Becoming Maleficent: Film

Film

"Maleficent." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2014.

The 2014 film, Maleficent, is a classic tale of a woman scorned that twists and turns the viewer along the heroine's journey all the way through to redemption and resurrection of the wounded heart. Angelina Jolie plays the part of the protagonist and tells a very different side of the story than that of Sleeping Beauty. Maleficent is an innocent young child living in a utopian world. She flies over all of the creatures in the land with massive wings that are a huge part of her identity that are later stolen from her. Maleficent comes across a boy who has entered into her land with whom she falls in love, only to find that he is to deceive her and cut her wings from her in order to become king. In her fury, she seeks vengeance by placing a sleeping curse on the king's newborn daughter, Aurora. As Maleficent watches Aurora grow up to the age when the curse is to take place, she finds that her heart is softening toward the child. Once Maleficent realizes that Aurora is like a daughter to her and that she is the symbol of peace in both the land and in her heart, she breaks the curse by giving her "true love's kiss".

Other movies in history have taken the acclaim as "best revenge movie" and tell a vengeance story of a woman scorned that the audience is all dying to hear. The 1991drama, Thelma and Louise, and the 2003 action movie, Kill Bill, are just two examples of the many women in film history who have travelled along their own heroine's journey, took their fate into their own hands, and found themselves to be some pretty badass women.

"Thelma & Louise." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2014.

"Kill Bill: Vol. 1." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2014.

Becoming Maleficent: The Origin

The Origin

"SurLaLune Fairy Tales: The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault." SurLaLune Fairy Tales: The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2014.

There have been many interpretations of the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty, with the original stemming from a french romance printed in 1528, Perceforest. In 1697 Charles Perrault wrote his version entitled Sleeping Beauty in the Wood. In Perrault's story, Maleficent was an unnamed old fairy that felt cast out from the christening of the princess and would present a "mischievous gift" to the child. Later, the Grimm Brothers wrote Little Brier Rose which became the most popular version of the story until Disney produced Sleeping Beauty. It was in the 1959 animated movie that the evil fairy, Maleficent, was portrayed as both a wicked sorceress and a fire breathing dragon. The most recent 2014 Disney version, Maleficent, tells the back story of Maleficent and how she came to be the evil mistress.

The following YouTube video, "Sleeping Beauty Uncensored", shows a modern day satire of the original Sleeping Beauty story by Giambattista Basile titled, Sun, Moon, and Talia.

The most well known version of Sleeping Beauty is Disney's 1959 version. In Disney's interpretation Maleficent was only viewed as the villain.