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Aurora (Sleeping Beauty)

Aurora, also known as Sleeping Beauty or Briar Rose,[1][2][3] is a fictional character who appears in Walt Disney Productions' animated film Sleeping Beauty (1959). Originally voiced by singer Mary Costa, Aurora is the only child of King Stefan and Queen Leah. An evil fairy named Maleficent seeks revenge for not being invited to Aurora's christening and curses the newborn princess, foretelling that she will prick her finger on a spinning wheel's spindle and die before sunset on her sixteenth birthday. Merryweather, one of the three good fairies, weakened the curse so Aurora would only sleep. Determined to prevent this, three good fairies raise Aurora as a peasant in order to protect her, patiently awaiting her sixteenth birthday—the day the spell can only be broken by a kiss from her true love, Prince Phillip.

Aurora

Sleeping Beauty (1959)

Briar Rose
by Charles Perrault

Sleeping Beauty
Briar Rose (alias)

Princess, Queen (Maleficent)

Disney Princesses

Prince Phillip

Princess Audrey (Descendants)

European, most likely French

Aurora is based on the princess in Charles Perrault's fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty", as well as the heroine who appears in the Brothers Grimm's retelling of the story, "Little Briar Rose". For several years, Walt Disney had struggled to find a suitable actress to voice the princess and nearly abandoned the film entirely until Costa was discovered by composer Walter Schumann. However, Costa's southern accent nearly cost her the role until she proved that she could sustain a British accent for the duration of the film. In order to accommodate the film's unprecedentedly detailed backgrounds, Aurora's refined design demanded more effort than had ever been spent on an animated character before, with the animators drawing inspiration from Art Nouveau. Animated by Marc Davis, Aurora's slender physique was inspired by actress Audrey Hepburn. With only 18 lines of dialogue and equally few minutes of screen time, the character speaks less than any speaking main character in a feature-length Disney animated film.


When Sleeping Beauty was first released in 1959, the film was both a critical and commercial failure, discouraging the studio from adapting fairy tales into animated films for three decades. Aurora herself received negative reviews from both film and feminist critics for her passivity and similarities to Snow White, and would remain Disney's last princess until The Little Mermaid's Ariel debuted 30 years later in 1989. However, Costa's vocal performance was praised, which inspired her to pursue a full-time career as an opera singer to great success. Chronologically, Aurora is the third Disney Princess. Actress Elle Fanning portrayed a live-action version of Aurora in the film Maleficent (2014), a retelling of the 1959 animated film Sleeping Beauty from the perspective of the title character. Fanning returned to portray Aurora in Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019), which is set five years later.


The Sleeping Beauty Castle is an attraction at Disneyland. Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant (French for "The Castle of the Beauty in the Sleeping Forest", but known more roughly in English as "Sleeping Beauty Castle") was built at Disneyland Paris. The castle was replaced by the Castle of Magical Dreams in Hong Kong Disneyland; however, the new castle still pays tribute to Aurora and the other Disney Princesses. Along with Cinderella Castle, the Castle is a main symbol of The Walt Disney Company.

Development[edit]

Conception and writing[edit]

Filmmaker Walt Disney had long been struggling to adapt the fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty" into a full-length animated film for several years, intending to base the project on both Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm's versions of the story.[4] Disney was considering abandoning work on the film altogether until singer Mary Costa was discovered, the casting of whom as the film's heroine finally allowed the project to graduate from development to production.[5] At the time Aurora was conceived, there had only been two prior Disney princesses: Snow White and Cinderella, the heroines of Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and Cinderella (1950), respectively.[5] Disney wanted his third princess to be as different from Snow White as possible,[6] but several strong similarities remain between the two characters and their respective stories.[7] Gary Susman of Moviefone observed that both films feature "an evil witch jealous of a young and beautiful princess, the princess hiding out in a woodland cottage with a group of comic-relief caretakers ... and the witch putting the princess into a deathlike sleep, from which only true love's kiss can awaken her."[8]


In the original fairy tale, the princess actually sleeps for 100 years before she is finally awakened by the prince's kiss; this detail was adjusted for the film in favor of having Prince Phillip introduced earlier, and thus Aurora is awakened much sooner.[7] In the Grimm version, the princess is destined to prick her finger at the age of 15, while Disney decided to age the character by one year.[9] Aurora's names are borrowed from both Tchaikovsky's ballet and the Grimm fairy tale. While Tchaikovsky referred to his princess as "Aurora", the Brothers Grimm had named her "Little Briar Rose";[10] this ultimately inspired Disney to use both names in the film,[11] the latter of which serves as the character's alias while she is hiding from Maleficent.[8] Aurora was the last princess in whose conception Walt Disney himself was directly involved prior to his death.[12][13]

Voice[edit]

Aurora is voiced by American singer Mary Costa,[14] who was 22 years old when she was cast as the character in 1952.[15] Costa had grown up a fan of Disney films, the first of which she saw was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.[5] As a child, Costa adored the film so much that she would imitate Snow White by parading around her house wearing a bath towel as a makeshift cape.[16] Costa described herself garnering the role of Aurora as simply "being in the right place at the right time."[17] The filmmakers had long struggled to cast Aurora, having been searching for the right voice for the character for three years. Disney himself had been considering to shelving the project unless a suitable voice actress was found,[18] insisting that the same performer provide both the character's speaking and singing voices.[15] Costa was attending a dinner party for the entertainment industry, to which she had been invited by a friend who was hoping to introduce her to some influential people,[15] where she performed the popular standard "When I Fall in Love".[19] The performance was heard by film composer Walter Schumann who, impressed by her vocals, approached Costa about possibly voicing Aurora and inviting her to audition the following morning.[19] Despite doubting that she would be cast, Costa agreed to audition mostly because she wanted to meet Walt Disney.[16] Upon arriving at the studio the next day, composer George Bruns welcomed Costa by asking her to perform a bird call,[5][16] which she did successfully.[19] However, being from Knoxville, Tennessee, Costa's strong southern accent nearly prevented her from being cast until she proved that she could sustain a fake British accent for the entire film.[11][19] The filmmakers likened the situation to English actress Vivien Leigh successfully feigning a southern accent for her role as Scarlet O'Hara in the film Gone With the Wind (1939).[16] Within hours of her audition,[17] Walt Disney himself contacted Costa via telephone to offer her the job,[20] which she immediately accepted.[19] Aurora became Costa's first major film role.[21]

Characterization and themes[edit]

Aurora is a member of a trifecta known as the "Golden Era" of Disney heroines.[41] Alongside her two predecessors Snow White and Cinderella, Aurora is one of the three original Disney princesses.[42] Kit Steinkellner of HelloGiggles wrote that Aurora continued the "trend of passive heroines who wait around for magic to change their lives," a recurring theme shared by Disney princesses who were introduced both during and prior to the 1950s.[43] Sonia Saraiya of Nerve dubbed Aurora "the apex" of "women who made no choices for themselves".[44] Writing for MTV, Lauren Vino felt that the character "followed the basic princess tenants [sic] of loving animals and sleeping in makeup",[45] while About.com's David Nusair wrote that Aurora followed the "pattern of kind yet helpless princesses", similar to Snow White and Cinderella.[41] Mary Grace Garis of Bustle observed that the original trio "seeks out marriage as both their endgame and salvation", elaborating, "It's literally their own means of escape, and their only final objective."[42] However, Aurora's dreams and fantasies are different in the sense that they are drawn from loneliness and isolation; the character essentially longs "for human connections beyond her three fairy surrogate mothers."[46] The Walt Disney Family Museum volunteer Lucas O. Seastrom agreed that Aurora is more "self-confident" and "more of repose than the usual naïveté of Disney heroines."[29] Observing that Aurora's actions are influenced by the decisions and opinions of those around her, while most of the film's action involves Prince Phillip, Steinkellner joked that the character is so passive that she remains asleep during the film's climax.[43] Dubbing her "a girl of reaction," nerdology.org's Lisa Kaye Cunningham felt that Aurora's "little screen time makes her difficult to classify as a feminist, but her single active decision shows great promise in the evolution of feminist Disney princesses," despite the fact that her agency is constantly undermined by other characters.[47] Cunningham concluded, "By making one active decision to try and follow her dreams, this princess made a big step forward as a stronger feminist than Snow White, though Aurora remains bogged down with passive reactivity."[47] Author Melissa G. Wilson observed in her book Mashups for Teens: From Sleeping Beauty to Beyonce that Aurora's reaction upon learning that she is a princess differs from what one would expect from a young woman.[48]


By default, Aurora is usually considered to be the film's main character.[49] Leigh Butler of Tor.com argues that the role of "protagonist" rightfully belongs to the three good fairies because they "make all the critical decisions in the film, the ones which drive the action", while Aurora acts as little more than a pawn.[50] Butler expounded that Aurora "never grows as a character during the course of the film; she has no agency at all, in fact. She doesn’t act; she is acted upon. So she is definitely not the hero of the story."[50] Helping Writers Become Authors' K. M. Weiland agreed, writing, "Sleeping Beauty has no arc. Prince Phillip has no arc. And, even more importantly, neither of them are present from start to finish in the story. Without the fairies to hold this thing together, the plot would have lacked any kind of impetus or cohesion."[49] Upon initial viewing of Sleeping Beauty, a writer for Anibundel originally dismissed Aurora as "the ultimate Disney princess in the most negative and passive sense of the stereotype ... playing no part whatsoever in her own outcome." However, in retrospect, the author's opinion eventually evolved upon subsequent viewings: "Although Aurora has little to do with her own conclusion, it’s not a mark of her being a non-person. Instead it reflects how sometimes bad things just happen which we have no control over, a difficult but important lesson."[46] Anibundel does agree that although Aurora is Sleeping Beauty's title character, she can hardly be considered the film's protagonist, believing instead that the film actually lacks one completely.[46] Meanwhile, the author dubbed Aurora the film's most sympathetic character because she has "thoughts, feelings, aspirations, and emotions," elaborating, "While most characters ... are overly focused on the plot and reacting to events, Briar Rose is unaware of the other events so we get to see a more authentic everyday side of her."[46] In his book Multiculturalism and the Mouse: Race and Sex in Disney Entertainment, author Douglas Brode wrote that the fairies' raising of Aurora mirrors "precisely that sort of women's commune numerous feminists experimented with throughout the seventies."[9]


Writing for Durham College's The Water Buffalo, Michelle Munro observed that the first five Disney Princesses share physical and personality traits, namely their white skin, naivety, kindness and compassion, "showing viewers what Disney believed a princess should look and act like" at that time.[51] Munro concluded that Aurora specifically can appear both spoiled and childish in demeanor at times.[51] Bailey Cavender of The Silver Petticoat Review believes that the character's appearance and style is reminiscent of the Gibson Girl, a popular character created and designed by graphic artist Charles Dana Gibson, who embodied the idea that "physical beauty was a measure of fitness, character, and Americanness".[35] According to Cavender, Aurora's beauty was considered to be "ideal" for women at the time her film was released, embodying the "classic standards of beauty."[35] In his book Debating Disney: Pedagogical Perspectives on Commercial Cinema, Douglas Brode agreed that Aurora is "a model of modern (1950s) female glamour", comparing her long blonde hair to that of actress Brigitte Bardot while likening her gown to the work of fashion designer Christian Dior.[2] According to The Dissolve's Noel Murray, Aurora's story is a metaphor about a "young woman being cautioned to avoid penetration."[52] Similarly, Carrie R. Wheadon, writing for Common Sense Media, interpreted Aurora's arousal by a handsome prince as being symbolic of a young woman's "transition to adulthood and sexual awakening."[53] According to Multiculturalism and the Mouse: Race and Sex in Disney Entertainment author Douglas Brode, Aurora is "torn between childlike loyalties and adult instincts",[9] while The Disney Middle Ages: A Fairy-Tale and Fantasy Past author Tison Pugh believes that Aurora's first encounter with Prince Phillip "tips her from fantasy into reality, from childhood into womanhood."[54]

Appearances[edit]

Film and television[edit]

Aurora debuted in Sleeping Beauty (1959) as the only daughter of King Stefan and Queen Leah. Angered at not receiving an invitation to her christening, an evil fairy, Maleficent, curses Aurora to prick her finger on a spinning wheel's spindle and die before sunset on her 16th birthday. Fortunately, one of the three good fairies, Merryweather, alters the curse so Aurora will prick her finger, but instead of dying, she'll only sleep until she is awakened by a kiss from her true love. Merryweather and the two other fairies, Flora and Fauna, take extra precautions by raising the princess in a secluded cottage under the alias Briar Rose to protect her from Maleficent until her sixteenth birthday arrives. Years later, a 16-year-old Aurora meets a handsome man in the forest. Unaware that he is actually a prince named Phillip, to whom she has been betrothed since infancy, the two fall in love and agree to meet again. However, the fairies finally reveal Aurora's true identity to her and thus forbid her from seeing him because they plan on returning the heartbroken princess to her parents. While alone at the castle, Aurora is lured by Maleficent to prick her finger on a spinning wheel's spindle, and Maleficent reveals the sleeping Aurora to the fairies. They then place Aurora on a bed in the highest tower to sleep peacefully and put the entire kingdom to sleep until the spell is broken. Meanwhile, Maleficent has captured Phillip, whom the fairies release upon realizing that he is in fact the same man Aurora met in the forest earlier that day. Along with everyone else in the kingdom, Aurora is successfully awakened by Phillip's kiss, and is finally reunited with her parents.


In Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams (2007), Aurora, voiced by actress Erin Torpey,[55] stars in the segment "Keys to the Kingdom", in which her parents leave her responsible for running the kingdom in their two-day absence with assistance of their majordomo, Lord Duke. Declining assistance from the fairies, they give her her own wand instead should she need help. At first reluctant to use it because she is determined to accomplish everything on her own, Aurora eventually succumbs when her duties prove overwhelming. However, her inexperience with magic leads to several consequences, which forces Lord Duke into warning Stefan, Leah, King Hubert, and Prince Phillip, who were all coming back from a royal conference, about the giant chickens, green pigs, and cows. She is then forced to solve without magic before the others came in the throne room. She hosts a banquet for her parents, King Hubert, Prince Phillip, Lord Duke, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather.

Trademark[edit]

The Walt Disney Company currently has a trademark with the US Patent and Trademark Office, filed March 13, 2007, for the name "Princess Aurora" that covers production and distribution of motion picture films; production of television programs; production of sound and video recordings.[68] This has caused some controversy because "Princess Aurora" is the name of the lead character in The Sleeping Beauty ballet, from where Disney acquired the name and some of the music for its animated film, and which is performed live on stage and sometimes television and often sold later as a recorded performance on video.[69] The trademark was granted on January 17, 2012.[68]

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Aurora