rulani:

supremeoutcast:

I strongly disagree with anyone who says Maleficent isn’t the best Disney villain. No singing, no dancing, no long expositions about her plans, no tolerance for bumbling comedy sidekicks (she electrocutes a whole room full of minions when she finds out they’ve fucked up and spent the last few years searching for a baby), just outright malicious intent.

I mean let’s take a look at her motivations compared to other popular Disney villains:

SCAR – Wanted to become King. 

URSULA – Wanted to rule the seas.

WICKED QUEEN – Wanted to rule as the most beautiful woman in the land.

JAFAR – Wanted to rule in the Sultan’s place and/or obtain ultimate power.

Maleficient, by contrast, didn’t want any of that. She didn’t want more power. She didn’t want fame. She didn’t want to rule. She just wanted to raise hell. This is the woman who decided that every newborn child in the kingdom should die and that the land should be covered in darkness for one reason – SHE WASN’T INVITED TO A MOTHERFUCKING PARTY.

That’s right, the evil bitch basically condemned an entire kingdom to die at her hands because she didn’t get invited to a christening.

This is not a woman with a motivation. She cannot be reasoned with. Her actions cannot be rationalized. She is evil for the fun of being evil, not because she wants something.

THAT, my friends, is the ultimate villain. One who knows they’re evil and LOVES it. 

While I agree that Maleficent is an amazing villain and one of the strongest and most salient antagonists in Disney movies, she does have a comprehensible motive beyond “for teh evuls.“ (I’m almost certain someone else has already said this, but oh well, here I go)

In medieval times, amidst the crazy tangled web of court politics, following the rules of social etiquette could mean the difference between lasting peace and a knife in the king’s back. The wrong message sent to the wrong person could start a conflict that would erupt into feuds between families and clans, or even to wars. There are more modern examples I could talk about (*cough Google causes of WWI *cough) but the point is that a seemingly small and unimportant event could spark something rather large and dangerous, even if it seems like nothing to us.

In the case of Disney’s Sleeping Beauty, the royal family neglected to invite Maleficent to the christening of Princess Aurora (intentionally or not is unclear, but I’m guessing it was deliberate) . Seems like no big deal to us right? Didn’t get invited to the party, oh well, no need to murder folk over it, right? Wrong.

Think about it from the perspective of the medieval court. Something like a royal christening/baptism/wedding was the social event of the year, or even decade (think royal weddings today, like a great big party with feasts and stuff). It was the sort of tumultuous time when lots of important people gathered in one place to pay respects to the royal family. A place to see and be seen. To solidify your position in the pecking order of society. A very noticeable event from which to be absent.

By not inviting Maleficent to the christening, the King had sent a very clear message across the social environment of the court; that she was not welcome here.

From here it gets a bit conjecture-y, but I think my points are valid ones.

If we take a look at who the King DID invite, namely the three good fairies, this action takes on a bit more meaning. Both Maleficent and the fairies are practitioners of magic, supposedly occupying a similar place in the social environment of the court, and are visibly and in dialogue opposed to one another (as if in feud). By inviting the fairies at the exclusion of Maleficent he is essentially taking the fairies side in their conflict, and not only that but in a very public way at a very public event. Naturally such a powerful sorceress such as Maleficent would take offense at such a slight.

So she shows up anyway and makes a bad ass entrance as a show of power and intimidation. Following etiquette pretends to be quite understanding an calm:

Maleficent: “I really got quite distressed at not receiving and invitation.”

This opens up the topic to King Stephan to claim ignorance and apologize to her, while preserving the dignity and peace between them. Quite generous, considering she’s evul. But then Merryweather had to go and screw it up.

Merryweather: “You weren’t wanted.“

Gdi Merryweather.

Maleficent: “Not wa-! …Aha, oh dear what an awkward situation. I had hoped it was merely due to some oversight. Well in that event, I must be on my way…”

As she says this she turns and looks back over her shoulder, obviously giving the King one last chance to salvage the situation brought on by Merryweather’s outburst. But of course that doesn’t happen.

Queen: “And…You’re not offended, your Excellency?“

There you go, confirmation of what Merryweather said. No apology, no retraction. Message received, Maleficent is not welcome. They had declared her, in effect to be an outright enemy, outcast from the court. Not a smart move.

Maleficent herself, still playing the social game, denies being offended and offers to bless the child as a show of good will. This is the curse of the spinning wheel etc etc. She acknowledged herself as an enemy of the royal family.

The way I take this is beyond being merely spiteful, which she certainly is, her actions are also the result of her being freed from the social obligation to respect the king. She was playing court politics before this all happened (why else would she be following court etiquette and not doing evul things already?) and by being denied invitation to the christening the king cut ties with her, freeing her to act as she pleased rather than play nice in order to have influence in the court, and freed her to use more direct means of gaining power and becoming the Maleficent we know and love. Her motivation can be extrapolated by her actions in the court; she desires the favor of the king (wanting to be invited to the christening). What does favor earn you in medieval times? Power in the court. Being denied the avenue of climbing the social ladder, she takes the role of full villain rather than creepy court sorceress chick.

TL;DR Maleficent is way more deep than people give her credit for and is court savvy and powerful and the King and Queen are idiots who started all this ruckus by intentionally offending a powerful sorceress twice.

Now, this plays out MUCH differently in the original telling of the story, with the whole 13th fairy business, but that’s a different matter altogether.