Disney's Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

Today we think that the deeds, knowledge, and values ​​contained in fairy tales are prototypes, perhaps because the historical roots of many stories can no longer be tested, and because we lack knowledge of oral traditions, thus distorting contemporary reinterpretations of classics. its original meaning. Just as the French writer Perot and the German writer Grimm collected stories from people, they must preserve national oral traditions, express the values ​​and moral education of the time and place, and not write for children. Sexual knowledge revealed and taboo has become a very meaningful basis for family education in addition to church education. The story has been revised according to the changing times. As long as it is not completely off the backbone of the story,

This newly edited "Sleeping Beauty" story starts from the point of view of a witch, reinterpreting the image of a witch and promoting female characteristics. In "Maleficent", we look at one of the most popular love stories. The king and the dark queen are the first two undisclosed loves. The innocent girl was betrayed by a long-lost lover, and her wings were turned off and became angry. Boy, she betrayed her close friends and succeeded in becoming king, and eventually caused the girl to become a demon queen to impose a curse. The princess was asked to stab a spindle and fall asleep at the night of the age of sixteen, and the king would not be well. This adaptation in accordance with popular culture does not only return magicians to women, and fall into the love trap by mistake, but it also adds humanity and enthusiasm to the more traditional witch image, which makes the actors' performances and plots more numerous. interesting, and make the audience pay for insanity.

The existing tapes related to "Sleeping Princess" all show the theme "Girls' Awakening of Sexual Awakening / Self-strength in Adolescence". Some who interpret "Sleeping Beauty" from the perspective of symbolism and semiotics believe that the spindle symbolizes the male genitalia or female clitoris. When the princess meets the old woman and the spinning machine in the castle, it is interpreted as “understanding the self of an older woman. self." As for the prince's appearance to save the princess, it is certainly the perfect ending for "the couple making love to overcome the need for self-defamation."

It's just that "Maleficent" as a new edition of contemporary fairy tales has shifted from a description of "sexual awakening" to emphasizing "maternal love education". The dark queen secretly regulates the growth of the princess (the three fairies as adoptive mothers are full of errors but meticulous), watches day and night as shadows, and as the princess grows up, she talks to the princess and imparts knowledge, and even confesses her crimes in in front of the princess, who fully shows the black devil Later, as "mother", unconditional love for the child. On the one hand, the Dark Queen called the princess a "curious monster", on the other hand, she protected her and let the audience understand the Dark Queen's struggles as a mother; he once had relationships with humans out of curiosity, but in exchange for a high price, so he knows When sexual awakening (or sexual desire) cannot be stopped, I want the princess to receive the same treatment, as the king's scapegoat, on the one hand. , because of motherhood, I could not bear to lose the princess in worldly desires. The witch in "Maleficent" appears as a mother. Not only does she resemble a medieval mother and fearful of her daughter's sexual awakening, she uses family stories to deter her. Instead, she encourages positive cognitive awakening, awakens her daughter with her mother's love, and faces growth together. The sexual awakening that must be experienced in the process gives new meaning to the story of "Sleeping Beauty."

"Maleficent" also emphasizes the presentation of "women's cognition about their own power" and describes the power relations between men and women. Witches appear as guardians, as mother earth, in contrast to human invaders. The image of the witch is solemn and majestic. It can destroy and regenerate. It can even summon beings and change life forms. At a young age, he possessed unmatched mana and formed an image of powerful, gentle and strong feminism, his magician name being "male" "-ficent" more clearly referring to the image that masculinity comes from women. At that time, the king was jealous of the magician's power, and wanted to wrest power from women to consolidate his position but was unable to initiate. This makes the boy who wants to depend on the rich and powerful feel bad, and takes advantage of being close to the magician to remove the witch's wings. So a woman who is never fully autonomous, independent, and empowered loses her strength in love, so that a man who has nothing will gain everything and power for a while. The power of men obtained from the weakening of women is not noble. Therefore, after the king became the throne, he was always careful and fantasized about being killed, afraid that the witch would return to seize power (this kind of power relationship is also written as a balance between artificial and nature. A sorcerer who hurts with equipment is a symbol of nature, so he is not afraid of nature's revenge all the time).

The male characters in the film are in a relatively weak position (regardless of their behavior, attitudes, abilities and status), accentuating the gender awareness of the deliberate depiction of film feminism. This newly edited "Sleeping Beauty" leaves the man behind and strengthens himself, promoting motherly love and women's self-awakening vocation and declaration of war on men in line with the rising trend of feminism; it not only inherited the heroic tradition of invincible evil and virtue, but also inherited the teachings of the awakening of sexual consciousness, which made us understand "Sleeping Beauty" and patriarchy. Society has a better understanding. But in the final analysis, the description of the great magical realm in "Maleficent", the aspiration to split the country, the hope of peaceful coexistence between man and nature, and the thirst for true love are unfulfilled projections; regardless of what it is, men. Whether it's power or feminist rights, our lives are always inseparable from the word "power". Therefore, we are overcome with sadness. Whoever wins this gender war, all that is lost is humanity and lives.