Elvis and Annabelle - A Discussion

Let's focus on the interesting aspects of the movie and how it relates to the traditional version of Sleeping Beauty.

Obviously, there's very little "sleeping" in the movie as it wouldn't be much of a movie if all the heroine did was sleep. Or be dead.

What did you think of the "Prince" kissing the dead girl? I mean, did you feel that it was shown in a negative light, positive light or were there no feelings associated with it? Was it conclusively shown as right or wrong?

And Elvis and Annabelle? How different are they from the prince and the princess of the traditional tale? Do some character analysis. Annabelle is shown as pretty fluffy stuff but it isn't necessarily negative. At the same time, Elvis is hardly the well adjusted golden Prince Charming. Clearly he has issues but then again, who doesn't?

Parallelisms between the relationships of the two and their parents. Elvis and his dad compared to Annabelle and her mother. Thoughts?

Also, I know a lot of you are tired by the feminist approach but this needs to be asked, what did you think about Annabelle's mother? She seemed a more realistic look at what the modern Evil Queen from Snow White would be, to be honest. Concerned with beauty, not so much for herself as for her daughter. 

Other thoughts, observations?

Really Cool Link/Essay!!

This is a neat essay that I found online....
Sleeping Beuaty by Midori Snyder:

Sleeping Beauty - A Discussion

Here are some questions to help you get thinking about Sleeping Beauty in a more academic manner.

1. Why is Sleeping Beauty the least popular of all the romantic fairy tales in the canon (esp. the ones we are studying)? And what do the reasons for its unpopularity (or would it be lack of popularity?) say about our contemporary society? What is it about Sleeping Beauty that we can no longer find acceptable (kissing dead/unconscious women being one of them)?

2. Does the spindle symbolize anything, do you think?

3. Let's, for a change, look at how the men are disregarded in this story. We have been reading from a feminist stance all this while but I do think that there's a lot of injustice where men are concerned too. At least from a modern perspective. Thoughts?

4. If you were to re-tell the story and you could twist things around any way you wanted, what are the things you would change? And why? (You can use the two books we read as a sort of directive in this question.)

So tomorrow, we will be discussing your answers to these questions amongst all the other observations you have about the readings.