Résumé:
Using a feminist rereading of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale, this study investigates
how Disney’s Maleficent and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil question conventional
gender roles, power relations, and narrative structures. Tracing the patriarchal roots of
traditional fairy tales and analyzing how modern versions challenge these
conventions by reframing justice, motherhood, and female agency are the main
focuses of this work.
The main goal of this study is to examine the ideological shifts enabled by
Maleficent, especially in regard to how the title character is portrayed as a
multifaceted hero rather than a flat antagonist. The approach combines feminist
theory, adaptation studies, and visual analysis to explore narrative and cinematic
devices that reinterpret power, kinship, and morality. Intersectional feminist critiques,
Barbara Creed’s notion of the “monstrous-feminine,” and Linda Hutcheon’s adaptation
theory are important frameworks informing this research.
The results imply that Maleficent emphasises female sovereignty, chosen kinship,
and restorative justice, thereby subverting conventional fairy tale clichés. The films
promote non-biological motherhood as feminist resistance, prioritise reconciliation
over violence, and replace moral absolutes with complex ambiguity. These narrative
and visual strategies reflect broader cultural dialogues on trauma, gender politics, and
collective empowerment.
In essence, this dissertation contributes to current debates on female narratives in
modern media. Maleficent demonstrates how fairy tale adaptations can serve as
powerful vehicles for cultural critique and ideological transformation, offering new classic story.
paradigms of power, identity, and representation through the critical rereading of a
