Maleficent
HOLY FUCKING SHITBALLS, THAT WAS AWESOME AND I CRIED FROM LIKE THE FUCKING BEGINNING TO END AT THE AWESOME
Oh god, I'm so tired because I only slept four patchy hours last night, so I can't remember everything. And I was still woozy from the meds I took last night and today to not fall apart. And that was, to be honest, a good state of mind to be in. I went in there wearing thick black eyeliner, silent movie level, thick black party mascara and I HAD CRIED ALL OF THAT SHIT OUT BY THE END OF THE FILM AND MY FACE WAS FULL OF BLACK STREAKS.
I just... was that the most feminist movie I'd ever seen? Passed the Bechdel test with flying colours, portrayed a morally complex main character, all the main characters with the most lines were women and the main villain was a guy. And the setup was violence and war and iron vs. happy nature and gentleness and love and trust and generally getting along with one another. And the good male characters were sweet and I FUCKING LOVED how the prince didn't magically save the day.
When that bastard cut her wings I started weeping uncontrollably because of all the symbolism. I, too, have had my wings cut by men too many times, have thought I'd lost all my power. And yet--Maleficent had her power. She still had her magic. SHE STILL HAD THE MAGIC SHE WAS BORN WITH EVEN IF SHE HAD BEEN VIOLATED. The fucking symbolism, man, the fucking symbolism. And little by little, she grew in strength and bitterness AND ALSO GREW HER FUCKING HEART BACK. *sobs* And I love that she had magic and nature on her side, that it was the Ents very trees fighting back. Magic and nature and beauty and healing triumphing over greed and violence and brutality cold hard rocks and steel.
When they were in Aurora's chamber and needed to wake her up, I first thought it was going to be Raven Guy who was going to be her true love and awaken her with the kiss (because I knew immediately it wasn't going to be the prince--this movie was too clever and too well-written for that), and yet when Maleficent approached her my slash senses started tingling (but only jokingly), and I cried at Maleficent at her bedside. But the fact that it was the kiss of motherly love that woke Aurora up made me absofuckinglutely EXPLODE in tears because YES, YES, YES. THE LOVE AND CARING BETWEEN WOMEN FOR ONCE BEING THE RESCUING FORCE. And not just some random prince who happens to be nearby. I was just shaking.
And I tried to explain all the stuff to TallBlondeAmazon after we came out of the cinema but I'd just managed to fix my makeup again and I couldn't because I just started crying again. I tried to explain to her about the wings being cut and how I've had my wings cut and how other women have had their wings cut and--and I just broke down in tears again. She hasn't been in a really shitty relationship and is super-strong, so I don't know if she would've understood it that well. She really enjoyed it, so that was good. And I was just gushing about how I am SO GLAD there are now little girls and boys who are able to watch this film and get stories like these. Where good and evil aren't black and white, where the protagonist is both the hero and the villain, and with SO MANY STRONG WOMEN AND SO MANY POSITIVE VALUES AND HEALING AND--fuck, crying again. My little feminist heart is *bursting* from joy. That I am alive to see something like this is just mindblowing, and I'm so grateful. Massive, massive props to Angelina for producing this film and bringing it to life and the lady screenwriter whose name I can't check because IMDB is FUBAR for me at the moment and I just--*sobs happily*
This was a Goddess movie, a Shakti movie through and through.