to understand this text’s point of view.  Russia was governed by Romanov royal family, following the capitalism way of life and the Imperial Russia was a country deeply miserable. During this period, a new economic trend starts to add followers through Europe: the Socialism. In 1917, in order to combat the Tsar dictatorship, the Bolsheviks invaded the Imperial Castle in Russia, which lead to the death of Tsar Nicholas Romanov and his family. Therefore, the death of Romanov dynasty symbolizes socialism ascension.

In the movie, evil is personified by the figure of Rasputin, a wizard who tries to destroy the Romanov family at any cost.  He is the responsible for the Royal Family destruction and Anastasia’s amnesia. In other words, he is a metaphor to Socialism. When he finds out that a member of Romanov family is still alive, he comes back from the Limbo, trying to find a way to kill the last Romanov. This attitude symbolizes the will of socialism to put an end to capitalism. Rasputin being killed by Anastasia at the end of the movie represents the victory of Capitalism over Socialism. The following song is proof of the stereotype which says that “socialism is a bad thing”:

St. Petersburg is gloomy!

St. Petersburg is bleak!

My underwear got frozen standing here all week!

Oh, since the revolution our lives have been so gray!

Thank Goodness for the gossip that gets us through the day! Hey!

Another point which is worth to be mentioned is the way Rasputin is characterized: as a thin tall ugly man. His hair and his beard are long and black; his skin is darker if compared to the other characters. He has a curious characteristic regarding his body, which can be decomposed. His arms, legs, head, fingers can separate from the rest of his body – for example, sometimes his head falls off of his neck. All of it together makes the stereotype in which everything that is ugly is bad.

            It is possible to see the constructions of two different stereotypes that are rooted in our culture by analyzing the relations between Disney’s fictional creation and the real history, and they are: a) the evil being represented by the ugly appearance and b) the capitalism as the superior way of life, meaning that what is different is bad and, therefore, must it be repressed.  This means that these stereotypes are constructed since childhood and they end up being accepted as a universal truth when in fact they are just reflecting the prejudice against different ways of perceiving the world.

Stereotypes in Disney’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’

The movie ‘Beauty and the Beast’ by Disney introduces us in a subtle, but effective way, lots of stereotypes and prejudices existing in our culture. 

At first, it can be possible to think of Belle as an independent woman, different from the other Disney’s princesses, as she likes reading and ‘wants so much more than this provincial life’ of her hometown. However, she is just another lost romantic who dreams about living in a fairytale: she looks forward to marrying a perfect prince and living ‘happily ever after’. Moreover, during the story, she is not able to do anything by herself: the only time she decides to leave the castle where she had been made prisoner, she gets into trouble and is rescued by the Beast – a man, of course.

Belle fits a modern standard of beauty: she is young, beautiful, thin, white and sexy, which makes her blessed – she will make a good marriage (the biggest dream a woman could ever have) and won’t have to worry about studying or working to survive. It can be noticed also in the three bimbettes, who are sexually attractive, but vacuous. And, after getting married, Belle will become like the rest of the women in town: old, fat, with lots of children to take care, a house to clean and a womanizer husband to tolerate for the rest of their lives – because, after all, any man is better than no man at all.

The Beast represents the violent man who changes: Belle taught us that a kind, patient and beautiful woman has the power to turn a rude man into a prince.

Gaston, the strong hunter, represents the ‘macho man’ stereotype: he never cries, never shows his weaknesses, has wide shoulders and huge muscles covered with hair. All his problems are solved with shouts and violence – therefore he is praised and admired by everyone in town. His biggest fan, Le Fou, lives to praise him, despite being constantly mistreated by Gaston.

Other stereotypes that can be seen in ‘Beauty and the Beast’ are: the crazy inventor (Maurice, Belle’s father), the responsible servant (Cogsworth, who is always giving and receiving orders), the casanova (the charming Lumière, who has an affair with the Featherduster) and the loving mother (Mrs. Potts, who lives to take care of her son).

These dangerous messages can be easily absorbed by children, who are not able to distinguish fiction from reality yet, and turn them into prejudiced adults, sexist men and naïve women, so frustrated for waiting a prince who will never come along. Children get fascinated by the beauty of the colors and the songs of the movie, but never wonder what comes after the ‘happily ever after’.

Stereotypes - Beatriz Reis

Stereotypes in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast

It is known that every Disney movie has uncountable stereotypes, and The Beauty and the Beast is not an exception.

Belle, the main character, seems to be an independent girl who loves reading and wants “more than this provincial life”, unlike other princesses who also lived happily ever after. However, during the movie she turns out to be a lost romantic and her aspirations, short sighted. The adventure she had been looking for is nothing more than finding love – she is a typical Disney princess. She also follows beauty and personality patterns: Belle has full lips, an astonishing hair, and thin waist; she is white, attractive and extremely sweet.

The Beast is the arrogant and violent male character whose temper and appearance is changed because of love, which could suggest that ugly people and animals are evil, and the beautiful ones are good. He is discriminated by the villagers the moment they learn he really exists, judging his character only by his looks. The Beast, being Belle’s prince, has to save her from violent snarling wolves.

Gaston, Belle’s suitor, is the villain of the plot. The handsome huntsman starts the movie as an extremely sexist, though humorous, buffoon. Later, nevertheless, he evolves to a menacing and murderous man. Despite his arrogant and vain behavior, he is hailed as the local hero for his strength and beauty, being, then, valued for his appearance. Gaston is that popular character whose social success comes from being powerful and a great match for all women.

The Beauty and the Beast has a crazy inventor too – Belle’s father Maurice. He is always misunderstood and no villager believes what he says. Le Fou, Gaston’s apple polisher, is a loyal (and stupid) friend, in spite of frequent abuse. The talking objects living inside the Beast’s castle can also be analyzed as examples of stereotypes: Cogsworth is a responsible servant, whose opinion is never taken into consideration, which can suggest that the rules, whatever they might be, are not so important. Lumière is the movie’s casanova, for he is a charmer and has an affair with the Featherduster. Mrs. Pots represents the loving mother, who takes care of everyone, gives the others pieces of advice, and spends most of her time in the kitchen.

The dumb blonde stereotype is also present in The Beauty and the Beast, being represented by the Bimbettes, the triplets who fawn over Gaston. Other women’s gender role in the movie is the one of the housewife, who takes care of the kids, likes to spread gossip and is worried about chores.

It is clear then that The Beauty and the Beast has plenty of stereotypes, a movie which presents its characters superficially and shows no psychological depth.