Short Films and Media Featuring Sleeping Beauty
Granny O'Grimm
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A hilarious Oscar-nominated short film about a grandmother reading a fairy tale to her granddaughter. It shows how sometimes we can put ourselves into these stories, and perhaps tell them from a different character's point of view. We want to understand motives in modern stories and fairy tales seem to invite this type of retelling as they are full of archetypes and characters with no individuality.
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Sleeping Betty
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This uniquely animated Canadian short film is set in a modern-day land. Well...sort of (watch and see for yourself and see the tenement's drawbridge, among other idiosyncracies). Mildly creepy but also amusing; this short uses only sounds and actions to explain the story. Watch out for a Henry VIII fancy-pants cameo!
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Dysenchanted
Visit the official website and view each princesses "diagnosis"
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A short featuring "Gilmore Girl" Alexis Bledel.
It shows that life isn't always "happily ever after" for these ladies... being a fairy tale princess is hard work! Also shows the power of fairy tales to help one believe in oneself, and really, isn't that what the Disney versions are all about? |
Istanbul Tales
This film places classic fairy tales (The Pied Piper, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, and Cinderella) in a modern setting: Istanbul, Turkey.
The order is:
Snow White
Cinderella (I will say SURPRISE, but I knew from the start)
Sleeping Beauty
Little Red Riding Hood
The Pied Piper
Watch the full movie here:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2916007914676294500#
The order is:
Snow White
Cinderella (I will say SURPRISE, but I knew from the start)
Sleeping Beauty
Little Red Riding Hood
The Pied Piper
Watch the full movie here:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2916007914676294500#
Jack Milton: Fairy Tale Detective
Do you want to see a wolf with a JFK accent? A gangster pig? A red-hooded damsel in distress? This film makes fun of some of the famous fairy-tale stereotypes.
Do you like fairy tale detectives? I recommend reading Jasper Fforde's Nursery Crimes Series, featuring Detective Jack Spratt:
The Big Over Easy (Humpty Dumpty is murdered..by whom?)
The Fourth Bear (The Gingerbread man is MAD!)
Or the Sisters Grimm, a series in which Sleeping Beauty plays a prominent role:
Book 1
Part 1
Part 3 |
Part 2Part 4 |
Another Sleeping Beauty Feature Film
Look at that poster! We should watch this!
"An elf gives a queen a magic spell for the baby she always wanted. But an evil curse is placed over her daughter, Rosebud, which results in the king demanding that all the spindles in the kingdom be destroyed. As Rosebud grows into a naive yet pretty young woman, she wonders why no one in the kingdom ever has new cloth. She convinces her parents to go on a journey to a neighboring kingdom, not knowing what awaits her as soon as the king and queen are gone" This is part of a series of fairy tale films made by the Cannon Movie Tales Series: "All of the films featured well-known actors from the U.S. and Great Britain and were shot on-location in Israel." Find out more here |
Hint: You can watch it throughout by following the
next number at the end! |
Cartoons and Kids' Stuff
Tales from the Cryptkeeper - Sleeping Beauty
This cartoon is from the Saturday morning cartoon, "Tales from the Cryptkeeper" based on the memorable "Tales from the Crypt." For kids, of course, but this focuses on the heroic and adventurous quest of the Prince rather than the Beauty herself. Her story is abbreviated completely to simply being "under a curse." Despite this, there is some characterization, and Prince "Chuck's" brother may be a nod to the fact that the Prince himself is not characterized as anything more than a pretty, brave face (or in this case, a vain, greedy face). Melvin is more
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like us, hard-working and down on his luck (although I can't help but picture Woody Allen here). I'll let you see what happens next, but the moral is: "nice guys DO finish first." We all want to believe that.
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Sleeping Beauty by Rankin/Bass Animation
Haven't heard of Rankin-Bass? They are the brilliant minds behind the stop-motion
Christmas classics (remember Heatmiser?) as well as THUNDERCATS.
Christmas classics (remember Heatmiser?) as well as THUNDERCATS.
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Based on the Grimm's version (warning: a bit 70's) |
What's that? You want a creepily-animated version of Perrault's tale? Okay. This may be narrated by Shirley Duvall; it sounds like her.
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Diehl's "Fractured Fairy Tales" from Rocky and Bullwinkle
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Kermit reports on Sleeping Beauty's Status
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Don't miss the inexcuseable racism!
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Yeah, I actually used to watch this show.
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Fun fact: "Joss Whedon's Dollhouse series uses this story as an extended metaphor in the aptly-named episode "Briar Rose", equating it both to the brainwashed members of the Dollhouse and a young character dealing with the after-effects of sexual abuse." Pretty apt, am I right?