Lately, I’ve been doing more beta-reading than writing. Reading is taking up a lot of time. I’ve been reading published books as well, and dreaming about the books I’m going to buy when I get back to Australia.
I beta read the most phenomenal dystopian by a sixteen year old that blew my mind – I thought I was a good writer, and then I read that. It was really, really awesome. I hope it finds a home really soon. It impresses me that a sixteen year old can not only finish a novel (I had finished about three novellas by that age, but never an actual novel) but the able to write with that depth, knowledge of world history, and the technique? Phenomenal. I’m strangely proud of her, even though I’ve never met her. That’s the power of the internetz for you.
I’ve started beta-reading a literary novel – or maybe it’s a mystery thriller… we’re not quite sure. Hopefully I’ll be able to shed some light on that. This one came out of NaNoWriMo, so it’s lovely to see people making headway with their November novels. The Edge of Darkness was a NaNo novel as well. In case you haven’t noticed, it now has its own place holder in the sidebar that-a-way —>
I’m so proud.
In other news, the other day I played the Sims 3 after not playing it for a while. I almost had to re-learn things, because I’ve been playing The Sims Medieval. I was wondering if I could kick the parents out and leave their teen when disaster struck my fourth-generation household. The teenager was having her birthday party, and as she blew out the candle, the table and all the chairs caught fire, quickly spreading to all the guests. And because she was a Party Animal, all the invited guests had come and filled this little room so that the fire fighters couldn’t get in. Four Sims died, including the parents of the teenager. Tragic? Yes. Hilarious? Also, yes.
Worst. Birthday. Ever.
Yeah, so I took a picture. I had a feeling it’d be blog-worthy.
Sleeping Beauty, Disney’s third Disney Princess film, was released in 1959. I enjoyed Sleeping Beauty a lot more than I enjoyed Cinderella, which I enjoyed a lot more than Snow White. It seems that Disney was only getting better with age. Princess Aurora has the beginnings of the later 90s princesses I adore. The Prince also had a much bigger role in the film, which is great. However, I’m not here to talk about Prince Phillip (named after THE Prince Phillip of the time) or Malificent (who is totally AWESOME!), I’m here to talk about Princess Aurora and bitch talk about those stupid fairies.
Those Damn, Cursed Gifts
The thing that annoyed me most about this film was that she was ‘gifted’ with presents normally already bestowed on Disney princesses – a beautiful singing voice and physical beauty as well. I’d like to see what she sounds like/ looks like if those stupid fairies hadn’t played with her future. How, exactly, would it have affected her? Would Prince Phillip still fall in love with a girl if he heard her screeching like an angry cat in the woods and discovered Lady Gaga?
Still wanna fall madly in love with me, punk?
Were those gifts only given to make her more attractive to the opposite sex, or more attractive in general so that the ‘populace’ would love and universally adore her? Why is it so damned important that she be beautiful and sing nicely, anyway? Those stupid fairies didn’t want to grant her good health or longevity, I notice. They neglected to grant her wisdom, or intelligence, or kindness. What are their priorities, anyway? Are they jealous because they’re frumpy, grumpy and kinda stupid? I mean, seriously, who would hide a princess for sixteen years only to leave her unattended before the fateful sunset?
Serisouly, I just hated these guys.
Briar Rose
What I like best about Princess Aurora/Briar Rose is that she’s not interested in getting hitched to some strange prince she’s never met. She doesn’t dream about living in a castle and living the princess life. She wants to be with that strange ‘peasant’ boy she met in the woods who, freakishly, she also dreams about. My theory is that because they saw each other as children, they now dream about each other.
Creepy McCreeperson makes the first move...
But the cool thing about Prince Phillip is that he doesn’t want to marry ‘Princess Aurora’ either, he wants to marry the ‘peasant’ girl he met in the woods. Although I, once again, find the Prince Charming a little creepy. He randomly starts dancing with Briar Rose, and then when Rose tries to get away from him (and damn right, she should! What a creeper!) he keeps grabbing her hands. CREEP! Seriously, dude. Rape happened in the 14thcentury as well.
It's not rape if you yell SURPRISE! first... right?
Passive Princess
I suppose a lot of people would claim that Aurora’s a pathetic princess because she’s so passive – what can sleeping through the climax of the film be if not passivity? However, I would like to propose an alternative viewing, because I sympathise with Aurora. She’s a victim. Yes, she does as she’s told. She’s not rebellious like stronger Disney princesses. She’s still looking for love, like her predecessors. After her mini temper tantrum she does as she’s told and goes to the palace with the fairies. Then, and this is the part where I really sympathise with her – she is magically hypnotised and forced to touch the spinning needle wheel thingy. I mean, it’s pretty cool because she even tries to fight the magic – you see her pull away.
Belle, Jasmine, and Ariel
She’s not quite Belle, or Jasmine, or even Ariel, but she’s getting there. She’s trying to do what she wants to do, but everyone around her forces her to do something she doesn’t want, to make her be something she’s not. That’s why it’s so easy to be on her side in this even though she’s one of the older princesses that I never really liked. I can accept that she simply doesn’t have Belle’s bravery or Jasmine’s independent streak or Ariel’s curiosity. It’s simply not in her personality. And I’m OK with that, because she doesn’t accept her fate as willingly as Snow White and she’s not as helpless as Cinderella, her two princess predecessors.
Yeah, I’m hanging a lot on the fact that she manages to pull back her hand before her finger is pricked. That’s what I do. I read into things.
I'm not even going to go into the whole 'phallic' imagery of this, either. I'll spare you.
I was kind of hoping by now that we’d have a princess whose mind didn’t revolve around her cooch, but we’re still in 1959. We still have a princess who doesn’t really mind doing housework, either. I mean, what are they trying to say? That if 1950s women do their housework and look pretty to please men, some Prince will come along and marry them, take them ‘away from it all’? The reason I like Briar Rose so much is that even when she’s told she’s betrothed to a Prince, she gets all upset and flumpy because she wants to be with the boy from the woods. A boy she thoroughly believes is just a peasant. She’s not dreaming of marrying a Prince. And that, to me, because she is one of the three ‘old school’ Princesses, is just awesome.
I NOM your face!
PS – why is she marketed as wearing a pink dress when she spends more time in the film with the dress blue?
A girl I went to University with told me she loved to read regency romances because the men in those books were ‘allowed’ to be assholes – it was time-appropriate, she said, to be devilishly handsome and be rather roguish, to rip their ladies’ bodices off their heaving bosom and generally be totally sexist… I could go on but I think you get the point.
I’ve been thinking lately about my ideal types of heroes and heroines and how these different types of characters appeal to different readers. For example, I desperately love heroes and heroines out of their own time. Men who come from olden times and make their way to the modern day where they are full of charm, manner, and politeness, an ability to create charming small talk and even dance!
1899 Dr. Alexander Hartdegen played by Guy Pearce, from The Time Machine (2002)1876, Leopold Alexis Elijah Walker Thomas Gareth Mountbatten, Duke of Albany, as played by Hugh Jackman in Kate and Leopold (2001)
Contrary to popular opinion, this post was not just an opportunity to oogle pictures of hot guys looking dapper.
I also love modern-day heroines thrown back into regency dramas, or at least girls with modern-day sensibilities. There are so many of these girls written into older books – women who share the same desire to be equal to a man and not just his plaything or an heir factory. Women who are scolded for being ‘outspoken’. Women who manage, by their scathing words alone, to bring a man to tears or his knees.
Modern-day Amanda Price and 1813 Jane Bennet in Lost in Austen (2008)Mia Wasikowska as 1847 Jane Eyre in Jane Eyre (2011)
So to sum up: I like men from older times because they are gentlemanly, and modern women because of their kick-assness.
Disney’s Alice in Wonderland (1951) doesn’t really offer that much of a chance to really dissect Disney because it’s really a nonsense tale designed only to entertain and enchant. I mean, it makes no sense. It’s meant to be that way. Alice just wanders from one adventure to the next.
The sequel, also titled Alice in Wonderland (2010), and directed by Tim Burton, offers a more meaty piece of cinema for me to sink my fangs into.
Alice is Pressured to Conform
I'm not the only person who thinks he looks like a rabbit, am I?
First of all, Alice has been convinced that her entirely real adventure in Wonderland was really nothing more than a dream. That’s fine – except she keeps having nightmares about it. Then at age 19, she is encouraged to marry some twat of a Duke (I don’t want to talk about the way he looks because that is SO superficial, but he reminds me of a rabbit) just so she doesn’t end up a spinster. She’s only 19, but that’s ‘getting on’ in the 1800s. Seriously. Alice’s sister thinks she is happily married but he husband dallies around with other girls. And there is so much pressure on Alice to conform, and only wants to rebel because she despises being told what is ‘proper’. She’s my kind of girl through and through.
Alice Re-Discovers Her Own Potential
Wandering the Wonderland.
After she runs away from the high-pressure proposal, she falls back into the rabbit hole and goes through the exact same motions she did before, growing and shrinking and so on until she make it out the door. There, her friends from her last adventure debate on whether or not she is the ‘right’ Alice. They come to the conclusion that she is not. She is not the Alice who is prophesised to save the day. And the reason she is not the ‘right’ Alice is because everyone in her world convinced her that Wonderland was only a dream. She is so busy following the paths of other people that she forgets herself.
Alice the Woman Warrior Saves The Day
TOTAL. BADASS. That is all.
After a few more adventures – which, luckily, actually HAVE a plot this time around – she eventually realises who she is, and that the path before her lies in her own choice. She can help the White Queen, or she can step back and allow Underland to fall to the tyranny of the Bloody Big Head. As I was watching, I realised that Alice rebels against every expectations made of her – except this very important one. She take sup her task, because she is simply a modern warrior woman stuck in 1800s proprietary. It’s my favourite moment to see her revealed in her silver armour. There is no question about whether she can or can’t succeed – it’s written on the magical calendar, see. She’s a great version of a feminist: strong, brave, clever, loyal. She bests every beast she comes across, whether violently or by making peace.
Alice Makes Her Own Path
Two different types of crazy.
When Alice comes out of Underland, she’s realised that she already knows her own path. It simply took a second adventure to remind her of everything. So she refuses the proposal and threatens her sister’s philandering husband. The one thing I really don’t like about this film is how so much pressure was put on Alice NOT to become like ‘poor old aunt Imogen,’ and then Alice comes out and out and tells Imogen that she’s crazy waiting for someone who will never come. Where’s the White Queen’s compassion – hasn’t it rubbed on on her? it seems a particularly cruel thing to do, especially as most of Alice’s life people told her Underland was a figment of her imagination. I would have liked it a lot more if Alice had encouraged Imogen to pursue her dreams. As it is, Alice proposes a big fat contradiction that refuses the entire message of the film: follow your dreams, no matter how mad they seem. Like, WTF? Burton, did you miss something?
Follow your dreams, god damn it! FOLLOW THEM!
Alice follows her mad dreams. She sets off on a real-life adventure, working with her father’s business partner to expand his trading empire. Her adventures in Underland helped her realise what she has always suspected: people are trying to put her in her place. She makes her own place, and a quite successful one at that. It’s the perfect ending to the story.
Lissa Bilyk 