9 Disturbing Origin Stories Behind Famous Disney Characters
6. Sleeping Beauty Is Raped, Obviously
You know how, when you watch Sleeping Beauty as an adult, you can't help but get a little bit of a rape-y vibe from the whole thing? I mean, even before the live-action Maleficent version of the story (which really ups the ante on that matter), there's a strong sense that Sleeping Beauty is the victim of a very specific type of sexual deviance. But of course, because it's still a children's story at its heart, this is all implied. Giambattista Basile, the author of The Sun, Moon, and Talia (which was later retold by Charles Perrault as Sleeping Beauty), would rather you not have to infer this sexual assault, though. On the contrary, Basile states, coldly and matter of factly that, after a king happens upon the body of this "sleeping beauty" (Talia) thanks to a good ol' fashioned home invasion, he simply has his way with her unconscious body and then goes back to his kingdom, literally not giving it a second thought. In 1634, this was just a thing that happened, apparently. Because that's all glossed over in favor of an even more horrifying turn of events. Talia awakens nine months later to find that she has given birth to twins when one of the babies removes the piece of "poisoned" flax from her fingernail that had put her into a coma. The king eventually returns, having remembered where he got that piece of free, disturbingly limp booty from, only to see that "OH SNAP, I'M A BABY DADDY!" No worries though, because even though the king is obviously married, he can still totally visit his illegitimate children whenever he wants because the apparently stupid queen will never find out. Except that she does. And when she does, she orders the children to be cooked and served to the king in a goddamn stew. Thankfully, the cook (and the author) shows a tiny glimmer of humanity, and swaps the children out with a couple of lambs at the last second. The queen doesn't know that, though, and taunts the king while he eats what she thinks are real f*cking children! Then, after a failed attempt to burn Talia at the stake, the queen is sentenced to an execution by the king. And the king and his sleeping beauty...live happily ever after?
