Abjection and Punishment in Disney’s Maleficent
Document Type
Panel Presentation
Keywords
film, abjection, Disney
Biography
Hallie Knipp is a second year English MA student studying Appalachian literature and culture.
Major
English
Advisor for this project
Dr. Walter Squire
Abstract
Disney’s 2014 film, Maleficent (dir. Robert Stromberg) lends itself to several readings, most notably being Julia Kristeva’s concept of the abject. While the abject is generally regarded as a negative notion, readings of Maleficent which consider abjection reveal that it is in fact positively regarded within the film. This is largely due to the point of view the film takes, attempting to reposition a previous villain (Maleficent from the 1959 Sleeping Beauty, directed by Wolfgang Reitherman) into a compassionate protagonist. This is largely done through making presentations of the abject into presentations of the norm, or the accepted standard. Through analysis of abjection, witch imagery, castration symbolism, and rape-revenge plots, one comes to the conclusion that Maleficent is a narrative structure which punishes those who reject abjection.
Barbara Creed relates her concept of the monstrous-feminine to Kristeva’s ideas of abjection, defined as “that which does not ‘respect borders, positions, rules,’ that which ‘disturbs identity, system, order’” (Kristeva qtd. in Creed 8). Creed explains that the abject is that which the subject rejects, something which goes against the usual order of things. However, the abject is also crucial in the forming of one’s identity, as “that which threatens to destroy life also helps to define life” (Creed 9). Creed limits her explanation to the horror genre, though in this analysis I will attempt to expand her “illustration of the work of abjection” (10) beyond the scope of horror films and instead into the world of the Disney-produced fairytale.
Abjection and Punishment in Disney’s Maleficent
Disney’s 2014 film, Maleficent (dir. Robert Stromberg) lends itself to several readings, most notably being Julia Kristeva’s concept of the abject. While the abject is generally regarded as a negative notion, readings of Maleficent which consider abjection reveal that it is in fact positively regarded within the film. This is largely due to the point of view the film takes, attempting to reposition a previous villain (Maleficent from the 1959 Sleeping Beauty, directed by Wolfgang Reitherman) into a compassionate protagonist. This is largely done through making presentations of the abject into presentations of the norm, or the accepted standard. Through analysis of abjection, witch imagery, castration symbolism, and rape-revenge plots, one comes to the conclusion that Maleficent is a narrative structure which punishes those who reject abjection.
Barbara Creed relates her concept of the monstrous-feminine to Kristeva’s ideas of abjection, defined as “that which does not ‘respect borders, positions, rules,’ that which ‘disturbs identity, system, order’” (Kristeva qtd. in Creed 8). Creed explains that the abject is that which the subject rejects, something which goes against the usual order of things. However, the abject is also crucial in the forming of one’s identity, as “that which threatens to destroy life also helps to define life” (Creed 9). Creed limits her explanation to the horror genre, though in this analysis I will attempt to expand her “illustration of the work of abjection” (10) beyond the scope of horror films and instead into the world of the Disney-produced fairytale.
