Maleficent

Maleficent is a character created and popularized by Disney adaptations of the Sleeping Beauty story, derived from the wicked/female-fairy antagonist found in Charles Perrault’s and the Brothers Grimm’s versions of the tale. In the 1959 animated film she appears as an uninvited supernatural guest at Princess Aurora’s christening and curses the infant in revenge for the slight; the 2014 live-action film reframes her origin within the film’s internal history, depicting her as a powerful fairy of the Moors whose bond with a human (Stefan) breaks and leads her to curse his daughter Aurora in retaliation.

1959 animated film: Designed by Marc Davis as an elegant, sinister, green-skinned figure described in sources as a ‘‘vain femme fatale’’ rather than a hag; she is associated with a raven familiar (Diablo) and in the climax transforms into a large dragon whose animation was modeled on a rattlesnake with powerful musculature. 2014 live-action film: Portrayed by Angelina Jolie with live-action costuming and prosthetic makeup; development notes and commentary link aspects of the film’s visual design to earlier European fairy motifs (including suggested inspirations such as Mélusine) and to contemporary stylistic influences noted in production featurettes and reviews.

1959 film: Casts a binding, time-bound curse that Aurora will die by spindle at sunset on her sixteenth birthday; uses familiars (raven Diablo) for surveillance; transforms into a will-o'-the-wisp form to lure Aurora and later into a dragon. The good fairies are unable to fully annul the curse, though Merryweather modifies it so that Aurora sleeps rather than dies, making the effect reversible by 'true love's kiss.' 2014 film: Depicted as able to place a powerful curse on Aurora and presented within the narrative as territorial protector of the Moors who can muster 'bestial' forces; motives are reframed as vengeance resulting from betrayal, giving her actions a protective/retaliatory context in that retelling.