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Disney The Wicked Witch Archetype

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disposition in our favorite movies (Adams). Disney created an origin story arch for Maleficent. In this arch, it is explained that the actual story line of Sleeping Beauty was told from a point of view that wasn’t quite spot on. Ever since her debut in Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent has held the rank of an iconic super villain. She did everything we expected and needed her to do: she cursed the princess, impeded the heroic prince’s progress, lost everything in the end, and did not live happily ever after. Disney had created a character that jived with what the public was looking for. However, this archetype did not appear with the creation of Maleficent. The “Wicked Witch” archetype has been around for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. The association of witches with evil can be traced all the way back to the Bible. In Deuteronomy 18:10-12, Moses relays the words of the Lord God to the Israelites, specifying that anyone “who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells… is detestable to the Lord” (Deuteronomy). This is a good starting point for how witchcraft came to be seen as evil. Since it was something God did not approve of, it therefore had to be inherently evil. However, this was not necessarily an archetype with a negative impact because the verse itself is not gender specific, it can be applied to males and …show more content…

In this rendition of the fairytale, Maleficent is shown to retain all of her formidable power. This is demonstrated through her ability to curse the princess, though now with a lesser penalty than the original curse, to summon giant tree monsters to defend her home realm against the kingdom’s invading army, and by enchanting the forest to grow large spiked trees which form an impenetrable barrier between her realm and the kingdom (Maleficent). These acts of power, while still impressive and

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Rhetorical Analysis Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and many other Disney movies all have one thing in common, they feature a female lead who need a male figure to save them. However, things started to change after the release of Mulan 1988. It changed from only having those female leads who always needed to rely on someone, to females who were able to show off their more masculine side. In the article “Post-Princess Models of Gender: The New Man in Pixar/Disney,” Ken Gillam and Shannon R. Wooden explored the idea that Pixar movies were starting to show male characters who weren 't afraid to show their emotions and feminine attributes, to promote the “New Man” model.

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Character Archetypes In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy was accompanied by a hunting group of companions on her journey to the Emerald City. Her companions consisted of Tin Man, Scarecrow, and Cowardly Lion, who were loyal and willing to face hardships and ordeals in order to stay together. All wanting seemingly unattainable things, they came along to meet the Wizard of Oz.

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“As the magician molted into the witch, she also became predominately female, inherently more wicked and more susceptible to satanic overtures.” Says Schiff. They were extremely wicked, casted spells and curses on whoever crossed their paths, and used their abhorrent magic to make pregnancies last for three years. They turned others into hybrids man didn’t even think possible. Women were mainly the ones accused because they had a standard. If they acted below those standards it wasn’t necessarily worrisome but if they acted above them it was awfully suspicious.

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The Bible might say there is evil, witches, and magic, but evil may have a different meaning entirely. The Puritans believed that evil went hand in hand with witches and magic. Although they claim to be the purist people of

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They were associated with witchcraft and all negative activities in the society. During the colonial period of New England, women learnt to silence their voices as they were expected to maintain their proper role of time. A woman would be at a high risk of being associated with witchcraft if she went against a man's though (Godbeer, 2004). Religious leaders also considered women to be weaker and thus associated them with witchcraft.

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In 1692, people were accused of casting spells, which meant they were siding with the devil in Salem, New England. Many people who lived in the countryside of Salem believed that the Holy Bible were God’s direct words and should be followed precisely. Women were more likely to be accused of casting spells because they were expected to be at home, listen to their husband, and weren’t aloud to be ministers so there were more likely to preach the devil. People believe that women aren’t good enough and men are superior to women, even now in this century. There is still a pay in inequality between the average men and women.

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The Wicked Witches of Oz correspond to the major corporations during the election of 1896. The Wicked Witch of the East is the ruler of the eastern land of Oz. She is the equivalent to the real worlds banks. Because of her wickedness a house was dropped on her leaving “her two feet, still sticking out from under a block of wood.” (Baum).

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The Little Mermaid: Hegemonic Femininity The transition from a girl to a woman is created by the socially constructed ideals of femininity often depicted in commercials, books, and mainly films. One of the famous animated princess Disney films, The Little Mermaid can be easily added to yet another Disney film portraying hegemonic femininity. In the 1989 film The Little Mermaid, (Ron Clements, John Musker) a beautiful, young mermaid is willing to make a risky deal with an evil sea-witch because she yearns to walk on land and fall in love with a Prince, while secretly the sea-witch wishes for the mermaid to lose the deal. Ultimately, mermaid ends up achieving her dream of marrying the Prince, although the evil sea-witch tries to destroy the plan.

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The practice of witchcraft was the hidden secret that surrounded the girls which later came back to disrupt the people. Religion practice was something huge to be followed and the witchcraft trials did not align with that, this lead to the people's name to be something so important to them. Those who did not follow the ten commandments were killed giving the girls practice, they committed the wrongs but start to put

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In today's society, the issue of gender roles has always been divisive and is still a source of contention for many. Remarks made about women in the media and even in person have always presented difficulties for women. Isabelle Gill writes about the prejudice that women still experience today and how it affects how princesses are perceived. Her article's goal was to highlight the distinctions between men and women in Disney tales. Isabelle talks about how princesses in movies receive unfair criticism and why they should be given more credit.

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Walt Disney has been making girls think that in order to be beautiful you have to be the perfect shape and size. (Shortridge). Some people believe that the Disney Princesses are great role models for children because Mulan teaches us to never give up on the strengths we have just because we are girls, Belle teaches us to never judge a book by its cover, and Pocahontas shows us real princesses are strong leaders. On the other hand, some individuals feel that Disney Princesses are bad role models because of their unrealistic body appearance, telling girls every marriage ends with a happily ever after when you get married at a young age, and saying every girl needs a man in order to be happy. Both sides have valid points but in reality everyone

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The Little Mermaid which was produced in 1989, was the first Disney movie to challenge the traditional gender roles, for the fact that Ariel wanted to explore, and was more independent and assertive in her desires than the earlier princesses of the 1930’s and 50s films. Also the prince in The Little Mermaid went against traditional gender roles as well, simply because he was more affectionate and loving than his prince counterparts in other Disney films. “Both the male and female roles have changed over time, but overall the male characters evinced less change then the female characters and were more androgynous throughout.” (Descartes & England, pg.566). Disney movies have been for a long time a strong media target for children, and can serve as a way to address stereotypical gender roles (Leaper, 2000).

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When we think about the villains Disney cinema produces, the first image that comes to mind is the powerful women who use their magic to cast spells, summon forces greater than life, and enhance their agency. Often, identifying the villain in Disney films is easy, since they differ considerably from gender conforming characters due to their physical features, abilities, and style of dress. When examining the villain, one of the characteristics that stand out, is the villains’ dehumanization and non-heteronormativity. As a result, the villains’ stories may not adhere to idealistic social norms, but it’s their own just the same.

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Archetypes are found in many stories. An archetype is a recurrent symbol, behavior, and even term found in in literature. For example, in the story “Cinderella”, one can relate the helpful fairy godmother to other stories, such as “Sleeping Beauty” and “Pocahontas”. These common ideas are also shown in the story “Ashputtle”. This story was about a young girl whose mother dies and later in the story, her father remarries a woman who had two daughters who treats Ashputtle terribly.

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