Maleficent was a movie that I greatly appreciated because it emphasized that behind every person and who they become, there is a story. This movie really resonated with me because this is the story of our gullible youth towards our masked adulthood.
Here we have a young, happy, and naive fairy with the ability to soar through the skies in excitement and joy. In her youth she befriends a young boy named Stefan, and eventually fairy and boy fall in love. He promises to come back, yet as we have experienced many times in our lives with various individuals, he doesn’t keep his promise, yet.
Many years pass. The King at the time wanted to attack and conquer the Maus which is where Maleficent and the magical creatures lived. Maleficent was the protector of this area, and she defended it well. The King was hurt after attempting to attack Maleficent’s home, and his death wish for the next man to be crowned King was to cut Maleficent’s wings off, to avenge his death. And guess who was on deck with the desire to have power, wealth, and control? You guessed it, Stefan as an adult.
Stefan went to the Maus after almost 20 years of breaking his promise of coming back, and kind Maleficent took him back and spent hours and hours talking and spending time with him, grateful to have her old friend and lover back. As she slept this man cut her wings off, the one human she trusted, the one human she loved. Stefan became King, and Maleficent was left alone, wailing in pain, without her wings, and with a heart turned into rock after what had been done to her.
Fast forward and then comes the story of Aurora in Sleeping Beauty. The daughter of King Stefan who an “evil” fairy placed a curse on, that could only be broken by true love’s kiss. Something Maleficent didn’t believe in. While revenge on the innocent offspring of the man that betrayed her is not something to be looked up to, it can be understood how someone that was so cruelly betrayed would try to hurt her old lover and friend the way it would hurt him the most.
As you can see, many times we call people “evil” yet the correct word we should use is “dangerous” or “harmful”. From youth we have to be trained and taught why hurting others is something not to be done, and how and for what purpose to survive. Imagine a human never taught to control their own selfishness and instincts. A human who sees no example of kindness but only ridicule, fighting, and taking of what they want in apathy, who will that person become? We can see in countries such as where I am from, Venezuela, that when people in poverty and desperate need are not educated, crime lives rampant. It would be wise to come to the understanding that behind the actions of each person there is a past, not to excuse them, but to understand the behavior, and to attempt to modify that behavior in our current life and in the lives of those in our sphere of influence. All towards the attempt of a more considerate, conscientious, and empathetic society. A society where negative labels diminish and understanding inspiring action through art and compassion come about.
Disney’s Maleficent, an excellent movie, with a genius writer, going towards my same goal-
