This document discusses applying pragmatic criticism to analyze the movies "Maleficent" and "Frozen". Pragmatic criticism views a work as being constructed to achieve effects on the audience and judges its value based on success in achieving that aim, such as providing aesthetic pleasure, instruction, or emotion. The document examines how each movie portrays good and evil and whether audiences understand those portrayals. It concludes that while the movies sometimes present ethics questions, audiences generally respond positively and see the phenomena as common.

1. PRAGMATIC CRITICISM, ‘MALEFICENT’
AND ‘FROZEN’
Paper- Literary Theory and Criticism - 1
Roll No- 15
Enrollment no.- 2069108420200001
Email id- kavishaalagiya@gmail.com
Submitted to- S. B. Gardi Department of English,
M K Bhavnagar University.
Batch – MA 2019-21
Date- 6th Oct. 2019
Prepared by-
KAVISHA ALAGIYA

2. INTRODUCTION
• Literature as a broad term. Criticism a broader one!
• Bringing to Light- Pragmatic Criticism- concept- role.
• Objective- to analyze whether effects such as aesthetic
pleasure, instruction, or kinds of emotion is constructed or
not.
• If not why?
• Aren’t the movies serving it’s purpose?
• If they are portraying the binary of good and evil, is it
clearly understood by audience or not?KAVISHA ALAGIYA

3. CRITICISM
Theoretical
Criticism
Mimetic
Criticism
Pragmatic
Criticism
Practical /
Applied
Criticism
Expressive
Criticism
Objective
Criticism
KAVISHA ALAGIYA

4. PRAGMATIC CRITICISM
• Pragmatic Criticism views the work as something which is
constructed in order to achieve certain effects on the audience and
it tends to judge the value of the work according to its success in
achieving that aim. (Abrams)
• The central theme practically to look at art
• To bring a social change
• To instruct an individual
KAVISHA ALAGIYA

5. • It is concerned with the ethical impact
that any literary text has upon an
audience / readers. (Vatagina)
• M.H.Abrams says: “The pragmatic
orientation ordering the aim of the
artist and the character of the work to
the nature, the needs, and the springs of
pleasure in the audience, characterized
by far the greatest part of criticism from
the time of Horace through the
eighteenth century.”
Assessing
Fulfilling
Shaping
ART
KAVISHA ALAGIYA

6. ‘MOVIE’ AS A TEXT
• Maleficent (2014) - directed by Robert
Stromberg (Dark Fantasy)
• Frozen (2013) – directed by Chris Buck and
Jennifer Lee (American 3D computer-
animated musical fantasy
KAVISHA ALAGIYA

7. APPLICATION OF MOVIES AS A TEXT
Adapted from
‘Sleeping Beauty’ but
is told from Maleficent
point of view,
indirectly showing
antagonist of ‘Sleeping
Beauty’ as a
protagonist.
KAVISHA ALAGIYA

8. MALEFICENT
• Dark fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy literary, artistic, and
cinematic works that incorporate darker and frightening themes
of fantasy.
• Charles L. Grant is often cited as having coined the term "dark
fantasy". Grant defined his brand of dark fantasy as "a type of
horror story in which humanity is threatened by forces beyond
human understanding"
• It is used to describe stories told from a monster's point of view, or
that present a more sympathetic view of supernatural beings
usually associated with horror. (contributors)
KAVISHA ALAGIYA

9. HIDDEN
IDEAS
• Rape and female mutilation (Wing tearing
scene)
• 2012 Delhi gang rape
• Monarchy, Socialism and Capitalism
KAVISHA ALAGIYA

10. FROZEN
• Inspired from Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale- “The
Snow Queen”
• Postfeminist romance
• Third-wave feminist princess.
• Perhaps, a movie that normalizes
Homosexuality
No longer waits for
a prince to save her.
KAVISHA ALAGIYA

11. MORAL OF THE STORY
KAVISHA ALAGIYA

12. CONCLUSION
• As far as ethical impact is concerned, the audience have responded
positively and are responding with a far right view to some extent.
• These movies portrays evil as good which are against our ethical
principles so it seemed to be questioned from rigid mentality and
sometimes even banned also.
• But it is not happening because people see it as a common phenomenon.
• Perhaps this is the reason, these types of movies are included in
children’s literature.
• Sometimes it happens that people fail to read or view them properly and
here is becomes problematic!
KAVISHA ALAGIYA

13. Purpose of
Presentation
• The problem with Pragmatic criticism is
that it is too much centered around the
audience which problematizes the real
intent of the author.
• New criticism questions this view and
states that text should be free from
everything even the author’s
psychological outlet through the text
should not be taken into consideration.
• To measure how far are the movies
serving it’s purpose?
KAVISHA ALAGIYA
So
What?

14. Works Cited
• Abrams, M. H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. India:
Cengage Learning, 2018.
• contributors, Wikipedia. Dark fantasy. 30 September
2019. 06 October 2019
<https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dark_fant
asy&oldid=918713114>.
• Vatagina, Anna. Prezi. 31 October 2012. 06 October
2019 <https://prezi.com/8pjilypjuvg7/pragmatic-
criticism/>. KAVISHA ALAGIYA

15. KAVISHA ALAGIYA