The movie my group chose to watch was Maleficent. This movie is basically retelling the story of Sleeping Beauty but from a different perspective, and showing the background and reasons for what happens in the commonly known story.
This movie has a few main conflicts. One of the major conflicts was between the two kingdoms, the Moors and the humans. The Moors are magical creatures that live in harmony, and the humans are in a kingdom ruled by King Henry. The narrator of the movie describes them as "the worst of neighbors". They have had wars and hatred for each other for a long time.
Another main conflict was between Maleficent and Stefan. They met when they were young and Stefan tried to steal a jewel from the land of the Moors. After that they began spending a lot of time together and fell in love. However, after King Henry's failed attempt to kill Maleficent, Stefan has the opportunity to become the King's successor if he can complete the task. He goes to see Maleficent and has an internal conflict: greed versus love. He has to sacrifice one to have the other. He drugs Maleficent and tries to kill her but could not follow through with it because he still has feelings for her. Instead, in order to save her life while also getting what he wants, he cuts off her wings to present to the King. Maleficent wakes up feeling heart-broken and betrayed. She decides to take revenge by cursing King Stefan's daughter. King Stefan, afraid of the curse, sends his baby daughter to be raised in a cottage by three fairies. With King Stefan's hatred toward Maleficent because of the curse, he prepares his army to take revenge by hunting her down and killing her. The conflict between these two seems like a revolving door of revenge.
Another main conflict was between the three fairies, although it actually consists of many little conflicts between the same beings. They are not very smart, easily distracted, and they frequently disagree, argue, interrupt each other, and get into physical fights that are not very harmful. It would be very beneficial to their relationship with each other if they could figure out different ways to handle conflict or avoid unnecessary ones.
In the end everything turns out okay and the characters and the viewers have a chance to forget all about the conflicts that occurred throughout the movie for a while.
Good summary of all the conflicts of the film. Personally, it was very hard to understand Stefan -- giving up on the love of a beautiful winged Moor creature for only the possibility of power and living with shame of betrayal. I could understand the need for revenge by Maleficent (after it, she was betrayed, symbolically date raped and amputated), but putting the curse on an innocent child was a tragic mistake that even she realized later and could not undo. I am happy to see Disney change the "evil" of Malificient to an understandable but mistaken revenge attempt -- and see how she undergoes the most change in the film, learning how to truly and deeply love. The battle between the greedy humans and the environmentalist Moors reminds of Avatar (battle between the greedy humans and environmentalist Na'vi), a movie which further reminds me of the Disney movie Pocahontas (battle between the greedy humans and the environmentalist Indians). I think we all need as many reminders as possible of how we are raping the planet in our quest for greed and resources, and we should be putting love for others and the planet first. Love your analysis of the movie :)
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