MALEFICENT: REIMAGINING “THE SLEEPING BEAUTY” WITH A POST-MODERNIST PERSPECTIVE

Mehwish Ali Khan

Ms. Ph.D. Scholar., Quaid-i-Azam University, Pakistan, mahwishalisbkwu@hotmail.com

Abstract

The goal of the present project is to highlight the postmodernist perspective of fairy tale themes in the movie, Maleficent 2014. Postmodernism is an era where “Meta-Narratives” are challenged, everything is being observed through a lens different from the past. Movie creators of postmodern era have reinterpreted the original fairy tales in ways that fit contemporary norms and circumstances. Movie creators represent the old texts of fairy tales but have changed the title, plot and role of characters, e.g. “Maleficent”, the antagonist of “Sleeping Beauty” now owns the title of the story, she also shares her part of story, which was previously unknown.

Researcher used the eight elements that Kevin Paul Smith has mentioned in his book “ Post Modern Fairy tales, Folk Loric Intertexts in Contemporary Fiction”. The fifth element i.e. “revision”, makes the claim of the researcher valid because the story is given a new spin and the changes made in the story of “Sleeping Beauty” are according to the norms of today, e.g. the women in the movie i.e. “Aurora”, the Princess and “Maleficent” the Witch are given a prominent position and a voice to speak their point of view, previously they were known through the eyes of other characters only. These results show a diversification in the way things are now being looked at. Fairy tales are the movies that are easily accessible to our children, further study on this theme can help understand the society of today, the postmodernist society.

Keywords: Intertextuality, Postmodernism, Fairytales.