When Evil Is Called Good (Updated from original 2014 post)

The Sleeping Beauty

Henry Meynell Rheam

I suppose it would not bother me so much if the tale of

Sleeping Beauty was not one of my favorite fairytales. 

I clearly remember when I was a little girl growing

up in southern New Jersey and my grandmother taking

my sisters and me to see the beautiful tale of

Princess Aurora as retold through the wondrous

 screen magic of Walt Disney's animated

1959 film,  "Sleeping Beauty".

My favorite characters besides the Princess and

Prince Phillip, were Aurora's three 

feisty and funny fairy godmothers,

Flora, Fauna, but especially, bumbling

blue Merryweather.

My least favorite character of course was the

despicable evil fairy called Maleficent.

Created exclusively for the 1959 Disney film,

Maleficent, after feigning hurt for not being invited to

Princess Aurora's christening, then proceeds to put

a terrible curse on the innocent baby princess,

claiming that when she turns sixteen years old,

she will prick her finger on the needle of a

spinning wheel and die.

After she departs the grand reception hall in a swirl

of glowing green vapor, Aurora's stunned and frightened

parents are relieved when they discover that one of

the three fairy godmothers, pleasingly plump,
 bluer than a bluebell Merryweather, has yet to

bestow her blessing on the sleeping child.

While Merryweather can not fully undo the

wicked fairy's curse, she grants that Aurora

will not die, but that she will fall into a

deep sleep, and will be awakened only

by true love's first kiss.

Throughout the movie, Maleficent tries
 to destroy the innocent and beautiful

Princess Aurora, but in the end, her wickedness
 is soundly defeated after gallant

Prince Phillip impales her black dragon heart

with a sword blessed by the magic
of the three fairy godmothers.

He then returns to the palace where Beauty

lies in deep sleep and bestows the long awaited

 first kiss of true love.

Princess Aurora awakens and finds

 her dream man by her side...

...and they lived happily ever after!

Fast forward to the 2014 and the release of the

dark fantasy, "Maleficent". 

 In this recent re-telling

of the classic tale, the title character is no

longer portrayed as evil, but as a wronged victim,

 who, at the end of the film, 

becomes the heroine of the story!

Angelina Jolie

as "Maleficent"

 

According to Wikipedia's synopsis:

 "Soon after, Aurora is crowned queen

 of the human and fairy realms by Maleficent,

 unifying the two kingdoms,

 with Phillip appearing at the coronation.

 Maleficent returns to her role

as protector over the kingdoms."

"Maleficent returns to her role
 as protector over the kingdoms?"

May be I seem to be 
overreacting here just a bit,
 but, I find this statement more than
 a little disturbing to say the least. 

 I know someone reading this might think,

" What's the big deal?It's just a movie!"

  While that is true, movies often have a powerful

effect on the minds of the many millions of people

 around the world who watch them, and
especially on the impressionable and
innocent minds of children.  

   In the 1959 animated story,

 Maleficent was portrayed as thoroughly
and intentionally evil,

hence her curious name, which is defined as,

"causing or capable of producing evil".

 She clearly possessed no redeemable

 qualities whatsoever. 

 Cloaked in the powers of darkness, 

Maleficent cursed the innocent baby

without a second thought of mercy or apology- unlike her

latest incarnation- which portrays her as a once noble

fairy who succumbed to the dark side after being

betrayed by Aurora's father, King Stefan.

 Maleficent in the 1959 Disney animated

classic, "Sleeping Beauty"

In the book,
 "Battle Plan For Spiritual Warfare"

 authors Joe Wasmond and Rich Miller

 point out that Satan will use any

resource to confuse and deceive people

 regarding supernatural forces of good and evil,
even through the seemingly harmless re-telling
of a classic fairytale.

"Demonic forces are hard at work trying to whisper lies

into our minds to distort our picture of God. They will use

any resource at their disposal, including false religions,

deceived people, ungodly media, -(including movies)-to

try and implant their lies into our thinking."

"Battle Plan For Spiritual Warfare"
Joe Wasmond and Rich Miller

"Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil, who put darkness for light
and light for darkness, who put bitter
for sweet and sweet for bitter!"
Isaiah 5:20

While the perceptions of what

is good and what is evil have become

 increasingly skewered in the 21st century

technology-distracted world in which

 we live in today, God never changes
and neither does His precious Word. 

 God's love for man is not based
 on condition or circumstances.

He wants the best for people, if only they

 choose to place their trust in Him.

This is why He sent Jesus.
"For God so greatly loved and dearly
prized the world that He even gave up 
His only begotten Son, so that whosoever
believes in Him shall not perish but
have eternal life."
John 3:16

Recommended Reading:
1 Corinthians 15

"And I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her Offspring;
He will bruise and tread your head underfoot,
and you will lie in wait and bruise his His heel."
Genesis 3:15