Maleficent – Maleficent
Despite the 55 years’ worth of being one of Disney’s most iconic villains, the studio decided to inform us this year that actually, Maleficent was not originally a criminal. Beginning life as a gentle and kind faerie of The Moors, she only became the bitter, vindictive woman that we all knew and loved once she had been horribly betrayed by her childhood friend.
….There was always a bit of clue in the name though wasn’t there, really. ‘Maleficent’ doesn’t exactly scream ‘beneficent.’ In fact, it sort of screams ‘maleficent.’ But Disney didn’t have a choice in the matter, so despite the tremendous effort to convince us that she did not start life as a villain, they just had to cross their fingers that everyone would look past the inconvenient fact that her parents at least must have suspected something from the start.
What Disney could do however is give Maleficent a completely different future – which they effectively did by making everyone else in Princess Aurora’s life outstandingly useless. The three pixies assigned to bring Aurora up are so inept that had the story taken place in the real world the police would likely have been more interested in them than in Maleficent. The spinning wheel room would have been a safer place for Aurora to grow up. While it was on fire. And whereas Stefan originally begged Maleficent to spare Aurora from the curse, and then wilfully underwent sixteen years of separation from his daughter to ensure her safety, he is apparently entirely comfortable with the possibility of killing Aurora as he destroys the castle in his bid to kill Maleficent. In fact, it’s almost difficult to call Maleficent a hero when all the other candidates for the role had the collective IQ of a brain damaged gnat.
But of course, the story is a bit deeper than this. In a classic tale of the bad becoming the good (while the good go crazy and fight to the death), the real focus is the bond between Maleficent and the growing Aurora, that develops despite all of Maleficent’s efforts to resist the little beastie. The connection between them is convincingly charming enough that when the twist on true love’s kiss is delivered it is genuinely the one we had been hoping for.
As for whether or not she can lay claim to the tiny remaining piece of wickedness that truly makes all good ‘criminal heroes,’ Maleficent has one clear advantage. She will still always be called Maleficent.
