ORLANDO, Fla. — Iconic Disney antagonists such as Cruella de Vil, Captain Hook, and Maleficent have long been notorious for their wicked intentions: turning Dalmatian puppies into coats, plotting against Peter Pan with explosives, and cursing young Aurora, respectively. But what if these infamous Disney villains were actually victims of misunderstanding? This is the intriguing concept explored in a new musical production at Walt Disney World, leading some to question if Disney’s villains have softened in their malicious pursuits.
The live show, “Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After,” premiers on May 27 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios Park in Orlando, Florida. This engaging production offers a stage for these classic Disney villains to convince audiences that they are not as villainous as history remembers, but rather, they are the most misunderstood characters.
Mark Renfrow, the creative director behind the show, explained in a promotional video, “We wanted to tell a story that’s a little different than what’s been told before: Which one of them has been treated the most unfairly ever after?”
This narrative twist, however, has not been universally well-received. “I think it’s wonderful when you still have stories where villains are purely villainous,” commented Benjamin Murphy, professor of philosophy and religious studies at Florida State University’s Panama campus. “Villains reveling in their evil can be amusing and satisfying.”
Disney has a history of giving villainous characters a humanized backstory. The 2021 film “Cruella,” for example, offered viewers a look at Cruella de Vil’s past, suggesting her dog-hating ways stemmed from familial rejection. This trend of reevaluating villainous figures is mirrored in broader pop culture, notably with “Wicked,” the famed retelling of the Wicked Witch of the West from “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” Murphy highlighted the book-turned-musical “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” as a major influence on this trend.
Fairy tales, upon which many Disney films are based, historically aimed to instill moral lessons in children, like warning against interacting with wolves or mistrusting mysterious strangers. These stories, however, often portrayed marginalized individuals as villains, noted Rebecca Rowe, an assistant professor of children’s literature at Texas A&M University-Commerce.
Rowe pointed out that the shift towards more nuanced portrayals of villains began in the late 1980s and 1990s alongside a broader societal emphasis on acceptance. “The problem is everyone has swung so hard into that message, that we have kind of lost the villainous villains,” Rowe observed. “There is value in the villainous villains. There are people who just do evil things.”
Whether it’s beneficial for children to identify with villains is complex. While there is a risk of them adopting negative traits, some scholars suggest it isn’t necessarily detrimental if children empathize with characters who are often part of marginalized communities, Rowe mentioned.
Disney villains have also struck a chord with adults and members of the LGBTQ+ community, who often resonate with the campiness and perceived marginalization of these characters. Some “Disney princesses” even transition into “evil queens,” embracing these villainous roles.
Erik Paul, an Orlando local and long-time Disney World passholder, is not especially drawn to the villains but acknowledges why Disney might choose to portray them in a more sympathetic light. “I know friends who go to Hollywood Studios mainly to see the villain-related activities,” Paul said. “Maybe that’s why people like the villains because they feel misunderstood as well, and they feel a kinship to the villains.”