New Year's Promise FAIL

One of my New Year's Promises (I'm not sold on the word "promises," but it's better than "resolutions" so...) was to blog more. Whoops.

But it's Spring Break, and this seems to be a good time to hit "reset."

So, starting nice and easy: Disney recently released a new poster for Maleficent 2. Take a look below:

Like many of Disney's projects this year, not much is known about the plot. Both Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning are returning (as Maleficent and Aurora, respectively) -- as are Juno Temple and Imelda Staunton as two of the three fairies (don't get me started on their characters from the original film). The big casting for the sequel is Michelle Pfeiffer as "Queen Ingrith," but no one really knows what her role will entail.

But the "reveal" from the trailer comes in the subtitle of the sequel: "Mistress of Evil."

I mean...that's our girl Maleficent. At least, in the 1959 film:

The only problem is that that's not Maleficent's MO anymore. That's the whole point of the 2014 film. The first line of the film is literally, "Let us tell an old story anew and we will see how well you know it."The whole point is that Maleficent isn't really evil, she's just a scorned woman who made a bad decision but ultimately was saved by true (maternal) love. 

Which raises the question: Who is the Mistress of Evil? I, of course, want it to be Maleficent, but I doubt it will be. Which leaves, potentially, Michelle Pfeiffer's character. 

I would like to say, "I'm sure Disney will come through with a stellar storyline" but...after the first movie, I can't be too sure. On the one hand, yes. I thought it was fantastic that Disney took one of their most passive female characters and created a film that didn't hinge on romantic love. But, on the other hand, Maleficent is the most bad-ass Disney villain (and if Buzzfeed agrees, it must be true 😂).  She's evil just because she wants to be. There's no tragic backstory, no jilted lover, no scorned woman. And Disney took that away in their attempt to...I'm not really sure. I think "create an empowered fairy-tale retelling that didn't pit women against each other." So, yeah. I'm not super optimistic at the moment. 

Maleficent 2 + Michelle Pfeiffer

So...I came across this headline this evening:

via Variety

And I'm just a little confused. 

All of this is really vague at the moment -- and it's not even official yet -- but the casting news is that Michelle Pfeiffer will be "the queen" in Maleficent 2. 

What queen? 

I don't really remember Maleficent that well -- it's not my favorite, since they gave a badass villain a hell-hath-no-fury backstory -- but I'm pretty sure that the movie ends with Aurora/Elle Fanning being crowned queen. (I think this means her mother dies...? I'm not sure, but it's Disney, so it's a safe bet to assume they axed the mother.)

So Michelle Pfeiffer won't be her mother/*that* queen, which begs the question: which queen will she be playing?

My first thought is that she'll be some sort of Evil Queen. Which...

via GIPHY

Really? Again, Disney? Female conflict? I guess they could spin it as "empowered females" rather than the same old patriarchal monarchy but...pitting females against each other rarely ends well. [Don't even get me started on this Mulan casting news...but more about that later.]

My second thought -- and they're not mutually exclusive -- was that maybe Pfeiffer could be playing Sleeping Beauty's mother-in-law. In the original story -- the "second" part that didn't get adapted in 1959 -- Sleeping Beauty and the Prince get married, and the prince takes her home to meet his parents. But, in a weird twist, his mother is actually a cannibalistic ogress who sends Sleeping Beauty away so she can eat her grand babies (and then Sleeping Beauty). [Because, oh yeah, Sleeping Beauty got pregnant and had two children by him. In some versions of the story -- the Italian version, I think -- the children were conceived before the spell was broken (i.e. rape) and Sleeping Beauty wakes up during labor. Not the best story for consent. One of my favorite things to discuss with students is how True Love's Kiss is basically Disney's invention -- it's not in the original fairy tales: Snow White wakes up because the apple is jolted out of her throat by a clumsy footman and Sleeping Beauty wakes up because the 100 Year Timer goes off.]

So, yeah. It's probably not going to happen because this cannibalistic ogress are like the most un-Disney thing ever, but then Maleficent is essentially raped in the first movie, so I guess it's possible?

Halloween Treat, Disney Style

Well this looks delightfully appropriate for Halloween. If only I had the free time to try to make it! 

Food For Thought...

I came across this video this morning...not exactly sure how, but there it is:

This lyric struck me, as it's one of the issues I grapple with when thinking about villains/evil in Disney films. I'm particularly intrigued by the "no one's evil for evil's sake" part...

"We are all misjudged, we are all begrudged, and of course we've made mistakes
But you can rest assured our hearts are pure, no one's evil for evil's sake
We have all had dreams, things are never as they seem, maybe we're the heroes too
But a happy-ever-after is a dream that won't come true."

I've been fascinated by Disney villains and why they're seen as evil for a while now...there's been a trend lately in pop culture to blur the lines between good and evil, hero and villain, and even Disney hasn't escaped this: there's been an uptick in villain origin stories (perhaps started by Wicked?). I think this is the reason I was so drawn to Once Upon A Time, especially when they delved into the background of Regina/The Evil Queen and Rumple. It was all well and good to see how Snow White and Charming met, but the most dynamic episodes early on were the ones that gave some depth and insight into the Evil Queen's character -- showing that she didn't start off evil; that life (and her abysmal mother) caused her to turn that way.

Can people be evil for evil's sake? What about fictional characters? Do all characters, regardless of whether or not we know it, have an origin story? Is there a time, in that origin story, where they're not evil? If so, what makes them evil? Does it justify their behavior? Or at least allow us, as the audience, to excuse it more easily?

BuzzFeed Presents: The One Thing You Never Noticed About Disney Characters

I feel like I should be surprised by the number of Disney-related things that appear on BuzzFeed.

But I'm not.

Although this one...a little mind-blowingly weird: the one thing we apparently never noticed about Disney characters. And I'll admit: I definitely did not notice it.

(c) Disney

Spoiler Alert: It's their fingernails. Or, lack thereof. 

It seems to be an inconsistent animation thing, because....:

(c) Disney

...villains apparently get bad-ass manicures. (I mean, look at those talons!) 

And sometimes, on the princesses, it just looks weird:

(c) Buzzfeed

Head on over to BuzzFeed to view the whole gallery/their thoughts on Disney fingernails. :) 

Well played, Tee Turtle. Well played.

So TeeTurtle finally released the other two designs in their Disney/Harry Potter mash-up series -- Rapunzel as Hufflepuff and Maleficent as Slytherin. 

I love them all -- but since I was officially sorted into Ravenclaw (as if there was every any doubt, Pottermore!), I bought the Belle one. 

I gotta say though -- two of these are absolutely spot-on. Maleficent as Slytherin (even though she's not a princess -- is there a princess who would be a Slytherin? Maybe Jasmine...) and Belle as Ravenclaw are perfect. 

And I see/totally get Mulan as a Gryffindor and Rapunzel as a Hufflepuff -- but I would have gone with different choices....as my husband pointed out, I feel like they really missed an opportunity to have Merida as a Gryffindor. I mean, her movie was literally called Brave. And while Rapunzel is 100% a Hufflepuff, I would have gone with either Snow White or Tiana; after all, "those patient Hufflepuffs are true and unafraid of toil." 

I'm sure it's been a very popular series--I'm just sayin' they could do a second series. :P There's tons of inspiration by DeviantArtist Eira1893 -- one of my favorite Buzzfeed Geeky posts.