“Let us tell an old story anew, and let us see how well you know it…”[1]
This post contains spoilers…so if you don’t want Disney’s 2014 Maleficent ruined, you should stop reading and watch it before you continue. Otherwise, proceed…
I love this opening line from the movie. It evokes a timelessness as the disparate tales of the Sleeping Beloveds are woven together. And I don’t think man meant to weave it together, either.
When we meet Maleficent, she is a young fairy full of love, life, and zeal. She is the guardian of her land – the moors – which is filled with magical creatures and is bordered by the land of mortals.
One of these mortals – a poor, young boy named Stefan – ventures into the land and befriends the good fairy. Friendship turns into love, and when Maleficent turns sixteen, Stefan gives her a most precious gift: true love’s kiss.
And then he leaves. He is enticed away by ambition and glory, and forgets his promises of love.
Definitely a man after Troylus’ heart (which bodes ill), but this betrayal is not enough to put Maleficent’s heart to sleep. Rather, she grows in grace and beauty. Just as the Valkyrie flew into battle, so Maleficent flies to and fro, as much a warrior-maiden as our valiant Brunhild ever was. In her wings lies her dignity, her sense of worth, and her power to protect.
After many years, the mortal king of the neighboring land becomes fearful of Maleficent, and attacks the moors. Maleficent wards them off, delivering a mortal blow to the king.
Back in his palace, the king lies upon his deathbed and promises the hand of his daughter – and thus his kingdom – to whomever kills Maleficent. As it happens, Stefan is an attendant of the king. He suddenly sees his chance to acquire the glory he’s been seeking.
Stefan heads to the moors where he calls for his childhood sweetheart and warns of the king’s intent. They speak of all that has happened since they last met, and as the years “melt away”, all seems to go back to as it had been.
It is here where Maleficent becomes our first Sleeping Beloved. Stefan drugs her, causing her to fall into a deep sleep (making Maleficent the first Sleeping Beloved to fall into a deep physical sleep before her heart falls asleep).
Stefan raises his dagger to kill Maleficent and acquire his heart’s desire…but he cannot do it.
So instead, Stefan takes Maleficent’s wings. They do not show the wing-taking; instead, they show Maleficent’s awakening.
It’s a heart-wrenching scene. Like our Zellandine, Maleficent awakes to find her dignity taken, her identity destroyed, and her body ravaged.[2] Stefan may not have killed her body, but he did kill her heart. Battered and bruised, Maleficent secludes herself in the ruins of a castle, far away from all the beauty of the moors. Here, her heart sleeps.
And so Zellandine’s story is shown anew. Our Zellandine – who waited so long for justice – has finally been given a voice in Maleficent. Like Zellandine, Maleficent’s pain is indescribable; but just like Zellandine, she does not allow her heart to become hard…not yet, at least.
Sources
[1] All synopses are taken from Disney’s 2014 Maleficent
[2] Jolie and Wolverton intentionally filmed this scene as an allegory for rape, see http://ow.ly/RtQNU
