Japanese Trailer Focuses On the 'Sleeping' Side of Maleficent (also, New Footage!)

The poster from CinemaCon, revealed today (at time of writing) this week

It's not difficult to see a certain mentality behind the Japanese trailer for Maleficent that's aimed at Asian audiences. Rather than the gaining of power and seeing the good heart that was the person Maleficent used to be, being challenged (and woken up?) by the innocent princess, we see a tragic past, malevolence, revenge and the interconnectedness of it all (with a slight glimmer of possible redemption - maybe...).

Props (& costumes below) from the movie at the D23 Member Maleficent event in Portland this last week

The fact that Aurora and Maleficent are both, in a way, each other's shadow is highlighted in this trailer, as is the connected web of everyone's actions, past, present and possible futures. Maleficent's own actions and reactions get larger and larger, while all the time, it's the smallest, most fragile thing, the glimmer of an alive heart within the rest that's turned to stone, that may be the saving grace of them all. Aurora herself is the symbol of that still-human/alive sliver of Maleficent's heart.

Did you notice the floating princess following Maleficent
as she strides through the (heart of the) fairy forest?
Metaphor, metaphor... :)

It's always interesting to see one film get very different trailers for different countries. These sorts of themes appear a lot in Japanese stories, so it's no wonder they're highlighted here. What's left unsaid, however, is that such differently emphasized/slanted trailers say as much about the maker's impressions of that country as they do about the culture it's aimed at.

I do enjoy seeing what media and other's sharing their opinions have to say when such a different marketing strategy surfaces. The questions people pose in response are often fascinating. I, too, like seeing the difference emphasis; it has the good effect of shaking me awake regarding a film I've been getting over saturated in seeing images of, making me use my brain again.

The bonus for everyone interested, no matter where you live, is, of course, that we get to see lots of new footage.

In case you haven't seen it yet, here's the Japanese trailer for Maleficent, which is where those gifs came from a few posts ago:

Reading this post quickly over before setting it free to the interwebs, it reads as if Aurora is a "sleeper agent" for forcing Maleficent's heart to beat with life again. It's as if Maleficent cursing this little she was not only a harsh but true way to save the princess (and the land?) but, even as she was forcing people to see her as more evil than ever, she subconsciously set the possibility in motion of finding a way to save herself. (Can you tell it's late and my brain obviously likes thinking about all this too much?) Nevertheless, I like it! :)

Note: If there was a star for quickest response to a "where did this come from" question posed on the blog, it would go to Fadlilatu Amalin, who was very quick off the mark in alerting me to the Japanese trailer before it caught on with the main Hollywood news sources! (Unfortunately I was unable to jump on that straight away due to my commitments this week but it was very much appreciated.) Thank you so much!! You rock. :)