Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors
used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.
The Spinning Wheel
Part of Aurora’s “fall” into Maleficent’s spell—her finger
pricked on the spinning wheel—refers to her approaching maturity
or awakening. When Rose dips her foot into the water by the river,
for example, she appears to be testing it out, awakening to new,
mature knowledge of the world. This maturity could ultimately mean
a flowering into sexual awareness, since she is, after all, sixteen
and dreaming of a Prince, or simply a general adolescent growth
into adult knowledge. The film never takes a firm stand on what
sort of maturity Aurora grows into, but the overall conceit of Aurora “awakening”
to a man’s kiss suggests that her maturity may indeed be a sexual
one.
A spinning wheel often symbolizes the unstoppable revolutions of
the years, and in the film it encourages the contemplation of time and
how it changes things. Spinning wheels also refer to creation, since
they’re used to weave yarn or string into cloth. Most simplistically,
the spinning wheel is a literal manifestation of the old phrase “spinning
a spell,” which means to curse someone. Aurora, under Maleficent’s
power, is made to touch the spindle—the wheel appears precisely
at the crucial moment of the curse’s fruition.
Colors and Shapes
Sleeping Beauty establishes a palette
of meaning by associating certain hues and saturations with certain
qualities of character. Everything painted in black, green, scarlet,
or sickly purple hues is evil. These colors mark Maleficent’s clothing,
her castle’s interior, and the atmosphere outside of her castle.
These colors are also heavily saturated, deep and harsh, and often
fit into a coded shape pattern. The darker colors usually appear
in less pleasing, angular shapes, such as Maleficent’s sharp, lanky
dress, her jagged castle jutting into the sky, or her talon-like
fingers.
Aurora and her father’s kingdom are painted warmly in
an array of bright colors: oranges, blues, pinks, and yellows. Anything
rendered in these colors in the film appears happy, friendly, relaxed,
and loving. The borders around these colors are less harsh, more
softly edged. Aurora’s soft profile, the sumptuous feast of Hubert
and Stefan, and the cuddly animals of the forest are colored in
this spectrum. Every dominant color in the film corresponds to a
specific person or place. Samson’s white hide, Merryweather’s blue
dress, and Maleficent’s henchmen’s brownish cast all indicate something crucial
about their characters.
Animals
Since the prominent animals in the film do not really
exist outside of their relation to a human, the role of these animals
is to serve as indicators of the humans’ own characteristics. The
cute, friendly animals in the forest, such as the smiling owl, the
pair of wide-eyed rabbits, and the loping chipmunk, are all associated
with Briar Rose. Because of them, her character appears gentle,
free, playful, radiating good will for all, and, most of all, innocent.
Samson, the strong white horse of Prince Phillip, reinforces Phillip’s
nature as innately pure, a master of beasts, and powerful, but also
friendly and kind to all good creatures. Finally, Maleficent’s raven
insinuates that she is a spying, secretive, harsh creature. This
style of communication is crucial to Disney films. Before the human
characters act or speak, animals or other figures give an idea of
how to understand them. These characters don’t have to say much.
Through the colors in which they are rendered and the animals that
accompany them, they are clearly coded to be read in a certain way.
