Sleeping Beauty

Sleeping Beauty by Charles Perrault and Disney’s animated film are both very similar and different all at the same time.

In both versions, the princess, Aurora in the film, is cursed to die of by a prick to the finger from a spindle but the curse is reversed and instead of death she will be put into a deep sleep. The differences in the version are in Perrault’s, a fairy uninvited to the party curses her and she will wake from a deep sleep in 100 year and a king’s son will awake her. While in Disney’s version Aurora is cursed by Maleficent and her deep sleep will be broken by true loves curse.

The king puts many precautions up to make sure this doesn’t happen but in both versions, the princess finds herself still getting pricked. In Disney’s animated film, Aurora is taken away from the castle by the fairies to make sure she doesn’t get pricked but Maleficent finds her but in Perrault’s she finds her own doom by being curious.

The whole family is put to sleep until the curse is broken. Prince Phillip breaks the curse in Disney’s film after being trapped and held captive by Maleficent. He fell in love with Princess Aurora when he saw her in the woods. The prince in Perrault’s version stumbles upon the castle and after finding out about a prince being the one to wake the princess, he goes and rescues her and they fall in love.

In Perrault’s version, the villain is the fairy for putting her under the curse, but in the end the prince’s mom tries to have the princess killed.

Both stories show the importance of family. The family is put into a sleep along with the princess because they don’t want to leave their child alone. This shows love and how important family is.

The Princess and the Frog vs. The Frog Prince

Saying that The Princess and the Frog is loosely based off of The Frog Prince by the Grimms Brother’s is an understatement.

In the beginning of The Princess and the Frog, the main character, Tiana and her friend, Charlotte, are read The Frog Prince. In both stories the “princesses” were reluctant to kiss the frog. Princess is quoted due to the fact that Tiana wasn’t actually a princess, turning her into a frog also. Both of the original frogs in each story are cursed Princes that have to be kissed to be turned back into human.

The Princess and the Frog is so much different because it involves the non-princess turning into a frog and a battle for the two frogs lives because the one who cursed the prince wants to keep him that way, but they both fall and love. Since the kiss doesn’t work, they marry as frogs and once they kiss they transform back into humans because Tiana married a prince making her a princess.

Disney’s Princess and the Frog is a first film for them because it is the first time one of their Disney princesses was an African American. The animated film takes on a new role and since Tiana is  working towards getting her restaurant the whole time, it teaches children the importance of dreams but also, when she declines the money to save her Prince, it teaches children that other things are more important than money. Both stories teach children of teamwork and that you sometimes have to look past what you don’t like, nobody wants to kiss a frog, but sometimes it will get you farther in life.

Cinderella

Cinderella is a classic story that everybody knows about. Most people don't know that it is based off of the original telling by Charles Perrault and was originated in France. Disney's interpretation was very much like Perrault's version

In both versions, Cinderella has two wicked step-sisters and a step-mother who basically make her a servant but in Perrault's version, Cinderella's father is still alive. The Prince is throwing a ball to find a wife but Cinderella is not allowed to go, that is until her fairy godmother fixes her up with a dress and carriage made from a pumpkin. The only problem is, Cinderella has to be back at the stroke of midnight. This doesn't change in either versions.

So what does change? First off, the Prince host two balls and it isn't until the second ball that Cinderella loses her slipper and the Prince vows to marry who ever lost their glass slipper. In Disney's version though, Cinderella's step-mother finds out it is her and locks her away so she has to find her way out to get to the slipper fitting, unlike in Perrault's version where she is just there.

Disney's adaption made the mother and step-sisters more wicked than Perrault's, but both stories are trying to get across that beauty can only be skin deep. A person must also be kind hearted to get where they want to be in life. You cannot solely rely on beauty.

Rapunzel vs. Tangled

“Rapunzel! Let down your hair!” That’s about one of the only things similar between Rapunzel by the Grimms Brothers and Tangled.

In the original Rapunzel, the parents give her up because they stole the magic flower and when a prince stumbles upon her tower, they plan to run away together. Rapunzel accidentally tells of her pregnancy to her “mother” and she gets her hair cut off and sent into the woods. The prince is tricked into the tower and blinded by the “mother” but eventually stumbles upon Rapunzel and their children in the woods where her tears save his vision

The similarities between the two are the magic flower turned into a child with magic hair and that this child is not with her actual family but a mother who wants her powers. And of course, the tower Rapunzel is locked in and that she eventually loses her magic hair and her tears turn magical.

But that’s about it, the differences are very much more astounding. Of course in the original, Rapunzel falls in love with a prince, but in the movie she falls in love with a theft that helps her on a journey.

And in Tangled, Rapunzel is taken from her parents and wants nothing more than to leave the tower to see the magic lights. Rapunzel gets her happy ending in both but in Tangled, she ends up back with her parents while in the original she is reunited with the Prince.

The question is, why did Disney create such a loose interpretation? Disney’s main point in Tangled was to get across that feministic power. In the Grimms Brothers tale, Rapunzel doesn’t do for herself while Rapunzel in Tangled is very much assertive and does her own thing.

Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite classic Disney animated films and it is one that stems the most from its original fairy tale by Madame Le Prince de Beaumont.

 

In both makings, Belle finds herself at the Beast’s castles while trying to save her dad from imprisonment and being the whole-hearted person she is, offering to take his place. The difference is how the father gets there. In the original, her father gets imprisoned because he steals the Beast rose which is his prized possession while in the Disney version, he stumbles upon the castle and is imprisoned.

The Disney film includes many animated appliances as the Beast companions/servants while in the original he actually has servants, especially ones that tend to his roses. The rose is a common factor also except in the original the Beast just loves his roses and in Disney’s the rose holds the curse that could kill him.

Belle saves the Beast from death in both versions by telling him she is in love with him, but both death scenes are different. In the original, Belle leaves to go see her sisters and she doesn’t return in time so the Beast is dying of heartbreak while in Disney’s the Beast is stabbed by one of Belle’s suitors. After she tells of her love, the Beast turns back into a prince.

Love is deeper than looks. Vanity will not get you far in life and I believe that both these works push to show that you must look beyond the outside and look for the good on the inside.

Snow White

Snow White is a story of a young princess whose step-mother boils over with jealousy because her magic mirror tells her that Snow White is the prettiest in all the land and not her. After a failed attempt at taking her life by hiring a huntsmen, the Queen takes matters into her own hands while Snow White live with the seven dwarfs. Of course once the Queen successfully poisons her, true loves kiss awakes her like most typical Disney stories.

 

The Grimms Brothers’ fairy tale and Disney’s movie do not differ in many ways. Disney actually adapted the film very well with the original. The main difference is that the Queen attempted three times to take Snow White’s life in the original fairy tale. First she tied her tightly into a bodice, then she had Snow brush her hair with a poisoned comb, and then finally Snow White was poisoned by an apple. The first two attempts were a fail as the dwarves saved her.

The Prince’s kiss awakes Snow in both versions but in the original, Snow had never met the Prince yet she had in the movie. Just like in both versions the Queen eventually dies, but in Disney’s she falls off a cliff while in the Grimms Brother’s, her death is more dark when she puts on hot shoes and dances to death at Snow’s wedding.

 

In both versions of this classic, Snow White runs off with the Prince and leaves her volunteering with the dwarfs behind. This is showing both love because once you are married, you leave loved ones behind but it also shows that sometimes people forget the people who got them to where they are in life in the midst of love.