Maleficent

== Introduction ==
Maleficent, the self proclaimed "Mistress of All Evil," has been portrayed in many ways from strictly an evil fairy to a misunderstood woman who experiences real feelings and emotions. She first appeared in a Charles Perrault fairy tale, but has more recently been the center of her own movies. Now, she is most widely known as the villain of The Sleeping Beauty, but proves to be much more than that. Film critics and movie fanatics prove that public opinion of Maleficent differs drastically from before the 2014 movie showcasing Maleficent to after. The idea of Maleficent has changed drastically through the years is based off both how societal standards of women and modern feminism. 
== Origin (McGaha) ==
Maleficent first appeared as a powerful fairy living in a magical forest named the Moors. She met and fell in love with a Scottish peasant boy named Stefan. His love was overshadowed by ambition and the two grew apart and Maleficent became protector of the Moors. Maleficent killed King Henry after he tried to enter the Moors. Stefan visited Maleficent in the Moors, drugs her, but was unable to kill her so he severed her wings with an iron, which is lethal to fairies. Maleficent turned the Moors into a dark kingdom and transformed a raven named Diaval to serve her. 
Maleficent’s nickname, “Mistress of All Evil” represents women’s anger. Not only does it represent female rage, but it represents this rage with a negative connotation, giving the idea that female rage is not acceptable. In Sleeping Beauty, she appears as the third fairy about to bestow her gift upon Aurora. Maleficent’s anger genuinely stemmed from jealousy. “Royalty, nobility, the gentry, and… how quaint. Even the rabble. I really felt quite distressed at not receiving an invitation.” https://dakotastudent.com/13219/arts-comm/maleficent-backstory/The story of Maleficent is from Pagan roots, at least 1500 years ago.
According to atthesignofthewhiteheart.wordpress.com, https://atthesignofthewhitehart.wordpress.com/2014/10/29/the-pagan-origins-of-maleficent/one of the earliest is related to The Sleeping Beauty In the Wood published by Charles Parrault in his book Tales and Stories of the Past With Morals. The opening lines of this story are “There were formally a king and a queen… At last, however, the Queen had a daughter. There was a very fine christening; and the princess had for her god-mothers all the fairies they could find in the whole kingdom… But as they were all sitting down at table they saw come into the hall a very old fairy, whom they had not invited, because it was above fifty years since she had been out of a certain tower, and she was believed to be either dead or enchanted… ‘The Princess shall indeed pierce her hand with a spindle; but, instead of dying, she shall only fall into a profound sleep, which shall last a hundred years, at the expiration of which a king’s son shall come and awake her.’ ”
Maleficent was transformed into a fictional character who appeared in Walt Disney Pictures’ 16th animated feature film, Sleeping Beauty in 1959. Maleficent curses Aurora to prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die on her sixteenth birthday. According to Dakotastudent.com, she was based on the fairy godmother in Charles Perrault’s fairy tale Sleeping Beauty, as well as the villainess who appears in the Brothers Grimm’s retelling of Little Briar Rose. 
The 2014 live-action film Maleficent reimagines the backstory to provide a more sympathetic version of the original Maleficent character seen in the original stories and the 1959 film. In this film, she is a powerful fairy living in the Moors, which borders a human kingdom. She starts as a kund and protective guardian of her magical forest until Stefan breaks her heart and her trust, choosing royalty over her love. This turns her into the evil character readers often view her as today. She curses Stefan’s daughter Aurora, but Maleficent actually grows a bond with her as she ages. The curse is eventually broken by Maleficent’s act of true love for Aurora, rather than a true love's kiss, breaking stereotypes and showing character development from Maleficent. 
Maleficent first appeared as an evil, sinister fairy who had the most selfish of ambitions. She was angry that she wasn’t invited to the new princesses christening, and she acted out of anger when putting a curse upon Aurora. Time proves that Maleficent was not merely an evil fairy, she was a woman who experienced extreme hurt, which transformed into blood curdling anger. She knew no other way to express her anger, so she committed crimes against anyone she felt did her wrong. Furthermore, she was broken-hearted and betrayed by the love of her life, adding to her instability. While Maleficent’s is a very tragic story, there is much more to her than readers see on her surface. 
== Present (Swatzell) ==
Most people know Maleficent as the villain in the story Sleeping Beauty, but she is much more than just that. While she is portrayed as big and bad in the original Sleeping Beauty, the newer movies, focusing more on her backstory, allow viewers to see her in a new light and gain a new perspective of her as a character. These new movies have shifted watchers’ opinions of Maleficent to more positive ones rather than the usual negative views and opinions. This shift was accomplished by writers providing audiences with Maleficent’s backstory, changing her character appearance, and showing an appreciation for her authenticity and attitude.
To begin, writers allowing fans to see Maleficent’s backstory on the big screen allowed them to further appreciate her character. Instead of viewing Maleficent as the typical villain from Sleeping Beauty, viewers were given insight to her backstory, her motivations, and the events that shaped her character. The movie works to “humanize” her by revealing the tragedies of her past and gathering sympathy from audiences. This deeper look into her past transforms her from the one-sided villain to a more complex character, while embracing her trauma and redemption from it. Critics say that the Maleficent movies “’set the record straight’ on what really happened during the ‘Sleeping Beauty’ story.”"Maleficent": The truth behind Disney's greatest villain | RMU Sentry Media This review works to push the idea that this reveal of her past works to get her character back on track and allows fans to see the real her. This change in view of Maleficent encourages viewers to reconsider the nature of good and evil regarding her character.
Continuing, the change in Maleficent’s appearance from Sleeping Beauty to the Maleficent movies allowed viewers to change their opinions. In Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent’s features are very defined, dark, and menacing. Her features are more that of a witch or other fictional creature rather than that of a human. This visual representation of her on the screen gives her character a negative connotation to audiences. This, along with her “cruel and conniving personality,”How Maleficent Became Sleeping Beauty's Breakout Character (screenrant.com) lead viewers away from her character rather than toward. However, in the more recent Maleficent movies, her appearance is softened and has more human characteristics. All of these new features including the details of her facial expressions and her outfits allow audiences to look deeper into her character. The shift in style of her character represents the shift in view of her. With this new style we want to empathize with her and better understand her actions and reasonings. This new in-depth look helps to reshape her image from a villainous character to a misunderstood individual.
Finally, the newfound appreciation for who Maleficent is has drastically impacted viewers’ opinions of her. By diving into Maleficent’s backstory and exploring the reasoning behind her actions, the films show her as more than a villain. This portrayal of her character highlights her capacity for love, betrayal, and redemption. These new views of her character allow viewers to “acknowledge our own appreciation for strength of character,” The evolution of Maleficent: How the classic Disney villain became a star | The Week and come around to the idea that even if the character is portrayed as a villain, it doesn’t mean they aren’t good. Because of this new portrayal audiences have developed a newfound appreciation for her character and see her more as a hero from tragedy rather than a one-sided antagonist.
All in all, the recent portrayal of Maleficent’s character has allowed viewers to continue to change their opinions of her. The change in her appearance from the Sleeping Beauty movie to the Maleficent movies, writers providing the audience with a look into her backstory, and the sense of appreciation shown for her character all helped to change watchers’ opinion of her. This newfound appreciation for her character has led to further promotion for her character and movies, including clothing lines and accessories featuring her, and increased awareness about what makes her character morally good through critic’s articles dissecting her character development. As society’s views on villains begin to change, we continue to change our views on these characters and look at them with more appreciation than ever before.
== Representation (Ward) ==
Throughout history, women have been portrayed very unfairly, especially in past times and generations. But, significant progress has been made in rewriting the stories of women and female characters to give them the credit and adaptations they deserve. A prime example of a character this describes is Maleficent. Maleficent has undergone a huge transformation from the classic “Sleeping Beauty” to her own modern film adaptations and other live action appearances. In the classic adaptation, Maleficent was seen as a dark, brooding character with an evil, villainous personality, accompanied with a matching dark appearance. To elaborate, according to Stephanie Cangro, “…a fairy gone so bad as to curse a newborn child.” The evolution of Maleficent: How the classic Disney villain became a star | The WeekIn the modern adaptation however, Maleficent is a more complex character with very reasonable motives and actions, showing how she is justified in her actions, not pure evil as previously believed. 
Along with the shift in overall portrayal and looks comes a switch in her overall representation in the sense of her purpose. Before the Maleficent movie in 2014, Maleficent was viewed as, according to Cangro, “…cruel…bitchy and controlling,” while after her recent adaptation is described as, “…strong, intelligent and ruler of her own domain.” As you can see, this is a relatively big shift. Maleficent was hated by many due to her portrayal as the classic female witch who does something bad and is killed off in the end, and is now switching gender roles and being the main hero, a movement we have continued to see throughout recent years, such as with Tomb Raider (2018), Wonder Woman (2017), and Moana (2016). All of these movies listed, including Maleficent, all have shown how powerful women can be instead of being a female sidekick there to meet some “standards” such as the “Male Gaze”. 
To elaborate more on the new Maleficent’s values, ideas and attitudes, multiple critics such as Dr. Charlotte Jacobson discuss how glad they are to see the story being rewritten to include the ideas of feminism into important characters and stories throughout timeComparative Analysis Of Perrault’s Sleeping Beauty And Maleficent: [Essay Example], 1952 words GradesFixer, such as Maleficent. Charles Perrault, the original writer of Sleeping Beauty, wrote the story of Princess Aurora, her charming Prince Phillip, and the evil witch Maleficent in the late 17th century, meaning that the roles of the characters were based on commonly used themes of the time period, these themes being a man in charge, a helpless princess in need of saving, and an evil woman to be slain. With Robert Stromberg, director of Maleficent (2014), the choice was made to give a powerful character a meaningful backstory, according to Kendall Myers, “…and indisputable villain to a flawed hero.”The Disney Villain Who Gave This Classic a Dark Twist (collider.com) Flaws are better than being an outright villain in the opinion of most. 
Overall, Maleficent is a prime example of a character who has had their representation/portrayal drastically changed to meet the modern standards of feminism and how women are represented. Perrault's version of the story of "Sleeping Beauty" is heavily influenced the ideology of the 17th century. This is evident with how Maleficent is portrayed as a bitchy witch who has no motive to do obscenely awful things. This perspective is heavily changed in Stromberg's 2014 version, where Maleficent is given a motive, proper representation, and an appearance that empowers her. Through this new version of the character, female empowerment is evident. And, this has almost started a new feminist movement in film. From this we have seen multiple women gain the spotlight they deserve to be in, as in some movies mentioned previously. With movies and characters like this, feminist empowerment is rapidly gaining motion, spreading essential ideas, one remake at a time. 
== Links and Resources ==
The evolution of Maleficent: How the classic Disney villain became a star | The Week
Comparative Analysis Of Perrault’s Sleeping Beauty And Maleficent: [Essay Example], 1952 words GradesFixer
The Disney Villain Who Gave This Classic a Dark Twist (collider.com)
17th Century Facts: Everything About The Early Modern Period | Kidadl
IMDb Page for Maleficent Movie
== References ==