The Transformative Power of True Love — Maleficent’s Story
(Final Project)
“A tale told anew, let's see how well you know it.” Maleficent, 2014
This is the opening line from Disney’s 2014 film, Maleficent, directed by Robert Stromberg. It’s a retelling of the classic fairy tale Sleeping Beauty, except the tale told anew is Maleficent’s side of the story told by Sleeping Beauty herself. From the opening line, the film challenges the truth of the original tale, providing the background story of Maleficent and giving context to how she famously became the villain that we are all familiar with.
In Briar Rose, the classic tale written by the Grimm Brothers, Maleficent is actually one of thirteen wise women (in this version she is unnamed). All but her get invited by the king and queen to a great feast, and the reason her exclusion was because they lacked a plate for her at the feast table. She shows up anyways and curses the princess to one hundred years of sleep upon her fifteenth birthday. And that's it, that’s Maleficent’s whole story. We are just supposed to believe all that rage was from feeling left out? I don’t accept it, and neither did Disney, so they gave her backstory.
This version starts with two rival kingdoms, who can only be reunited by either a hero or a vast villain. In one kingdom lived the humans and the other was the Moors, a land of fairies and mythical creatures. One fairy was Maleficent, who was the strongest fairy with great powerful wings. She met a boy one day and from then on they began a great friendship, and as they grew older it turned into love. When she was sixteen, the boy gave her a very special present: true love’s kiss - or so she thought. The boy fell into greed and upon hearing the King wanting Maleficent dead, he cut off her wings and exchanged them for the throne. His betrayal caused Melificent’s heart to grow cold, and she became the villain of the story.
What drives Maleficent’s first transformation was betrayal and heartbreak. This is where she becomes the villain of the story, as Robert Stromberg beautifully depicts by her physical wing-less transformation and the once mystical Moors grows dreary and dark. I think when she was truly at her lowest was right after the curse, where she “reveled in the sorrow that her curse had brought.” I think this is because she had just relived her heartbreak and finally got revenge. Her curse that the princess can be awoken from her death’s sleep only by a true love’s kiss was directly related to the memory when Stephan kissed Maleficent on her birthday. It told Stephan that Aurora won’t be saved, for true love does not exist. She had set her revenge, now all she had to do was wait.
Her second transformation was slow, but I think it started off as soon as Maleficent started spying on Aurora in the cottage as a baby. My first indication of this was the change in her magic’s color. When Maleficent set the curse, her magic was green. But as she was picking on the fairies that were housing Aurora or anytime she used magic to save Aurora from falling off the cliff as a baby or put her in a floating trance, her magic was golden. We see Maleficent open up the more she spends time with Aurora, and I think this is because Aurora's curiosity reminds Maleficent of herself when she was her age as Aurora is curious, happy, and loves life around her. For example, when Aurora approached the thorn wall, curious as to what lied beyond it, Maleficent said, “I wonder…” and brought her into the Moors via a sleep-like trance. It seemed small, but Maleficent was reintroducing a human to the Moors for the first time since they were shut out. I think Aurora gave her hope in humanity again, as Aurora loved the sights and creatures from within the walls. Right after this, Maleficent tried to revoke her curse, but it was no use. Again Stromberg depicted evil and good magic with the colors green and gold, which are seen clashing as she tries to remove the curse, but there was no use. This scene shows how Maleficent has transformed through her relationship with Aurora and is no longer evil.
What makes her the hero is her final act of true love — she goes into Stephan’s castle, where she could possibly be killed in the effort to save Aurora. Ironically, the film critiques other versions of sleeping beauty by having the fairies remark that true love doesn’t just fall out of trees — right when Maleficent plops Prince Philip outside the bedroom door. However, they were right, the kiss from Philip didn’t work, for it wasn’t true love. Who really saves Aurora is Maleficent, in which Dival, Maleficent’s crow sidekick, describes, “there's no truer love.” I think he is talking about the maternal relationship that Maleficent had with Aurora. Aurora identified her as her fairy godmother — Maleficent watched her grow up, protected her, and Aurora brought joy back into Melificent’s life — a true friendship. At the end of the film, her transformation is physically marked by the restoration of her wings. The Moors was restored back to the time when “Maleficent was young and her heart was bright,” and I think that change in setting means her heart was bright once again. The two kingdoms were reunited by both the hero and the villain: Maleficent.
Disney's retelling of Maleficent beautifully criticizes the old fairy tale myth that infatuation is true love when it's really not. Any princess who just found her prince, or vice versa, has not found their true love. Love is not something you find, but something that develops. You know when it is developed, as the power of true love is transformative — it will bring out the best in people, their brightest and most selfless version of themselves. That is true love.
Link to Disney’s Maleficent: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/amzn1.dv.gti.e8a9f763-b91c-a444-e7e8-cc1c4cf99376?autoplay=1&ref_=atv_cf_strg_wb
