Disney Sleeping Beauty Background People Midieval Europe Fashion

We didn't know we'd grow up to be medievalists and curators of manuscripts when nosotros saw our get-go Disney films, merely their portrayal of castles, cathedrals, and chivalric ideals―all stereotypical elements of the Heart Ages―were spellbinding.

In the opening credits of Snowfall White and the Seven Dwarfs and Sleeping Beauty, nosotros saw our starting time illuminated manuscripts (admitting imaginary and blithe). These introductions included jeweled covers chosen treasure bindings, ornate calligraphy, and vibrant miniatures with lavish borders.

We recently went deep into Disney+ to revisit some childhood favorites, every bit well as a few others to figure out which movies are the nigh "medieval."

Beginning in the 1920s with Empty-headed Symphony and Mickey Mouse shorts, Disney has been deeply interested in exploring the European Middle Ages in all its permutations. Disney's Middle Ages takes on tales and events set roughly between 500-1500, and remixes them for today's audiences.

Disney'southward Middle Ages is also securely tied to the tradition of 19th-century fairy tales, most notably those of the Brothers Grimm (first published in 1812). These "Once upon a time" stories adopt "medieval" European characters, creatures, and the overall aesthetic: princesses wearing flowing gowns, knights in shining armor, castles that dominate idyllic landscapes, dragons and fairies, witches and wizards, forbidden forests, and all the rest. If you happened to grab Onward earlier this year, you'll discover the classic Disney combination of magic and fantasy with a impact of historical accuracy.

Nevertheless, every bit curators, nosotros work to nuance and deepen audiences' understanding and appreciation of the latitude of medieval fine art in a global context. While Disney'southward vision of the Heart Ages spans continents and features compelling characters including Mulan, Merida, Moana, and Jasmine, the company has rightly been called out for cultural stereotyping.

As nosotros plunged through Disney+, we wanted to wait at a option of films that present a global Middle Ages, a chronologically flexible menstruum from 500–1500 that encompasses sites and stories from England to China and from an anachronistic "Arabia" to the temporally ambiguous earth of the Pacific islands.

The 10 Almost Medieval Disney Blithe Films

We followed some rules. Nosotros only looked at animated films (no sequels) and based our ranking on five categories:

1. Historical references
2. Evidence of source material for the plot and cues in the dialogue
3. Art, compages, and music from the period
4. Authentic costumes
5. Mythical or fantasy elements, supernatural beings, and magic seen in medieval stories and mythology

x. Snowfall White (1937)

A surprisingly nighttime (coincidental assassination attempt, anyone?) film that's pretty true to the Brothers Grimm original, with misogyny directly out of 1937.

Plot: The story begins with the turning of book pages that look a piffling medieval, just the rest is pure Grimm.

History: No medieval history here! The story is based on the 19th-century version by the Brothers Grimm.

Aesthetic: Beyond the queen'south Gothic castle, the denizens of the magical forest don't seem too interested in the arts.

Costumes: The visage of the queen is based on a existent medieval person: Uta von Ballenstedt (about 1000-1046), whose likeness can be seen in a 13th-century sculpture in Nuremberg Cathedral (shown to a higher place).

Fantasy: The evil queen is of course a witch, and she has "medieval" tomes in her library such as Disguises (convenient!) written in a way that evokes Gothic manuscripts. We can't say there were many poisoned apples and princesses in glass coffins hanging around waiting for princes during the Middle Ages, though.

Overall ranking: 🏰

9. Black Cauldron (1985)

Every character is somehow the worst character in this extremely bizarre effort at medieval worlding.

Plot: A young boy who dreams of condign a knight must hide an oracular pig… This visionary swine holds the hole-and-corner to the location of a magic cooking pot that could unleash a terrible evil upon the legendary earth of Prydain. The Fair Folk protect the piglet from the devilish Horned King. The movie is an adaptation of The Chronicles of Prydain, a series written in the 1960s by Lloyd Alexander, based on Welsh mythology.

History: Nope, cipher. Not really. Nosotros kept thinking well-nigh J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, especially the far more than entertaining 1977 and 1978 blithe versions of those epic adventures. The animal Gurgi sounds like Gollum, only wait, we're in the history section. We've got goose egg.

Aesthetic: Swords and shields, balladeers and witches, princesses, and demons just don't cutting it as authentically medieval in this motion-picture show. The interlaced lettering of the title and similar designs in the opening and end credits feel the virtually similar medieval calligraphy, as in the Volume of Kells.

Costumes: Maybe some reference to the armor of early on Greenlanders, Icelanders, or those on the British Isles?

Fantasy: Dragons, fairies, an army of the dead, goblins, a spooky Forbidden Forest, a wild human-animal, and a sword that turns out to be magical (plainly)… The story has plenty of medieval fantasy elements, merely their combination is only so weird.

Overall ranking: 🏰½

8. Aladdin (1992)

Oil Lamp, early 13th century, Farsi. Bronze, 5 vii/viii in. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, M.81.256.14. Gift of Michael and Linda Keston

Prepare anywhere from the quaternary to the 18th century, Disney'southward culturally problematic retelling of a tale nearly a guy who gets the girl thank you to magical intervention.

Plot: Based on a story called Aladdin and the Magic Lamp, added in the 18th century to the collection of Arabic folktales known equally the One Thousand and 1 Nights (dating every bit early as the ninth century).

History: When does Aladdin actually take identify? One clue might come from the Genie, who remarks that Aladdin's "fez and vest combo" is "much too 3rd century." More fairytale than history, this film combines elements from a huge diversity of geographies and time periods from Muslim Spain to Arabia to the wider Eye Due east to India, problematically lumping them all into the same category.

Aesthetic: While the palace gardens are reminiscent of the Alhambra Palace (located in Granada, Espana), the sultan's giant elephant-caput-shaped throne and the Taj-Mahal-esque domes of the palace exterior all evoke the art of India. The magic lamp itself bears a passing resemblance to oil lamps fabricated in Primal Asia.

Costumes: Maybe that fez and vest combo is much likewise 3rd century? Plenty of turbans, dhoti, and shalwar, and exposed pare, simply Princess Jasmine's outfit is more I Dream of Jeannie than anything else.

Fantasy: Sure, there are the usual creature sidekicks, a flying carpeting, and Genie's magical powers, only many of the smaller details―the harem women, sword swallower, fire walker, snake charmer, scimitars, the costuming and accents, and the bazaar, all set in the fictional Agrabah, conjure a "city of mystery" that is really an Orientalist fantasy.

Overall ranking: 🏰🏰

7. The Emperor's New Groove (2000)

The Adoration of Manco Capac, completed in 1616, mail-conquest Peruvian. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Ms. Ludwig 13 sixteen (83.MP.159), fol. 19. Digital image courtesy of Getty'south Open up Content Program

The Inca sovereign, but brand him a llama. Hear us out on this one…

Plot: "Long ago, somewhere deep in the jungle…" a self-centered emperor rules a mountainous kingdom but is transformed into a llama by a sorceress-vizier. This story is almost him, Kuzco. Although the flick is arguably meant to evoke the Inca Empire, the plot doesn't connect strongly to history.

History: The Inca ruled the Andean world, which included parts of Peru, Bolivia, Republic of ecuador, and Republic of chile, from about the 1100s until the Spanish conquest of 1572. Machu Pichu is their most famous architectural accomplishment. Equally a llama, the film'due south protagonist embodies the most important animate being to the Inca. The original concept for a film chosen Kingdom of the Sun was patently going to middle on a grapheme called Manco―named after the bequeathed founder of the Inca Empire―and would address Andean cosmos myths. That story would have been style more period-appropriate.

Artful: Virtually every one of the architectural spaces in the palace evokes the art of the Inca and neighboring communities. Consider this gold with silver inlay mask. The checkered floor is reminiscent of a plume tunic that featured in the Getty exhibition Gold Kingdoms: Luxury and Legacy in the Ancient Americas. Even the hokey restaurant and domestic scenes include drinking vessels that seem inspired by Chimú and Moche ceramics. Simply the music doesn't tick any boxes for u.s.a.. In fact, the line "an enigma and a mystery, in Mesoamerican history…" from the song "Perfect World" nearly made u.s.a. stop the film entirely because the Andes are in South America. But it'southward Disney and this story is pure fiction.

Costumes: The animators emphasized patterned tunics (woven or incorporating feathers), too as jewelry made of golden, jade, and turquoise. For a more than in-depth look at Inca manner, the Getty has an early illustrated history of the Inca that provides biographies of each of the emperors, complete with portraits.

Fantasy: Nosotros're willing to think about the potions for shapeshifting in relation to South American myths, although these more often involve jaguar-human transformations.

Overall ranking: 🏰🏰½

6b. Moana (2016)

Cervix ornament (Heitiki), New Zealand. Nephrite, 6 one/viii in. The Metropolitan Museum of Fine art, New York, Gift of Heber R. Bishop, 1902 (02.18.315)

The line where the heaven meets the bounding main calls a courageous medieval voyager across the Pacific Bounding main.

Plot: The story centers on a young leader'due south quest to observe a new isle to inhabit due to climate and ecological changes threatening her home.

History: An archaeological look at the picture show suggests a date range of between thousand-1500, the period when Pacific voyagers began actively sailing to Central and Eastern Polynesia after the so-called "Long Intermission" consisting of centuries of traveling within the major Western island network (closest to Commonwealth of australia and New Republic of guinea). The give-and-take "Moana" means "ocean" and the isle that she seeks, Te Fiti, could be based on the Polynesian give-and-take "Tafiti," meaning a faraway place.

Aesthetic: The motion picture includes stunning visualizations of Polynesian art, architecture, and culture: Maori amulets, tattooing, and rock/wood carving among them. However, the film presents a vision rife with cultural appropriation and cinematic colonization (read Smithsonian geographer Doug Herman's review for more).

Costumes: As with the aesthetic, some aspects of the costuming pass equally Polynesian (primarily the patterns and materials).

Fantasy: The demigod Maui exists every bit a heroic figure beyond Polynesia, often accompanied by his companion, the goddess Hina (left out of the Disney version).

Overall ranking: 🏰🏰🏰

Annotation: As a protagonist, Moana ranks with Mulan as our favorite Disney medieval heroines―they are vivid strategists, compelling leaders, and they resist harmful histories of heterosexism.

6a. Mulan (1998)

Mulan from Gathering Gems of Dazzler, Qing Dynasty, identified as He Dazi. Album leaf, ink and colors on silk. National Palace Museum, Taipei

Secretly taking her father's identify in the Chinese royal regular army, Mulan is Disney'due south most formidable medieval heroine.

Plot: The story of Hua Mulan, who disguises herself every bit a soldier in her father's stead, can be read in the 31-couplet Ballad of Mulan. Given the brevity of the text, Disney took liberties to expand the content, frequently veering into cultural parody.

History: The tale dates to the 5th/6th century during the Northern Wei catamenia of Chinese history.

Artful: The Bully Wall of Prc, seen in the movie, was built over centuries beginning as early equally the 7th century BCE―then its inclusion is historically advisable. In the movie, nosotros run across jade mirrors, carved limestone ancestral tombstones (the tombstones also include names of the moving-picture show'due south animators in Chinese), sculptures of the twelve Chinese zodiac animals, and individuals playing the war strategy game xiàngqí.

Costumes: Mulan's gown appears similar to the one in the painting above, and the inclusion of jade jewelry is also period-appropriate.

Fantasy: Cringey. Some of the ancestors and guardian figures are cast equally Grant Woods's American Gothic and another has an abacus, decisions that reveal cultural insensitivity and the pan-Asian problem with this picture show.

Overall ranking: 🏰🏰🏰

5. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)

Gargoyle, Notre-Dame, near 1870, French. Albumen argent print, 8 3/four × five 7/8 in. The J. Paul Getty Museum, 84.XP.492.12. Digital paradigm courtesy of Getty's Open up Content Program

Paris, Notre-Dame, 1880s, Léopold Louis Mercier. Albumen silverish print, ten three/8 × eight 1/8 in. The J. Paul Getty Museum, 84.XP.492.14. Digital image courtesy of Getty's Open Content Program

Paris, Notre-Matriarch, 1880s, Léopold Louis Mercier. Albumen silver print, 10 3/viii × 8 one/8 in. The J. Paul Getty Museum, 84.XP.492.15. Digital image courtesy of Getty's Open Content Program

Inspired by a 19th-century vision of medieval Paris, but with enough of visual texture that evokes places and art of the city of lights, this story is about truthful medieval outcasts.

Plot: Events taking place around the church of Notre-Dame de Paris are filtered through the lens of Victor Hugo'due south 1831 novel, on which the story is based. Overall the film is pretty true to Hugo's night neomedieval tale of murder, social outcasts, sin, and damnation, merely with fewer dead protagonists past the finish and a gentler Quasimodo (meaning "one-half-formed," aka Hunchback).

History: Fix in late 15th-century Paris, there are plenty of medieval places, attitudes, and hierarchy. The Banquet of Fools (Jan 6), around which the tale turns, was observed in France by clergy and laypeople alike before the 16th century.

Aesthetic: The truthful star of this motion picture is the cathedral of Notre-Dame itself―we get animated gargoyles, outside sculptures, stained glass rose windows, the famous interior Virgin and Child, and sculpture fragments in the belltower. For eagle-eyed viewers, there's a cursory view of the medieval Palace of Justice and the Sainte Chapelle, Rex Louis Nine's Gothic masterpiece.

The music here uses plenty of Latin prayers recited in medieval Masses―Frollo's "Hellfire" vocal (in which he confesses to desiring the cute Esmerelda) contains several: "Confiteor Deo Omnipotenti (I confess to God almighty) // Beatae Mariae semper Virgini (To blessed Mary always Virgin)."

Costumes: At the festival, the crowd is dressed in generic tunics, evoking the stereotypical idea of the medieval lower classes, merely let's just say that Esmerelda'due south outfits, in particular, wouldn't have passed medieval muster.

Fantasy: Gargoyles and goat sidekicks aside, this movie remains pretty firmly planted in reality. The ideas of divine retribution and faith were central to the lives of medieval Christians.

Overall ranking: 🏰🏰🏰½

iv. Dauntless (2012)

A skilled archer and rider must mend her bail with her female parent, who has been transformed into a bear and risks remaining that fashion forever.

Plot: Merida does not desire to be forced into wedlock, especially to the dolts from the neighboring clans, and she is fed upwardly with the princess-prep regimen from her female parent, Queen Elinor. A woodland witch gives Merida a curse that transforms the queen into a bear. Major problem? Her father (Male monarch Fergus) has been feuding with a seemingly wild carry for years and thus goes on a chase subsequently… his wife.

History: Online sources tell usa the film is fix in 10th-century Scotland, which seems about right from some of the aesthetics. Just the story is an original work by Brenda Chapman, who is ane of the best storytellers and world-makers on our list. Her inspirations come from the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen.

Aesthetic: Runic inscriptions, petroglyphs, and a stonehenge connect this fantasy medieval world with art and architecture that one can still explore today in Scotland, England, and elsewhere. The film also features a chess set, reminiscent of the famous chessmen from the Island of Lewis, Scotland (from around 1150 to 1200). The wood carving evocation of Michelangelo'southward Creation of Adam is, alas, not medieval (just it was made past a witch, and so…).

Costumes: We dear the outfits and the jewelry, which draws from the visual aesthetic that adult from merchandise and travel between Celtic and Scandinavian cultures.

Fantasy: The Will O' the Wisps, the witch, and curses that transform people into bears are pretty incredible imaginings for the medieval past.

Overall ranking: 🏰🏰🏰🏰

three. Sleeping Beauty (1959)

Saint George and the Dragon (detail), about 1450–1455, Master of Guillebert de Mets. Tempera colors, aureate leaf, and ink on parchment, vii 5/8 × five 1/ii in. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Ms. 2, fol. 18v. Digital image courtesy of Getty'south Open Content Programme

Sure, information technology'due south a fairytale, just it feels pretty medieval to united states.

Plot: Sleeping Beauty is based on a tale that finds its early origins in a 14th-century romance text, filtered through the 17th-century French author Charles Perrault and, of course, the Brothers Grimm.

History: OK, we'll acknowledge that Sleeping Beauty doesn't accept much to practice with whatsoever real medieval history, but it is one of the most detailed and adult visual impressions of the European Gothic that Disney produced. Elements of arranged wedlock equally diplomacy, the royal hierarchy, courtly procession and ceremony, and Maleficent's goons engaging in castle warfare to stop Prince Philip'south escape certainly have parallels in medieval history. After all, as Philip reminds united states of america, "Now begetter, you're living in the past. This is the 14th century!"

Aesthetic: At that place's at least one inclusion of existent medieval art: the famous Unicorn Tapestries (which appear behind the lectern in the end credits). There are lots of imaginary Gothic creations that are based on medieval creative traditions: the treasure bounden of the storybook that contains the tale (and inside, its illuminated pages with elaborately decorated borders), the heraldry decorating the royal reception room, the lute played by the court minstrel, and the gargoyles of Maleficent'south ruined Gothic castle. Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty is role of the musical score, which we honey despite not being medieval.

Costumes: Aurora'due south hourglass, off-the-shoulder number is directly out of the 1950s, withal elements of Philip'south armor and weaponry seem more medieval.

Fantasy: Maleficent's dragon form is a classic that's true to the western medieval perception of dragons equally symbols of the devil (subsequently all, she calls on "all the powers of Hell" before transforming). We can't really speak to the cursed spindle, fairies, or enchanted sleep, though.

Overall ranking: 🏰🏰🏰🏰½

2. The Sword in the Rock (1963)

King Mark Taking an Oath before King Arthur (detail), nearly 1320–1340, French. Tempera colors, gold paint, and silverish and gold foliage on parchment, 15 1/two × 11 3/4 in. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Ms. Ludwig XV five (83.MR.175), fol. 366. Digital epitome courtesy of Getty'due south Open Content Program

Before becoming Rex Arthur, he was just a boy called Wart who learned everything about the world from the magician Merlin and the owl Archimedes.

Plot: In this telling, the centuries-old tale of King Arthur is a coming-of-historic period story concerned with the theme of progress (knowledge, engineering science, geography, etc).

History: The legendary British ruler is said to have lived between the 5th and 6th centuries. In the film, Merlin references the London Times (founded 1785), proverb it "won't be out for another twelve-hundred years." Doing the math sets the film around 585, so that sorta adds upward. But the artful evokes the High Eye Ages (about 1000–1300).

Aesthetic: Disney'south story of the legendary sword in the stone begins with a carol: "This was a Nighttime Age, without law and without gild. Men lived in fright of one another, for the stiff preyed upon the weak." Ugh. At that place never was a "Night Age" but rather an Illuminated Age of remarkable manuscript production. And Merlin wants viewers to know that the picture is set during the Middle Ages, with phrases that include "one big medieval mess," "a medieval muddle," and charming Latin-esque spells such as "Aquarius, aquaticus, aqualitus!" Notwithstanding this insistence of periodization, the turreted castle together with a robust culture of book production, a fully-formed organization of chivalry, and many of the magico-religious elements date to much later on in history. The blending of legend, history, and myth was a primal chemical element of medieval storytelling, as glimpsed through the pages of illuminated manuscripts. In the image above, the illuminator outfitted the 5th/6th-century Arthur in 14th-century kingly attire.

Costumes: At that place's not much hither. The tunics and armor in the film are not early medieval period specific.

Fantasy: Merlin and the various forms of magic or fantasy (alchemical recipes, herbal remedies, and the animals of the bestiary) are definitely medieval.

Overall ranking: 🏰🏰🏰🏰one/2

1. Robin Hood (1973)

Missal (item), before 1381, German. Pierpont Morgan Library, Dept. of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts, MS G.892.iii fol. 001r

Medieval history, both real and legendary, all set to some catchy tunes—what more than could you inquire for?

Plot: Robin Hood is one of the nearly enduring and famous figures from medieval English folklore. He has origins in many unlike medieval texts, with the earliest references coming from the late-14th-century verse form Piers Plowman. Narratives detailing his prowess as an archer, his rivalry with the Sheriff of Nottingham, and his friendship with the steadfast Little John be from the 15th and 16th centuries. The Robin Hood legend grew and changed from there, gaining Friar Tuck, Maid Marian, and the connection to King Richard.

History: While the existence of Robin Hood is debatable, the history of the rivalry between Prince John and his brother King Richard of England is correct out of the 12th century. While Richard, known as "the Lionheart," was on the 3rd Crusade (1189-1192), he left command of England in the hands of several trusted advisors, though they proved unpopular. John positioned himself as an alternative male monarch, of sorts. In Richard's absence, John built his ain courtroom and government (yous'll recall the Phony King of England song from the film: "While bonny good Rex Richard leads the great crusade he's on//Nosotros'll all have to slave away//For that practiced-for-nothin' John"). Their mother, the formidable Eleanor of Aquitaine, advocated on John's behalf when relations between the 2 brothers broke down. Neither of the brothers had a snake every bit an advisor, as far every bit nosotros know, though Hiss's ability to hypnotize may be a subtle reference to the idea of weak leaders being overly controlled past their councilors.

Aesthetic: The story begins with an opening book with sure medieval qualities: Alan-a-dale, the rooster troubadour, is certainly evocative of the bard of the Middle Ages (he's even named afterward the minstrel of Robin'south band of outlaws, the Merry Men, in the medieval sources), in that location are stone castle and church interiors, and of grade, there's archery.

Costumes: There isn't much in this category, merely we'll bespeak out Prince John'due south elaborate processional carriage, Maid Marian'southward veil, and King Richard's Crusader'south uniform with the red cantankerous as gestures toward the medieval.

Fantasy: The characteristics of the film'due south talking animals represent closely with the fauna descriptions in a popular medieval text known every bit the bestiary. Noble lions, tricky foxes, sneaky snakes, and dishonest wolves all appear in both the movie and the medieval source. A fox seems like a natural selection for the character of Robin, since medieval legends of Reynard, a famously cunning fox, were some of the most widely-read in the European Middle Ages.

Overall ranking: 🏰🏰🏰🏰🏰

Honorable Mentions

Don't encounter your favorite Disney picture show on the listing? Probably because it's not at all medieval, but nosotros do take some others in the "honorable mentions" category. There has been a lot of online conversation about whether or not The Lion King (1994) is based on the 14th-century Epic of Sundiata Keita of Mali or on the 16th-century writings of William Shakespeare (specifically Hamlet). We would prefer the African source material for the African story, connections made clearer in the CGI version of 2019 (the soundtrack references Mansa Musa, Sundiata's descendent). There's Pocahontas (1995), a whitewashed version of history that takes place in colonial Virginia in the early 17th century. The castle and its stained drinking glass in Beauty and the Animate being (1991) may experience medieval at get-go, only this "tale as erstwhile as time" has a blend of Bizarre and Rococo flair more plausibly set during the late 18th or early 19th century (a dating clarified by the 2017 live-action moving picture). Mayhap taking identify around the same time is Tangled (2010), although those outfits could pass at a Renaissance Faire.

And for the tape, the only thing medieval most Frozen is the passing reference in a vocal lyric to Joan of Arc. It doesn't carp usa anyway.

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