Though there are, I’m sure, a variety of movies out in theaters this summer worthy of what little pocket change I have to spare on tickets and popcorn, I chose to dedicate my most recent Wednesday night to Disney’s Maleficent. Following in the footsteps of Red Riding Hood, starring Amanda Seyfried, and Snow White and the Huntsman, starring Kristen Stewart, Maleficent is a contemporary, live-action reimagining of yet another fairy tale we thought we already knew. Oh, how very wrong we were. Disney isn’t re-working just any plotline — they’re entirely re-envisioning one of their own: the 1959 animated Sleeping Beauty, to be exact. Accordingly, the first line of the film is, “Let us tell an old story anew.”
Maleficent, starring Angelina Jolie (or more noteably her cheekbones, as many have pointed out), aims to remind audiences that there really is more than just one side to the story, if only we’re willing to look hard enough. In the case of Sleeping Beauty, the classic good-versus-evil, princess-versus-witch dilemma is re-examined through the eyes of the would-be villain, Maleficent. As it happens, the world according to Disney isn’t so black and white; Maleficent is more misunderstood than anything, as the movie illustrates via a prologue in which she is shown as a young child: blissfully innocent and all the more vulnerable. After all she goes through — betrayal, actual bodily mutilation and, worst of all, a broken heart — whatever acts of evil she may commit only serve to make her more relatable and therefore humanize her.
Maleficent shows that the world is made up of both good and bad just as people can be both good and bad. In doing so, the movie addresses human imperfection and the occasional ambiguity of our moral centers. Though Maleficent is responsible for casting the curse that puts Aurora into a deep, unshakeable sleep in the first place, she is also the one responsible for breaking said curse. It is Maleficent’s own remorse and eventual love for Aurora that saves the sleeping princess. That Maleficent is the one to break the spell (with a single kiss on the cheek, no less) says two things: one, that there exists other kinds of love in the world than just the romantic kind and, two, that a princess need not be saved by a prince. Aurora was, indeed, kissed by a Prince — Prince Phillip — but without effect. Only Maleficent, who had formed a kind of maternal bond with Aurora (much to both her and the audience’s surprise), was able to wake her. In return, Aurora likewise saves Maleficent from her own hatred and greed — she brings her, and her heart, back to life again.
Whether or not this alternate ending feels revolutionary to a 21st century audience, it speaks volumes to the recent efforts Disney has made in their attempt to modernize their movies, particularly in regards to gender roles (think of the 2012 Brave or even last year’s Frozen). All of the sudden, princesses — even villains — become heroes and saviors. What constitutes a happy ending is not a lavish wedding (after all, Aurora is only sixteen), but simply happiness and, most importantly, peace.