The new movie, "Maleficent," is finally out. Disney's most iconic villain has her own show to waltz around in. However, sadly, she has been turned into another angst laden anti-hero. I'm sorry to see it. Villains are an important factor in stories, as they provide the context for heroes to be heroic. Finding memorable villains is as much fun as finding tremendous heroes.
Without getting into spoilers, Maleficent starts off as a good fairy and transforms into a reluctant villain, while still being the moral center of the story. I admit it doesn't make much sense to me, but I'm guessing they wanted to make the story a bit like the highly successful Broadway musical "Wicked" (which tells the story of the Wicked Witch of the West, and how she came to be wicked). I wish Disney hadn't done this. They had the opportunity of making "Maleficent" an even more iconic villain, but now she isn't a villain or a hero. She's an anti-hero, doing bad things for good reasons.
Anti-heroes do work out (a great example is Batman) but they are difficult to justify. Batman has had many re-imaginings and re-workings because it's hard to stomach the main character stepping over the line time and again. It takes a great deal of work to produce a movie, and I certainly am not saying the movie is bad--only that I regret the choice of turning her in a sympathetic figure who we understand and empathize with her hard life. Perhaps it's because this waters down the character, and I miss the gruff and frightening villain she used to be. I want to fear villains, in the same way I want to cheer on the heroes. Why change it?
- M
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment