My favorite villain of all the Disney tales is Maleficent. -shudders- She's brilliant!
Maleficent...there was no villain who came before her nor has any come after her that could "summon all the powers of Hell." She has none of Gaston’s goofiness or Captain Hook’s insecurity; she has powers beyond what Cinderella’s stepmother could ever imagine. She revels in wickedness, basks in cruelty. She’s petty and violent and bitter. She can hold a grudge like a toddler holds a teddy bear: with all her might, close to her heart. Maleficent is the stuff nightmares are made of. She is fury in human form.
The animated Maleficent does not give one flying fuck about popping into the middle of a heavily guarded party, outnumbered hundreds to one, to place the curse on the guest of honor, an infant.
That's just how this Evil Woman rolls. Some villains give poisoned apples... how quaint. When Maleficent sets a
curse, it's a slow march towards your own impending doom. She doesn't
want you to die; she wants you to suffer, and then die. You can see this
in her every action in the original Disney film. This villain doesn't
just walk into the grand throne room of King Stefan's court and say,
"Baby dead." No, no, no, not at all... she lets that child live just long enough that
it forms a life, a personality, connections, and a history. She lets
everyone fall in love with this child first. Then she wishes death upon
it. Not only will this result in more pain, but it will also create a
hopeless fight to save said baby from said curse. These were
well-thought-out plans, she calculates her revenge.
Another completely evil plot is the much-forgotten Prince Philip storyline. After the
sleeping curse is enacted and Princess Aurora falls asleep, her fairy
godmothers freak out and put the rest of the kingdom to sleep as well.
That way she won't be alone, and will wake up with her family, etc.
Unfortunately for Prince Philip, Maleficent got to him before the
fairies were aware of their love connection. She kidnaps the Prince and
throws him in the dungeon. And then this scene happens. This is probably
the most calculated and cold villain monologue from any Disney movie,
ever:
Maleficent's plan is to keep the Prince alive and well, until he's too
old for Aurora. To let him sit in misery for 100 years until she
releases him as an old man. Prince Philip would be able to save his
beloved, only to have her wake to a shriveled, 100-year-old stranger.
That is rough. It's chillingly cruel, but astoundingly brilliant. You
had to admire this magnificent Mistress of Evil for her creativity.
I can't tell you how excited I was when I heard they were making a movie about this character. When I heard Angelina Jolie would be portraying her in flesh form I was thrilled. However, after reading the screenplay (script) of the movie, having a friend see it and tell Me I would be disappointed, and watching some reviews.... I'm completely deflated and will not see it. (I have to say I hear Jolie's performance was stunning... it's not the actors I have an issue with here it's the writers)
This is Maleficent‘s fatal flaw: If you’re going to make a
movie about one of the most legitimately terrifying Disney villains of
all time, you’ve got to keep the “terrifying” and “villain” in there
somewhere, instead of just the “Disney.” Maleficent only gets ONE.. hear Me? ONE evil scene in the entire movie... her classic 'on her sixteenth birthday' curse. That's it. Nothing more.
What’s next? Does Cruella De Vil wind up working at an
animal shelter? Are we giving Captain Hook a long-lost crocodile love?
Will 2015 introduce us to Ursula: Underwater Motivational Speaker?
Humanizing evil is all well and good; criminals aren’t designed in a lab
and raised in a vacuum. Show us how Maleficent got that way, fine. But
taking the villainy out of these villains is like taking the poison out
of Snow White’s apple. It seems as if filmmakers think that, in order to humanize a bad guy, the bad guy must be put in a context that proves he is really a good guy. It’s the villain-as-victim, the poor, unfortunate soul who is really just heartbroken, misunderstood, or lost. As if there is no such thing as a bad guy: only a good guy who nobody gets, who is just waiting to be redeemed. As if being misunderstood or heartbroken is justification enough for an act of evil; as if we would forgive all the world’s killers, if we just got to know them better. As if that would excuse their violence. As if humanizing a character means removing every trace of evil from them. As if humanity and evil are somehow mutually exclusive, instead of deeply intertwined. It's annoying and completely wrong.
Ohhhhh and one more thing... WHERE IS THE FUCKING DRAGON?????
In the movie... SHE doesn't become the dragon... no, instead she points to a man and gave him the gift of becoming the Dragon.. WTF? ok ok, I'm not a feminist.. but why the hell did the writers give that magnificent moment to a man?? Why oh why?
2 comments:
Yes, it's long :P I'd had the majority of it written already in a discussion I was having with a friend through email... so I had to simply put it together.
Oh i do find this very fascinating. Sorry for the delay Mistress. The two things i find very fascinating ... 1 - the idea of stripping the pure evil out of something created under the guise of a child's movie with these very wicked undertones ... to make it, more palatable, more understood, easier to sell ... in this day and age - just weird.
2 - that Mistress is so enamored with this evil villain that it truly disgusts her that they've changed her so much. Very cute. Very telling.
Thank You Mistress :)
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