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The film Maleficent demonstrates a great use of how power can corrupt you, the effect of the loss of innocence, and societal oppression through many of the characters and how it had affected the two kingdoms. The themes embodied in Maleficent can also be incorporated into short stories like; The True Story of The Three Little Pigs, The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas, and The Monkey's Paw. Some could continuously disagree and argue that these themes are unsuitable for the movie and these stories but I believe they are and that they were meant to be there for the viewer/reader to comprehend today's society.
In the movie Maleficent, power corruption is seen plenty of times throughout the character Stefan from when he first meets Maleficent to when he attempts to kill her in the end.
When Maleficent and Stefan meet, he points to the castle and says that he will live there someday. Anyone can tell that the boy has imagined a life for himself, trying to achieve something similar to the American Dream.
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We see his corruption when he overhears the dying king order his men to kill Maleficent to avenge him, and the one who succeeds will marry his daughter and take the throne. Taking this as an opportunity, Stefan goes to the Moors to "warn" Maleficent about the king's men means to kill her. Whilst she is asleep from the drink he gave her, Stefan steals her wings, presents them to the king, and then becomes the new ruler of the human kingdom.
We can also see power corruption in the short story, "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs. This short story, however, takes a different route of corruption when we see that the Paw turns the beholder's wish into a bend of fate. "He said he wanted to show that fate ruled people's lives, and that those who interfered with it did so to their sorrow". In this quote, Major Morris states the purpose of the fakir's curse on the paw. When, for example, Mr. White wishes for two hundred pounds to pay off the house, his son dies because he messed with fate. Morris says that even though it's meant to be lucky, it isn't because it takes your wishes and twists the end result of how you will receive it.
Societal oppression is seen in the movie when Maleficent has her wings stolen. She becomes an oppressive sovereign of sorts. Everything that she had stood for had become grounded, which made her angry, and as a result, she took her inflamed feelings out on the creatures of the Moors and Aurora when she cursed her. This can relate to today's society well. If you are one that has money or great power, you can make yourself look better than those who classify as a minority. We can also seen this is Jon Scieszka's "The True Story of The Three Little Pigs" when the news reporters change the wolf's "I was asking for a cup of sugar" story to one where he kills and eats the pigs purposefully. This also relates to today's society and how the media can corrupt any story to make the victim look like the suspect. Societal oppression can also be seen as a form of power corruption.
The loss of innocence in the movie Maleficent is such a large and controversial topic because it is said by many critics and psychologists that it signifys rape in the film. It starts when Maleficent puts her trust in Stefan, who she thinks is just a young, harmless human boy. He then gives her, her first kiss claiming that it is 'true love's kiss' and then is not seen again until he goes to 'warn' her about the king's demand to have her killed. He gives her a most likely tainted drink that makes her fall asleep, and takes her vulnerable state as an opening to get his kingship. He steals her wings, and is never seen again. Maleficent's wings can be represented as her innocence and possibly her virginity and the drink can be seen as a Date Rape Drug. Stefan taking her wings is considered a form of rape because, if in modern society, he is touching without consent. It is then when Maleficent wakes up and feels her wings gone, that she turns evil. This is purely out of the loss of her wings and a new found hate for Stefan, who had claimed to love her. She places Aurora's curse on her knowing that true love doesn't exist and as well as revenge on Stefan. The loss of innocence can also be seen in Ursula Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" when the narrator mentions the small child, who "looks about six, but actually is nearly ten" in the mop closet in a basement under one of the buildings. I find this is a form of the loss of innocence because the young boy or girl will never get to experience what a proper, innocent childhood is like because they were forced into the closet as this "Utopian" city's scapegoat. This can relate to today's society as well, as a way of forcing children or youth into things they do not want to do. Peer pressure in a sense.
Throughout the film, Maleficent, and the said short stories, shows, through the themes of the loss of innocence, societal oppression and power corruption, just how many issues that are seen in a modern day, and just how messed up the world is. Many of these issues include rape, peer pressure of children, media corruption and the twists of fate.
What Demonstrates The Film Maleficent. (2024, Feb 19). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/what-demonstrates-the-film-maleficent-essay
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