I watched this all the time when I was a kid. My favorite godmother was the short, hotheaded one named Merryweather that loved the color blue and I always wanted the charming owl for my own because jumping around and singing into my hairbrush all the time did nothing for any potential dancing skills I may have had that have since fizzled out.

For real, though. I’m going to prom in a month and I’m probably going to end up doing the Carlton or the Luna Lovegood. 

But yeah. Sleeping Beauty. I watched it all the time because it’s one of those movies that I felt really roped me in the way a fantasy only can. For awhile, I never questioned anything in the movie. And then I noticed that everyone made an awful fuss about this baby being born. And how silly it was that Maleficent made all that fuss over not being invited to the party. And how whiny and fussy Aurora was when her godmothers told her she couldn’t talk to the random stranger she met in the woods anymore. Fuss fuss fuss. Then I began to think that it was really weird that Aurora and Phillip had only really met once but were already in love with each other. And how stupid it was that something like a finger-prick was supposed to render her defenseless. I got papercuts all the time and I didn’t do anything more than whine about it for a few minutes. I got annoyed at Aurora.

But I still watched the movie— I wondered why Maleficent hated Aurora so much. Was she jealous of her? Surely she was? No one is just evil like that? Granted, it was fairytale, but. Fairytales are reality rooted in fantasy. Reality: Humanity; Fantasy: Setting/premise.

I think the reason it took me so long to question why Aurora was the target of Maleficent’s resentment was because they did a good job making you feel sorry for the princess. Once I stopped feeling so sorry for her, I wondered: What did sixteen year old Aurora have that Maleficent wanted so badly? Her secluded life in the woods with no parents, no shoes, and no friends aside from three old ladies that watched her like a hawk? She talked to animals. I mean, really. That life can’t be it.

No… Maleficent disliked Aurora before that. She cursed her as a baby— a baby that didn’t really have anything to her name aside from (okay, fine) the title of princess. But still, Maleficent was a badass and reveled in that. I don’t think she was jealous of the princess for being a princess because if that were the case, why not envy the queen because… she’s actually a queen? Maleficent didn’t curse Aurora for being a princess.

But baby Aurora received “gifts” when she was born: golden sunshine-y hair, rosey-red lips, eternal springtime, the voice of a nightingale etc. And she already had a prince lined up waiting for her to hit puberty. Sweet deal, right? She had all that handed to her just for being born!  See, It’s not evident at first because they want you to hate her, but Maleficent is beautiful, too. I mean, aside from the horns that were added for dramatic effect— just look at her facial structure, her lips, her eyes. Even her voice is dripping with allure, for lack of a better word. She has a dark, unconventional type of beauty in the premise of Sleeping Beauty.

(Note: Maybe they want us to think that she’s so evil and lives in perpetual darkness and that’s why her skin is a different color, but what if it really suggests a different ethnicity? I know that Aurora is literally a princess, but on the symbolic plane of the movie, is she representative of Privileged White Folk? Maybe I’m reaching here, but it’s Disney, so I don’t feel like this is an entirely unreasonable query… although it is a discussion for a different day.)

Merryweather says that Maleficent is the way she is because she can’t understand “love, kindness and the joy of helping others.”

But very rarely does that disconnection from empathy come naturally. This depends on your views about Nature vs. Nurture— but what if she was never shown any of that love, kindness and empathy that Merryweather claimed Maleficent couldn’t understand? I mean, before she even cursed Aurora, no one else is really showing her any kindness either. They were already ostracizing her.

From that ostracization, Maleficent doesn’t get the love that Aurora gets. In fact, she is made out to be against it when she tries to hold the Prince prisoner and mocks True Love’s supposed triumph. She has her minions and a strong affection for her raven. Maleficent is a badass. She is not one to pine over a man. She is confident in her independence and, one can assume, her sexuality.

This could mean a few things: Maleficent is Disney’s way of commenting about the evils of being an independent woman who doesn’t need a man and how woman like her strive to take down the institution of marriage by stepping out of the assigned role of a woman in a patriarchal society. Or she’s their homophobic comment on Lesbianism and its evils. They were implying that a woman was not a valid part of society unless she belonged to a man. Aurora was isolated to a cabin out in the woods but everyone still loved her because they knew when she reentered society, it would be into the arms of a man. Maleficent stayed in the kingdom and remained man-less, but how was she treated whilst there? Like she didn’t exist; she was worthless. Going back to Merryweather’s claim about Maleficent’s lack of empathy - it has to come from somewhere. She had to have been jaded by someone. That someone is society. 

Disney was saying: “This is what happens to you if you are an independent woman.”

Aurora is a delicate flower rendered defenseless against a prick of a needle and can only be saved from her delicate defenselessness and isolation from society by waiting for a man to save her. She is painted with pastels and frills and flowers and triumph. Maleficent is a single, confident older woman in society. She is painted with the burnt colors of jealousy, resentment and condemnation.

The message didn’t ruin me because I grew up knowing I could do whatever the heck I wanted and I have a mother that made sure of that. I still don’t think that message should be written off because “Wow, it’s just a kid’s movie, relax!” or “But Disney has come such a long way!” Perhaps they have come a long way— I won’t deny them that. But the sexism that fueled that message is still around despite how far society has come.

For me, the magic of this movie wore off awhile ago— but the inspiration to spread the opposite of its message is something that I don’t see wearing off as long as there are people that will try to make my potential daughter feel like Maleficent some day. Whenever or if she ever happens to my life. And my gift to her will be making sure she knows that she can do anything she wants to do. She will be able to combat any curse society wants to put her under and she will do so like a boss.

I initially meant to reblog this to talk about how gorgeous the artwork is in this movie. It’s just about the only thing that still is.