On January 29, 1959, “Sleeping Beauty” was released in the United States, based on the French fairy tale by Charles Perrault of the same title. It was first released in Poland three years later.
The film was produced by Walt Disney Pictures. Its plot focuses on the title princess, the daughter of King Stefan and Queen Leia. When, after many years of efforts, the couple had a baby, they had a great party on the occasion of Aurora’s christening. All the inhabitants of the kingdom were invited, as well as the ruler of the neighboring country, King Hubert and his son Philip, who was to be proclaimed the future husband of the newborn princess during the ceremony.
There were also three good fairies: Flora gave Aurora a beauty, Hortensia a beautiful voice. However, before Niezabudka gave her gift, an evil Witch appeared in the room, who had not been invited. As a revenge, she cursed a girl who was supposed to die on her 16th birthday after being injured by a spindle. Unable to lift such a strong curse, the third fairy managed to weaken her, however, so that Aurora would only fall asleep, from which she would be awakened by a kiss of true love.
To minimize the risk of the curse from happening, the fairies raised the princess away from the palace. However, a combination of unfortunate events and misunderstandings caused Aurora to return home on her birthday and, hypnotized by the Witch, injured herself on the spindle. However, the fairies, with the help of Prince Philip, managed to reverse the spell, and the lovers get married.
This story, however, from the Witch’s perspective, was decided to be told again, and as a result, in 2014, the film was rebooted with Angelina Jolie in the title role. This approach showed Maleficenta and King Stefan in a very different light, imposing the question of who was really to blame for Aurora. Here I will ask you, Dear Readers – which version of the fairy tale sounds more convincing to you? Do you find the initial performance of Diabolina unfair? Write what you think about it.