I'll tell you why: She's not really after anything except to step on King Stefan's sandcastle and enjoy watching everyone freak out over it. It seems that for Disney villains (at least in the "olden" days when their animated features were worthwhile and actually creative - Pixar films excluded, of course) there is always a cause, a proverbial chip, some reason that they feel the need to reek havoc. Captain Hook is obsessed with killing Peter Pan for cutting off his hand; the Evil Queen is bitterly jealous of Snow White; the Wicked Stepmother is bitterly jealous of Cinderella; Christopher Robin dreams of pulling the stuffing out of Winnie the Pooh . . . oh wait, I think that's someone else I know. Anyway, my point is that Maleficent is just evil, pure and simple.Okay, fine. Yes, some may say that she's seeking revenge for being snubbed by Stefan and his queen's lack of invitation to Princess Aurora's christening. But, think about it. Do you really think she cares about a christening? Does she strike you as a God-fearing sorceress? I say nay. She was bored and looking for something to do. When she realizes there's a party going on with all of the goodie-goodies, she sees fun waiting to be had. She makes a dramatic, explosive entrance and launches into a diatribe about how offended she is and oh, by the way, I've got a little curse, whoops! I mean "gift" to give the little darling. She scares the shit out of everyone and then makes a dramatic, cackling exit. And how about her raven? Bad-ass, don't you think (except for when he gets turned pink, I know)?
Now, come on. We all know that she barely made it back to her castle atop Forbidden Mountain before her sleek sides were splitting with laughter. She and all of her little ugly creature pals sat around and had a good laugh. You can just hear her, "Did you see the look on that pompous ass's face when I said I, too, had a gift for princess? He about wet himself!" And I imagine the wisecracking proceeded from there.
So, why is Maleficent the greatest of the Disney villains? Because she's just evil for the sake of evil. There's no real revenge, just an excuse to entertain herself by swooping in and wrecking the royals's world. She just is who she is regardless of Princess Aurora, the Three Good Fairies, or all of the parties in the land. And, she's not a bad dresser either. Think about it.
2 comments:
I don't necessarily disagree with your post. But I would like to point out that Disney's most successful run included villians like that as well. Ursela was just a nasty sea hag. And Gaston was just a prick for the sake of being a prick and there was not many nice things that could be said about Scar. Jafar was a pretty big jerk. And then I stopped paying attention. I'd rather watch those movies than most of the "classics" except oddly enough Winnie the Pooh. I obviously am not familiar with your inside joke about Pooh Bear in the post, but those are my number 1 favorites of all time. Lots to be learned from those stories.
I enjoyed stopping by.
=)
I totally agree. When I was a kid, Maleficent scared the living shit out of me.
Birdman, I think you're wrong about Ursula, Scar, Gaston, and maybe Jafar. Ursula was kicked out of Atlantis by the Little Mermaid's father, hence, revenge. Scar was jealous of his brother and his choice of heir, and was power hungry. Jafar felt mistreated and was power hungry. And Gaston was rejected by Belle, who loved Beast, so that's his motive.
Scary how much I know about disney movies? Yeah, I grew up with these ones, not the classics.
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