Maleficent undertakes the daunting task of rebranding a classic story for a different time. Disney’s animated fairy tale Sleeping Beauty has been reimagined as a live-action story, injected with fantasy-battle action sequences and state-of-the-art visual effects, and retold from the perspective of the story’s iconic villain, Maleficent.
It should not be surprising that this film is heavy on the visual elements. First-time director Robert Stromberg’s visual-effects-heavy oeuvre includes films such as Avatar, Alice in Wonderland (2010), and Oz the Great and Powerful. Stromberg makes particularly excellent use of the IMAX 3D format; your eyes will never get bored looking at all of the detail he has placed into this film.
While I greatly enjoyed the visual elements of this film, I found that I was much more impressed by Angelina Jolie’s acting. She steals the show. Jolie delivers one of the strongest, most charismatic performances of her acting career, accomplishing the difficult task of portraying a character who is both hero and villain. The range of emotions she conveys throughout the film is impressive. One moment, when her face remains still yet her eyes shift to maliciously gaze at the camera, was enough to send chills down my spine.
Maleficent also continues a relatively recent trend of telling a story from the point of view of an antihero (as in Wicked, Frozen, Once Upon A Time, and others). Such alternative storytelling reminds us that there are usually two sides to every story, challenging our preconceptions about those whom we may have previously vilified.
But this reversal of narrative perspective is not the most significant alteration of the original fairy tale. In fact, Maleficent deviates from its source material in a major way regarding the meaning of “true love.”
Maleficent’s curse on Aurora – that only true love’s kiss can awaken her from her slumber – is a jab at Aurora’s father, Stefan. Maleficent doesn’t believe in true love, because Stefan betrays her when they are both young (I won’t spoil how here). However, Maleficent discovers another kind of true love as she watches over Aurora as a reluctant fairy godmother.
This new perspective on true love continues an interesting trend found in several recent Disney films. In Brave, Merida ultimately rejects romantic love and finds fulfillment through maternal love. In Frozen, the love of a would-be Prince Charming turns out to be a sham, unable to melt Anna’s freezing heart. It is rather the love of Anna’s sister Elsa which turns out to be the “true love” capable of saving Anna.
It would appear that Disney is intent on telling fewer stories which uphold romantic love as a woman’s greatest goal in life. Instead, they are telling more stories which praise the virtue of familial and particularly female affection. I believe that Disney should be commended for making films which do not teach children about an idealistic fairy tale world in which the prince always comes swooping in to save the girl so that they can all live happily ever after.
Films such as Brave, Frozen, and now Maleficent show how Disney is trying to fight against stereotypes which have traditionally been imposed on women, stereotypes Disney themselves at least intensified in the first place. Maleficent‘s most redeeming quality is the way in which it frees women to find their calling in life without any restrictions or expectations, especially the restriction of needing to find the perfect prince to come and save them.
That’s right, Prince Charming, your services are no longer required.
