Maleficent, Something Borrowed
Disney’s tour-de-force of “sampling” presents multiple echoes of works by others
While Disney Studios has a reputation for zealous protection of their own copyrights, “Maleficent” is an impressive grab bag that shamelessly borrows from hundreds of works by others. Most obvious are echoes of films: “Avatar,” “Lord of the Rings,” “Shrek,” “Princess Bride,” “Pan’s Labyrinth,” Spike Jonze’s “Where the Wild Things Are,” Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland”–to mention a few. Those who know the art of children’s books will recognize scenes framed in the manner of pictures by Gustave Doré, Maxfield Parrish, Edmund Dulac, Maurice Sendak, and others. Maleficent’s story is likewise lifted from many sources, including Charles Perrault’s “Sleeping Beauty,” Gregory Maguire’s “Wicked,” even Disney’s own “Beauty and the Beast.” In the end, what is impressive about “Maleficent” is its wholesale borrowing and syncretistic genius. Here is the perfect movie for our Digital Age where “sampling” replaces originality and becomes its own kind of artistry.
The blending of a number of fairy tales is the hallmark of Stephen Sondheim’s play “Into the Woods.” Not surprisingly, Disney was attracted to this kind of syncretism and made a movie of the play. See my:
This very same technique — shamelessly borrowing from others — was also a hallmark of Disney’s famous film “Beauty and the Beast.” I talk about how that film is a kind of anthology of others’ versions of the tale in a chapter of my book:
And I explain how “sampling” (borrowing from others, as opposed to originality) has become the technique of our post-modern era in this essay:
In “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” (2019), Disney has offered a sequel to the original film.
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