When it comes to villains, whether it’s Disney classic villains or villains like Darth Vader, we tend to try to justify their actions. with villains like Darth Vader, because what he did, he really thought he had to do those things to save his wife. The irony is that he ended up being the one who killed her. We tend to feel sorry for characters like that and want to justify them even if what they did was wrong.
Scar, he went about it the wrong way, trying to kill his nephew so he could be on the throne. You can’t really humanize him or even justify what he did because it’s wrong on so many levels Maleficent, I think she set the curse on the family because she was lonely and felt that it was not fair that others saw her as evil.
In the live-action movie, which I found was fantastic, Maleficent kidnaps Aurora and raises her as her own. When the curse makes her fall into a deep slumber, only a true love kiss would wake her. I was surprised that it was Maleficent’s kiss that woke her, and I think that is when you can humanize her or justify her actions. Kidnapping is wrong, yes, but we see the faults in villains and sometimes can relate to them more than the heroes.
However, in my opinion, Jafar, Gaston, and Shan Yu, I can’t even feel a bit sorry for them. They are the face of evil. None of their actions can be justified. Jafar wanted to use Jasmine as a slave and is just creepy. Gaston thought Belle was just his, which is very toxic thinking. Shan Yu is just a murderer and he has no reason to be attacking China. There is no humanizing these characters or justifying their actions.
Sometimes we justify villains because we can relate to them, like Maleficent. I think she wanted love so badly that she did something bad because people assumed the worst of her because shes not human. It’s okay to relate to them, we are all human and just like the villains, we all make mistakes.
