Aurora, Damsel in Distress or Heroine?

[rs_milo_whatever]

Your basic damsel in distress. Philip and the Good Fairies were all the heroes of the movie.

Are you sure you know the basic damsel in distress? a damsel in distress is a girl (usually,a stupid one) that gets kidnapped every 5 seconds,Aurora fits? no? good,then she's not,but Phillip got KIDNAPPED AND RESCUED.

do YOU know what a damsel in distress means???

a damsel in distress is a girl in danger, that doesn't mean that it has to happen a lot of times. She got kidnapped, put to sleep, and she was rescued that makes her a damsel previously in distress.

[Ariel'sprince]

Are you sure you know the basic damsel in distress? a damsel in distress is a girl (usually,a stupid one) that gets kidnapped every 5 seconds,Aurora fits? no? good,then she's not,but Phillip got KIDNAPPED AND RESCUED.

do YOU know what a damsel in distress means???

a damsel in distress is a girl in danger, that doesn't mean that it has to happen a lot of times. She got kidnapped, put to sleep, and she was rescued that makes her a damsel previously in distress.

Yeah,i KNOW what a damsel in distress means.
A girl that's gets KIDNAPPED ALL THE TIME!,PHILLIP was KIDNAPPED,Aurora is not a damsel.

[rs_milo_whatever]

oh my gosh, did you even read my whole post???
i'm not even gonna try anymore

[PeterPanfan]

Ariel'sprince you get everyone so AGITATED because you simply have to have EVERYONE agree with you. It isn't an opinion, it's a basic fact.

A damsel in distress does not get kidnapped "every five seconds". Phillip was not even kidnapped, he was tricked into going there. Aurora was actually kidnapped and put to sleep. Phillip SAVED her by kissing her.

Phillip is the only hero, so please let's just leave it at that.

[Ariel'sprince]

No he's not the hero! Aurora is the hero! Maybe Phillip is also a hero but he's Aurora IS the HERO!.
Are you blind? he's got kidnapped and bound and gagged! Maleficent KIDNAPPED him!!!!!.
Aurora wasn't kidnapped! she followed the light and got TRICKED to touch it,unlike lad in distress,did you even saw the movie for once?.
No,He's not a hero,Aurora is!.

[CJ]

Ariel'sprince, it’s one thing to politely disagree with someone, by providing a well thought ought reply. But it is aggravating when you just say “No you are wrong, I'm right” every other post without stating why you disagree or taking into consideration the other person’s statements. At this point, you are just repeating yourself over and over again without adding anything new to the discussion. Please make an effort to not do that.

Since I am already addressing you, I’d like to bring this part of the guidelines to your attention:

Make an Effort to Use Proper Grammar and Spelling
There's little that can undermine an argument as much as using terribly wrong spelling and grammar. We understand that English is not everyone's first language, but whether it is or isn't, please make a sincere effort to use proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Write coherent sentences, not fragments or run-ons. Don't go wild with exclamation points or question marks.

Here is a free site to check spelling:
http://www.spellcheck.net/

You can also download this add-on for Internet Explorer, but it is not explicitly endorsed:
http://www.iespell.com/

AP, I'm not trying to pick on you, but you’ve been here long enough now, to at least make an effort at proper spelling and grammar. Proper spelling would make it easier for the rest of us to understand the points you are trying to make (and who knows you might win someone over to your point of view). I truly believe using one of those spellcheckers would improve your posts.

Everyone, I split this thread off from the other thread, so we all could have a civil debate about Aurora. Everyone is entitled to state why they believe Aurora is not a heroine or why Aurora is a heroine. I ask that everyone (from this point on) to please be respectful to your fellow posters, even if you do not agree with them.

And to get back on topic, my opinion in this debate hasn't changed. I still say Flora, Fauna, and Merrieweather are the real heroines of Sleeping Beauty. I won't repeat my reasons why(as that is unnecessary), but if anyone is interested, you can read them on page 2 of this thread.

[Super Aurora]

No he's not the hero! Aurora is the hero! Maybe Phillip is also a hero but he's Aurora IS the HERO!.
Are you blind? he's got kidnapped and bound and gagged! Maleficent KIDNAPPED him!!!!!.
Aurora wasn't kidnapped! she followed the light and got TRICKED to touch it,unlike lad in distress,did you even saw the movie for once?.
No,He's not a hero,Aurora is!.

Aurora is NOT a Hero. PERIOD! END OF THE STORY!

Tell me one thing that Aurora did that was considered heroic. Cause Ariel's Prince, we are just running in circles here with your thick headed ideas.

[Disney Duster]

Magic Mirror, you have a point, it's hard to know if Aurora chose to give up her old life or not.

CJ, didn't you say that, too? no, you werr talking about Aurora not sacrificing anything because it all worked out for her. Well, she thought it was a sacrifice, doesn't that count? Then again we don't know what was in her head, would she have copped out eventually?

The thing is, she does willfully go, she sucks up her tears until she gets there and they don't drag her. But it could be because she feels it helpless to protest, I guess. But I don't think the fairies would make her do it either. When I was younger I assumed she had no choice, but as I'm older I'm trying to explore more (or look for things that aren't there. ).

A damsel in distress does not get kidnapped "every five seconds". Phillip was not even kidnapped, he was tricked into going there. Aurora was actually kidnapped and put to sleep. Phillip SAVED her by kissing her.

Can you please explain to me why you think Aurora got kidnapped? The fairies didn't kidnap her, and she was just a baby she couldn't do anything, and Maleficent never took her anywhere, in fact in a way Maleficent tricked her liek Phillip. Meanwhile, I feel that even though Phillip was tricked, it's still a kidnapping because he was taken against his will to some place he didn't want to be, bound an gagged and then chained, unable to do anything.

By the way, Phillip and the fairies killed Maleficent together, it still wasn't all him. "Now Sword of Truth fly swift and sure, that Evil die and Good endure!" The fairies' magic guided the sword. and either completely did the kill, or it was their magic and Phillip's throwing that worked together to do the defeat. I say it was more the fairies' more, with the sword trailing their dust as it flies straight into the heart like the spell specified. I think they just needed it to be thrown by a man who has True Love for Aurora.

TheSequelOfDisney, (yes, you did do a good job in your post) did you read my post full of definitions? I guess not. I'll repeat it:

hero - A person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life.

1. a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.

If Aurora chose to go with the fairies to the castle to be a princess and marry a prince, it was brave and courageous to go into a life she didn't know and marry someone she didn't know. Or at least, if she was afraid, unless you don't have to be afraid to be brave. Do you?

She also sacrificed her old love and her old simple royal responsability-free life to take on the throne and be where she didn't want to be with someone she didn't want to be with and do things she didn't want to do.

She was also noble for doing all this, though noble is a hard to define word.

Basically a hero does something for someone, and she was willing to reunite with her parents and marry a prince to unite two kingdoms for the kings and the queen and the fairies and I guess the two kingdoms.

But if she didn't choose it and thought she couldn't choose it...guess not.

Sorry Ariel'sprince, I wonder if maybe Aurora can't be called a hero. But Phillip was still a damsel in distress.

[SleepingBeautyAurora]

I think that whether Aurora is a heroine or not is only a matter of opinion, I don't think there is a right or wrong answer for this thread... anyone else agree with me ?

[Someday...]

I think "hero/heroine" is a bit ambiguous in sleeping beauty, where so many of the events seem to have been planned out in advance by fate.
And of course, you have to take into account that Aurora isn't in the majority of exciting sequences ( excluding the brilliant climb to the spinning wheel, wherein she is hipnotised),
She really had no place to be portrayed as a fighty heroine, and I'm glad of that. Aurora doesn't need to be Wonder Woman to gain our affection, her character is passive. Does that make her inferior to other princesses? I don't think so myself.
Of course, being the main character and possessing many good talents, and a sweet nature, she is definitly a dictionary defined heroine.
If you are looking for a strong good female character, look no further than the three fairies.
I wouldn't see Phillip as a "damsel in distress" because, well, he's a man.

[SleepingBeautyAurora]

In my opinion, she is both a Damsel in Distress and a Heroine.

[UmbrellaFish]

According to dictionary.com, Aurora is a heroine. She is the principal female character in this movie. But in the classical sense, you could say she's not. But I've always felt that Aurora went about leaving Phillip and the forest for the royal life to be quite nobel, and that's also a description of a heroine. Here's a quote from what reference.com says about a damsel in distress,

She is usually a young, nubile woman placed in a dire predicament by a villain or a monster and who requires a hero to dash to her rescue.

.

That also fits Aurora. So I think it's quite easy to say Aurora is both a heroine and a damsel in distress.

[bruno_wbt]

Aurora's been always an heroine, to me.

But Phillip was still a damsel in distress.

I agree!!!!!! (The fairies did everything and Phillip did nothing)

[CJ]

CJ, didn't you say that, too? no, you werr talking about Aurora not sacrificing anything because it all worked out for her. Well, she thought it was a sacrifice, doesn't that count? Then again we don't know what was in her head, would she have copped out eventually?

The thing is, she does willfully go, she sucks up her tears until she gets there and they don't drag her. But it could be because she feels it helpless to protest, I guess. But I don't think the fairies would make her do it either. When I was younger I assumed she had no choice, but as I'm older I'm trying to explore more (or look for things that aren't there. ).

Excellent points, Duster. We don't know what was going on in her head, therefore, we will never truly know if she made an internal sacrifice or not. Now, I will give her points for not having a nervous break down. Being informed on her 16th birthday that she is a princess in hiding, her three kind guardians are really fairies, she is going home to her parents, and that she betrothed, had to be overwhelming for the girl. The poor girl was probably in shock, which may explain why she left with the fairies without much protest.

Aurora may have intended to sacrifice her life of privilege later, but we don't know that for certain. I personally have always felt that Aurora never truly got to the point where she could denounce her arranged marriage, she never had a chance to. I feel she never protested with the fairies because she was overwhelmed, and they were not the ones who could release her from the arranged marriage, only her father could. Maybe she would have protested it when she met her father. But by the time she meets her father, Philip is with her. Obviously by that time, Philip and Aurora realize that they are in love and already betrothed to one another, so their is no need to bring any of that up with her father.

Now, I can see why some may feel Aurora is a heroine, some excellent points have been made. But for me, she never gets to the point where I would call her heroic. I also don't think she is a damsel in distress, I see nothing distressing about the sleep curse. She gets to sleep until her true love awakens her, nothing distressing about that. Philip on the other hand, was definitely in distress for a bit. I would called be chained in Maleficent's dungeon distressing.

[PeterPanfan]

Well, Aurora wasn't necisseraly kidnapped. But she should have had enough common sense to listen to the fairies and stay where she was. And to TOUCH a spindle which was obviously sharp??

[Sailor Eric]

After reading all the posts, I can agree that Aurora can be called a heroine, but she is also a damsel in distress. I love Aurora, but I can be honest and like her for being a damsel in distress.

But Aurora is NOT a heroine in the story of "Sleeping Beauty". It is true that she left her chance of love with the man she met in the forest to go back to the kingdom, and we can then call her a heroine. However, she is not the heroine of the story because the story doesn't revolve around or is about Aurora leaving the man she loves to go back to her family. "SLEEPING Beauty" is about a girl who is put on a spell, falls ASLEEP, and is rescued from the spell with true love's kiss; "SLEEPING Beauty" is NOT about a girl who gives up her life to go back to her family and her kingdom.

And because Phillip was the one who woke her from her SLEEP with TRUE LOVE'S KISS, and therefore rescued her from the spell, he can be called a hero, too, whether you think facing a sorceress and dragon is heroic or not.

[jeremy88]

Here is my extensive thought on Princess Aurora/Briar Rose...

Prince Phillip saved her so she's a damsel in distress...get over it!

just kidding...

I just think its sort of a bottomless debate on whether or not Miss Rose is a heroine or distressed damsel. Everyones going to have their own outlook on how her character is defined. yay.

[Ariel'sprince]

I also don't think she is a damsel in distress, I see nothing distressing about the sleep curse. She gets to sleep until her true love awakens her, nothing distressing about that. Philip on the other hand, was definitely in distress for a bit. I would called be chained in Maleficent's dungeon distressing.

Ha! see? she's no damsel.
And i think we allready squeezed enough from this subject.
Aurora is a hero becouse she decided to do her duty and she wasn't rescued from anything,there's nothing distressing about sleeping,while Phillip got kidnapped,also some you're forgeting that this movie was made in a time that girls in movies didn't did much and you can see how in the new marchandise she is the heroine,and Auroa could escape and ran away from them but she didn't,she decided to go to the castle,she is a hero.
And in anyway she"ll allways be a heroine in my opinion,she and all the Princesses.

[Chernabog_Rocks]

I think ultimately this matter is based on each persons definition of a "Hero"

In the dictionary in front of me Heroine is described as:

A woman with the attributes of a hero; the leading female character in a novel, film or play.

Hero is described as:

A person of exceptional bravery; a person admired for superior qualities and achievements; the central male character in a novel or play etc.

Now, Aurora being the lead female in Sleeping Beauty fits the latter half of Heroine for sure. She could also to some people like Ariel's Prince fit the middle part of the Hero definition. However, Aurora to me isn't a hero just because she went back to her parents and did her duty. To me that's honorable to sacrifice her true love (which is beside the point since in the end Phillip was the same person) in order to unite the kingdoms with her marriage to Phillip. However, she knew very little if nothing about this beforehand or going into it, it was a like a blind marriage she didn't know what her soon to be husband would be like or even look like until she met him.

Now moving on to Phillip and the faeries. Now, on the flip side of what Disney Duster said in his post, true Phillip wasn't the sole person to kill Maleficent, but it wasn't just the faeries work either. If your remember, throughout the movie at least twice the faeries have said that Maleficent was more powerful than they are, and that they couldn't be a match for her. However, Fauna also said Maleficent doesn't understand things like "Love or Kindness" which I think acted as a catalyst for them to help. There's no way they could have killed Maleficent on their own, or with all three of them combined, however with Phillip there and his love for Aurora it gave them the ability to help him do the deed itself. Also while I remember, they also said they couldn't use their magic for bad things, they could only use it to help people and in good ways (hence the name the Three GOOD Faeries) so I don't think they are actually capable of delivering a killing blow. I realize there is a contradiction to this statement a pink elephant to whoever points it out

Now moving on to the people you least expected. The King and Queen. They showed many qualities that people are attributing to Aurora. They sacrificed their daughter, and 16 years of life with her just to save her. I would call that heroic in a sense, not the "I slayed a dragon" or "I saved a village" heroic, but heroic nonetheless.

Personally I think for a few brief moments Aurora was a damsel in distress. Between the time Maleficent placed the curse, and Merryweather altered it I would say that was a damsel in distress worthy moment. So kudos to Merryweather for being the hero in that matter, if anything she would the hero, not the other two faeries as much since it was Merryweathers gift that allowed Aurora to keep living (albeit in a near endless slumber) instead of being dead after touching the spindel.

Now I believe that should cover everything I was wanting to say......pretty sure this is the longest post I've done in a while and I actually didn't intend for it to be this long

[PeterPanfan]

I also don't think she is a damsel in distress, I see nothing distressing about the sleep curse. She gets to sleep until her true love awakens her, nothing distressing about that. Philip on the other hand, was definitely in distress for a bit. I would called be chained in Maleficent's dungeon distressing.

Ha! see? she's no damsel.
And i think we allready squeezed enough from this subject.
Aurora is a hero becouse she decided to do her duty and she wasn't rescued from anything,there's nothing distressing about sleeping,while Phillip got kidnapped,also some you're forgeting that this movie was made in a time that girls in movies didn't did much and you can see how in the new marchandise she is the heroine,and Auroa could escape and ran away from them but she didn't,she decided to go to the castle,she is a hero.
And in anyway she"ll allways be a heroine in my opinion,she and all the Princesses.

Wow, Ariel'sprince, that was mature.

So you think because one person agrees with you we can stop discussing? That's not reallu up to you, if we want to keep discussing, we can.

Aurora is a damsel in distress. Like Chernabog brought up, she was for a short time bewteen the time Maleficent put the curse on her, to the time Merryweather altered it.

And all the princess are CERTAINTLY not heriones.