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Sooo...there's a rant I've been meaning to get off my chest, for about a year now.
I've been trying to avoid doing so for a while, but I finally saw something today that pushed me over the edge, and I wound up ragesketching Princess Aurora because damn it all, I needed to. Her eyes didn't quite turn out right, but I'll live.

Something you should all know...
Princess Aurora is my favorite Disney princess. She always has been, and probably always will be. Merida and Eilonwy tie for a close second, and I identify strongest with Belle, but I still love Aurora the most. And no, I'm not blonde-haired or blue-eyed; my icon/deviantID/stamps are of Mother Gothel, because I physically resemble her almost to a T.

Why is Aurora my favorite Disney princess?
Aurora is my favorite Disney princess partially because we know from the start that she's born into royalty. Many of the Disney princesses and "honorary princess" Disney women are not born princesses. For example Snow White, Rapunzel and Jasmine are a few who are born into royalty, but Cinderella isn't (she IS nobility, due to her father having been a noble, but she's not a princess,) and Belle, Mulan, Jane Porter, Alice, Wendy and several others aren't princesses either. Call it a stupid reason, but I still appreciate knowing that fact anyway.
Another reason she's my favorite princess is because she LOOKS like royalty. Perhaps it can just be due to the way she's drawn, but if you look at her face, you can already see the Queen she's going to become. She looks almost identical to her mother, who has a very elegant and regal face, and Aurora looks very much the same. She radiates regality.
Another reason could be the fact that that I also love Prince Phillip, who is perhaps the best Disney Prince in my opinion, and I love Maleficent. So there you go, she also has my favorite Prince in her movie, as well as one of my favorite Big Bad Disney villains.
Another reason is just because "Sleeping Beauty" has always been a fairy tale that's close to my heart since childhood.
Furthermore, consider this...Aurora radiates regality and authority. Look at her, really look at her, particularly in movie stills where she's not smiling. THAT is the face of a queen, and a queen who, if she had been raised under other circumstances, could have become a particularly intimidating queen, not too unlike Merida's mother, Queen Eleanor. BUT, she was raised as a peasant girl for the first sixteen years of her life, by her fairy godmothers. She'll not just be a great queen, but a compassionate one, because she was raised as one of the people she rules over. She'll know them in a different way than the other members of the royal family, and she'll be able to recognize and connect with them on a level that will give her empathy for her people, because of that.

So what is there to rage over?
Over the years, Aurora has gotten a boatload of crap from Disney fans, particularly the fans of my generation and those that have come after me, for being the "most boring Disney princess" and "needing a man to save her" and for being a blue-eyed blonde. UM. EXCUSE YOU.
Aurora is considered "boring" because she's in an enchanted sleep for a good chunk of her movie. Well DUH. The movie is based off the fairy tale of SLEEPING BEAUTY. What, you think she's going to to just not be put into an enchanted sleep because you don't want her to be, because it's not interesting? Well then, it wouldn't be "Sleeping Beauty," would it? And just because she was asleep for like, half her movie, doesn't mean that she's boring. She could have had all sorts of adventures growing up as Briar Rose, and I can only imagine that she would make a wonderful queen after she and Phillip are married. And why are we giving the girl crap because Phillip had to prove his love and save her? Is it just because since the Disney renaissance, more and more Disney females have proven themselves more than capable of self-defense? Snow White needed to be saved by her prince's kiss. Belle needed to be saved by the Beast at least once. Cinderella's engagement to her prince saved her from her abusive home life. Meg had to be saved by Hercules more than once. Esmeralda can kick some serious ass, but she still needed to be saved from a fiery death in the end. Heck, "The Little Mermaid" was the film that started Disney's renaissance, and ARIEL needed to be saved by Prince Eric because she was pretty much helpless. So WHY are you all picking on AURORA for being saved by Phillip? She was in an enchanted sleep that would ONLY be broken by true love's kiss, so she needed help anyway, it's not like she could save herself. And WHY the hell are we bitching about her having blonde hair and blue eyes? You know the response I hear most people give to defend that? "Disney has too many blue-eyed blonde princesses." NO, THEY DON'T. Apart from Aurora, the only other blue-eyed blonde is Cinderella (unless you want to count Alice, who is never a princess in any way, and Eilonwy, who technically has violet, almost purple eyes.) And don't even try to throw Rapunzel in there; if you pay attention, Punz has green eyes.
[EDIT] Actually, as the-dragon-childe has just informed me, she looked it up, and Aurora doesn't even have blue eyes in the movie! She has BROWN eyes! It is only in the merchandising that she is given blue-violet eyes, for some reason. THANK YOU, TDC!! [/EDIT]

So why am I just now posting this rant?
I was reading a post on a friend's blog, concerning the treatment of the Disney face characters in the Disney parks, now that Anna and Elsa are among the face characters that fans can meet and greet. Now understand this: I do NOT hate "Frozen." It was okay, in my opinion. And I have several friends who both LOVED the movie, and several more who HATE it, and I don't wish to offend either group.
But the post was showing that a lot of the other face claim characters are being passed over for Anna and Elsa. That doesn't surprise me too much, given the hype surrounding "Frozen" right now. But what broke my heart is that the picture used for the pose showed the girl who plays Princess Aurora for the kids at the park was just sort of standing off to the side and watching with her head hung low as all of these people were passing her by, just lined up for Anna and Elsa. What made that worse... is the fact that several people afterward who finally turned around to get her autograph then had the idiotic gall to ask which princess she was supposed to be. Seeing that made me want to just cry in rage. I never got to meet Aurora last year. I went to DisneyWorld for the first time in my life last year, and I had really wanted to meet Aurora. Unfortunately, we hadn't been able to stay in Fantasyland for more than a couple of hours, because I nearly passed out from heat exhaustion. So I never got to see Aurora, and though I got over it, I wish now more than ever that we could have stayed, so I could have told the girl for the face character that Aurora was my favorite Disney princess. God knows, these poor girls who are picked to play the face character princesses have enough crap as it is to deal with. They have to have the exact right shade of hair, of eyes, and they're not allowed to gain too much weight, and several other ridiculous stipulations because heaven forbid a detail should be just slightly off and the kids cry that the girl isn't the real princess. And NOW they have to put up with this bullcrap too.
I suppose really I shouldn't hate so much on people, but that level of insensitivity and inconsideration just enrages me.

Comments are disabled on this piece because I'm getting my opinion out for once, and I don't want to hear any more bitching against Aurora. LEAVE THE GIRL ALONE, ALREADY. SHE'S AN AWESOME PRINCESS, TOO!

Character used and all related titles and elements are © to Disney

IF YOU STEAL MY ART, YOU CAN CONSIDER YOURSELF HUNTED DOWN AND REPORTED.

Description
Sooo...there's a rant I've been meaning to get off my chest, for about a year now.
I've been trying to avoid doing so for a while, but I finally saw something today that pushed me over the edge, and I wound up ragesketching Princess Aurora because damn it all, I needed to. Her eyes didn't quite turn out right, but I'll live.

Something you should all know...
Princess Aurora is my favorite Disney princess. She always has been, and probably always will be. Merida and Eilonwy tie for a close second, and I identify strongest with Belle, but I still love Aurora the most. And no, I'm not blonde-haired or blue-eyed; my icon/deviantID/stamps are of Mother Gothel, because I physically resemble her almost to a T.

Why is Aurora my favorite Disney princess?
Aurora is my favorite Disney princess partially because we know from the start that she's born into royalty. Many of the Disney princesses and "honorary princess" Disney women are not born princesses. For example Snow White, Rapunzel and Jasmine are a few who are born into royalty, but Cinderella isn't (she IS nobility, due to her father having been a noble, but she's not a princess,) and Belle, Mulan, Jane Porter, Alice, Wendy and several others aren't princesses either. Call it a stupid reason, but I still appreciate knowing that fact anyway.
Another reason she's my favorite princess is because she LOOKS like royalty. Perhaps it can just be due to the way she's drawn, but if you look at her face, you can already see the Queen she's going to become. She looks almost identical to her mother, who has a very elegant and regal face, and Aurora looks very much the same. She radiates regality.
Another reason could be the fact that that I also love Prince Phillip, who is perhaps the best Disney Prince in my opinion, and I love Maleficent. So there you go, she also has my favorite Prince in her movie, as well as one of my favorite Big Bad Disney villains.
Another reason is just because "Sleeping Beauty" has always been a fairy tale that's close to my heart since childhood.
Furthermore, consider this...Aurora radiates regality and authority. Look at her, really look at her, particularly in movie stills where she's not smiling. THAT is the face of a queen, and a queen who, if she had been raised under other circumstances, could have become a particularly intimidating queen, not too unlike Merida's mother, Queen Eleanor. BUT, she was raised as a peasant girl for the first sixteen years of her life, by her fairy godmothers. She'll not just be a great queen, but a compassionate one, because she was raised as one of the people she rules over. She'll know them in a different way than the other members of the royal family, and she'll be able to recognize and connect with them on a level that will give her empathy for her people, because of that.

So what is there to rage over?
Over the years, Aurora has gotten a boatload of crap from Disney fans, particularly the fans of my generation and those that have come after me, for being the "most boring Disney princess" and "needing a man to save her" and for being a blue-eyed blonde. UM. EXCUSE YOU.
Aurora is considered "boring" because she's in an enchanted sleep for a good chunk of her movie. Well DUH. The movie is based off the fairy tale of SLEEPING BEAUTY. What, you think she's going to to just not be put into an enchanted sleep because you don't want her to be, because it's not interesting? Well then, it wouldn't be "Sleeping Beauty," would it? And just because she was asleep for like, half her movie, doesn't mean that she's boring. She could have had all sorts of adventures growing up as Briar Rose, and I can only imagine that she would make a wonderful queen after she and Phillip are married. And why are we giving the girl crap because Phillip had to prove his love and save her? Is it just because since the Disney renaissance, more and more Disney females have proven themselves more than capable of self-defense? Snow White needed to be saved by her prince's kiss. Belle needed to be saved by the Beast at least once. Cinderella's engagement to her prince saved her from her abusive home life. Meg had to be saved by Hercules more than once. Esmeralda can kick some serious ass, but she still needed to be saved from a fiery death in the end. Heck, "The Little Mermaid" was the film that started Disney's renaissance, and ARIEL needed to be saved by Prince Eric because she was pretty much helpless. So WHY are you all picking on AURORA for being saved by Phillip? She was in an enchanted sleep that would ONLY be broken by true love's kiss, so she needed help anyway, it's not like she could save herself. And WHY the hell are we bitching about her having blonde hair and blue eyes? You know the response I hear most people give to defend that? "Disney has too many blue-eyed blonde princesses." NO, THEY DON'T. Apart from Aurora, the only other blue-eyed blonde is Cinderella (unless you want to count Alice, who is never a princess in any way, and Eilonwy, who technically has violet, almost purple eyes.) And don't even try to throw Rapunzel in there; if you pay attention, Punz has green eyes.
[EDIT] Actually, as the-dragon-childe has just informed me, she looked it up, and Aurora doesn't even have blue eyes in the movie! She has BROWN eyes! It is only in the merchandising that she is given blue-violet eyes, for some reason. THANK YOU, TDC!! [/EDIT]

So why am I just now posting this rant?
I was reading a post on a friend's blog, concerning the treatment of the Disney face characters in the Disney parks, now that Anna and Elsa are among the face characters that fans can meet and greet. Now understand this: I do NOT hate "Frozen." It was okay, in my opinion. And I have several friends who both LOVED the movie, and several more who HATE it, and I don't wish to offend either group.
But the post was showing that a lot of the other face claim characters are being passed over for Anna and Elsa. That doesn't surprise me too much, given the hype surrounding "Frozen" right now. But what broke my heart is that the picture used for the pose showed the girl who plays Princess Aurora for the kids at the park was just sort of standing off to the side and watching with her head hung low as all of these people were passing her by, just lined up for Anna and Elsa. What made that worse... is the fact that several people afterward who finally turned around to get her autograph then had the idiotic gall to ask which princess she was supposed to be. Seeing that made me want to just cry in rage. I never got to meet Aurora last year. I went to DisneyWorld for the first time in my life last year, and I had really wanted to meet Aurora. Unfortunately, we hadn't been able to stay in Fantasyland for more than a couple of hours, because I nearly passed out from heat exhaustion. So I never got to see Aurora, and though I got over it, I wish now more than ever that we could have stayed, so I could have told the girl for the face character that Aurora was my favorite Disney princess. God knows, these poor girls who are picked to play the face character princesses have enough crap as it is to deal with. They have to have the exact right shade of hair, of eyes, and they're not allowed to gain too much weight, and several other ridiculous stipulations because heaven forbid a detail should be just slightly off and the kids cry that the girl isn't the real princess. And NOW they have to put up with this bullcrap too.
I suppose really I shouldn't hate so much on people, but that level of insensitivity and inconsideration just enrages me.

Comments are disabled on this piece because I'm getting my opinion out for once, and I don't want to hear any more bitching against Aurora. LEAVE THE GIRL ALONE, ALREADY. SHE'S AN AWESOME PRINCESS, TOO!

Character used and all related titles and elements are © to Disney

IF YOU STEAL MY ART, YOU CAN CONSIDER YOURSELF HUNTED DOWN AND REPORTED.