Image Analysis

http://movies.disney.co.uk/sleeping-beauty

http://movies.disney.co.uk/maleficent

The above images show two rather different interpretations, both by Disney. The first image (left) shows Disney’s animated motion picture released in 1959, right showing their live-action version ‘Maleficent’, released in 2014. Obvious distinctions can be seen between both, one of which concerns the protagonist. The newer version shifts the focus to Maleficent- the ‘villain’ within the original narratives and attempts to transform the audience’s perception of her by explaining the reasoning for her wickedness. Folklorists may argue that this drastically obstructs the message being communicated as well as going against the usual conventions of a fairy tale- outlining ‘good’ and ‘bad’. This usually takes place within characters, in order for the reader to make clear distinctions, a theory suggested by Bettelheim in his statement- ‘In practically every fairy tale good and evil are given body in the form of some figures and their actions’ (Bettelheim, 1977, p.8-9) and proceeds to explain that ‘The figures in fairy tales are not ambivalent- not good or bad at the same time, as we all are in reality’ (p.9). This could therefore suggest the issues with representing Maleficent as both good and bad in this new interpretation. Furthermore, it is evident within the image (right) that Maleficent is a thing of beauty, regardless of the fact that she is a witch. It somewhat distracts the audience away from her evil nature by presenting something aesthetically pleasing for the audience’s enjoyment when viewing rather than focusing on the ‘deeper significance’ (p.24) of the story. This explains the reason for which Bettelheim suggested that as a result of TV and film developments, ‘fairy tales have turned into empty-minded entertainment’ (p.24), also supported by Joseph Campbell (Campbell, Moyers and Flowers, 2012). However, in contrast to this, Tatar claims that ‘For a good part of the last century, Disney studios kept fairy tales alive.’ (Tatar and Byatt, 2012, p.xvi) and this is further supported by Zipes who states that although they have been ‘geared to pure entertainment’, they have not lost their relevance throughout the world (Zipes 2013, p93).