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The Morality of Wish: The Villain's Analysis

Writer's picture: QuilDance SpriffleQuilDance Spriffle

Disney's Wish movie (Source: YouLoveIt.com)

I got to know of Disney’s Wish through video after video of critical reviews on Youtube. The movie was supposed to be the core of their 100th anniversary celebrations no less, yet was so badly received by the public. Naturally, I had to see what the fuss was about. When I finally watched the movie for myself, my first impression was that - yeah, it’s pretty average. However, what really hit the nail in the coffin was the disappointment towards a character that had fascinated me most - Magnifico. Unlike villains like Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty or Gaston in Beauty and the Beast, who I was eager to see defeated, Magnifico only made me feel sorry for him. Is Magnifico really a villain? Well, join me on a deep philosophical dive into a children’s show to find out! [Caution: Spoilers ahead!]


Who is Magnifico?

Fairy tale book (Source: Wish movie)

First, let’s understand the foundations. Wish is set in the Kingdom of Rosas, founded by Magnifico on an uninhabited island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. Alongside his wife, the two are the sole rulers over the densely populated city. Rosas’ reputation no doubt is owed to the King’s mighty ability to grant wishes. People come from far and wide to see the wonders Rosas has to offer and share the hope that their wishes could be granted as well. 


What are his ideals? How did they come about?


Magnifico's tragic backstory (Source: Wish movie)

He was born into a humble family in a village, but soon he lost everything, his home and family. According to the fairy tale book, the devastating event made him realise the powerlessness of people to fulfil their own wishes, driving him to change that and prevent that incident from ever happening again. As a result, a young Magnifico went on to master sorcery and ruled over a peaceful kingdom. He wanted to help people fulfil their wishes but at the same time protect them from all harm. This is his core motivation and basis for decision making. 


Wait, so what makes him ‘evil’ then? The show bluntly highlights this during Asha's first encounter with the King. It was her grandfather's 100th birthday, with his wish still ungranted, Asha uses her interview with the King to request for it. The King refuses, calling the wish—to inspire future generations—"too vague and possibly dangerous." Asha tries to rationalise granting the wish because her grandfather is good, and the people of Rosas are good, so their wishes deserve to be granted. Thus, Magnifico is evil because he is denying good people of their wishes and only grants wishes according to his judgement, which is unfair. 


Intimidating standoff (Source: Wish movie)

How do we feel about this? We are supposed to side with the main character, but if we dig deeper and understand where Magnifico is coming from, Asha’s argument starts to fall apart.  Regarding how ‘good’ the wish may be, it is not something neither Asha nor the King can prove, since they can’t see the future. Asha's reasoning that people’s wishes are good is not entirely accurate and is based on subjectivity and naivety. On the other hand, when you consider Magnifico’s position - his duty as a ruler, and might as a sorcerer capable of granting wishes, he indeed holds the right to judge whether a wish should be granted or not. Given that he has been ruling Rosas since its birth without a hitch, he likely has been careful with all the wishes he grants, not just that of Asha’s grandfather. He doesn’t grant most wishes because he is unfair, rather because he prioritises the welfare and protection of his people, which is actually a noble reason for his decision. Moreover, he is not obligated to grant anyone's wish. (See Ethics in wish giving)


In any case, let’s take a closer look at Asha’s ideals. Is her argument justified? Let’s look at the current state of Rosas under King Magnifico versus a speculation of the world according to her vision of ‘a better place’.



Main conflict in philosophy

What is the status quo?

Rosas is a wonderful place (Source: Welcome to Rosas MV)

At the start, we are introduced to the kingdom of Rosas, a bustling city with wonders and magic, where its residents live under the King’s protection tax free. Even Asha, affirms how amazing and great Rosas is. Having been built from scratch, Magnifico would have needed time to build up his kingdom’s reputation and increase its population to what is shown in the movie. The fact that Rosas lasted this long and nothing major happened that threatened the city goes to show Magnifico’s effectiveness of ruling in his way. 


However, his ruling is not perfect. Not all wishes will be granted—only those the King considers harmless. The side effect of this is that after one gives their wish to the king, they lose part of who they are and become more mild and unmotivated. Someone who ought to suffer from this is Asha’s grandfather .Even though his wish wasn’t granted, he maintained a healthy mental and physical state throughout the years, showing no signs of anger or depression after the wish ceremony. Instead, he tries to cheer up his family and tries to look on the bright side, trying to move on from the topic. Contrary to what Asha argues for, people don’t seem to go through intense suffering.


But the person forgets their wish and their former self, unaware of their change! Some might argue that this portrays the citizens as unwilling victims of the change. Conversely, given the physical evidence of Rosas itself, they have no excuse in making a misinformed decision. Not only that, but if we scrutinise the trade off between the King and the people, giving up wishes actually has more pros than cons. More on that later.


Meant for something more?

Alternatively, what is this ‘better place’ that Asha envisions? The movie ends with Asha’s victory but the aftermath of that vision was never unveiled. 

Rosas could be a better place (Source: This Wish MV)

Imagine a world where every wish of humans and animals is granted. If everyone’s dreams are fulfilled or are in the process of being fulfilled, they would experience immediate happiness. However, this leads to several future implications:


  1. Contradictions

If one person wished to be rich and another wished for communism to happen, how would that play out? The outcomes of the two wishes will ultimately cancel out each other. So how exactly can both wishes co-exist and be fulfilled? This is one problem.


  1. Chaos

By granting wishes so removed from reality that people are used to will definitely become a cause for chaos. People may even exploit it to fulfil twisted desires, and may cause an event similar to Magnifico’s past. You could say, just don’t grant bad wishes! If we pass such judgement on others’ wishes, and decide their fate then wouldn’t we be falling back on Magnifico’s philosophy? Consequently, by allowing all wishes good and bad to be granted, potential threats and dangers to Rosas are inevitable. 


  1. Stunted Growth

A person matures and learns from their mistakes by overcoming difficulties. Granting wishes bypasses this crucial step, leaving no room for growth. This diminishes the need for fostering values and virtues, and adherence to rules, which would disrupt social order and lead to disharmony.


Based on realistic speculation, Asha’s worldview calls for short-lived immediate happiness from every wish granted is traded for inevitable threats and dangers to Rosas, which may go on to affect other countries outside. 


Taking into account these two states, which of them really is the more selfless one here?


Ethics in wish giving

So far, we have established that Magnifico’s intention is to protect his people at all costs and his worldview is arguably the better of both worlds. What else did he do that the show called out was evil again? Right, he locked up everyone’s wishes and will never ever grant most of them. Asha argues that wishes make up who you are, by removing it and storing it away, Magnifico steals freedom of pursuing it away from the people. Those whose wishes weren’t granted are victims of manipulation, led astray by a false hope that their desires would be fulfilled. However, given all that we’ve seen in the movie, is that really the case?


How did he get the wishes in the first place? In exchange for protection from harm and ill will, citizens of Rosas give up their wish to the King but only those deemed good and worthy will have their wish granted. Clearly, this trade off does not guarantee that the person’s wish will definitely come true. By accepting this exchange, the giver ought to acknowledge that their wish may never be fulfilled. So this can’t be a false hope. Their accountability is made more apparent and inexcusable with the following reasons that make deception highly unlikely. 

Incriminating evidence (Source: Welcome to Rosas MV)

Taking on the view that people have been manipulated, it assumes the information they were given prior to the wish giving is false. However, this doesn’t make much sense. Rosas wasn’t born yesterday and wish granting has gone on for many years, if anything, the locals should be most knowledgeable on what happens. Additionally, why would Magnifico sow false hope in his people? Aside from wanting respect, he does not benefit much from having more wishes. He is already a great sorcerer and the highest authority in Rosas. Prior to the forbidden magic phase, having more wishes does not add to his power or further his goals. This means information before and after giving their wish should be untainted public information. 


If the repercussions of this trade off were truly inhumane and cruel, people would have known about it and an uprising against the King would have happened ages ago. The effect would be physically observable as well.

Simon is boring and calmer (Source: Wish movie)

Since many people’s wishes were given to Magnifico and were unfulfilled, a majority of people in Rosas should embody the same dejected, dull traits as did Simon. Such a drastic change in many people couldn’t possibly have flown under the radar. Therefore, potential wish givers would have to have known about it. However, ‘Welcome to Rosas’ contradicts these speculations - alternatively, everyone is happy and satisfied. How can this be? Well, perhaps locking wishes away may not be as bad as Asha puts it to be. In a real life context, it does seem immoral but drawing from the movie, this case is not strongly supported. All things considered, the people were not given false hope, and their informed decision is the truth of the trade off, which sprouted happiness instead of increased suffering.


The trade deal is actually pretty decent - at the expense of your wish, which has a small but non-zero chance of being granted, you get unlimited protection and you will likely still be happy. So is wish giving ethical? Yes because people are well-informed and are held accountable in making decisions. Are Magnifico’s actions wrong? Not exactly, because he is not doing this based on malicious intent. It doesn’t seem right either since he is locking up the essence of people. To better understand this, think of it as buying something you want from a store. In exchange, you give them money. The cashier puts the money in the cash drawer, likely never to return to your hands. Similarly, this is also an agreement made between both parties. With your money in their hands, does it really matter to the giver what they do with it afterwards?


Sympathy instead of hatred

One of Magnifico’s greatest ‘villain’ moments is definitely the part onwards where he acquires the forbidden magic. He starts destroying wishes without any care, he manipulates Simon against his will to capture Asha and he directly harms his people using his magic staff. Yet even as he commits cruel acts, I couldn’t bring myself to hate him or anticipate his downfall. See, his whole descent to madness is partly borne from his extreme obsession with protecting his people, but made worse by pressures from a greedy populace.


More love for wishes, less for the King (Source: Wish movie)

Judging from the long stretch of peace Rosas has endured, the kingdom was successful under the King’s rule. Although Magnifico was selflessly devoted to the kingdom and the well-being of its people, all they truly cared about were their wishes. Were they granted? Why aren’t they granted? Their questions at the gathering were all self centred, never once did they ask about the King himself, who made the entire country and did live up to his end of the trade. Therefore, his transformation into a monster and his treatment of the civilians are not entirely irrational; to some extent, the civilians share in the blame.


The Message of Wish

Magnifico in alot of ways fails to even compare to the typical Disney villain. His goal holds no malicious intent, and his list of misdeeds pale in comparison to the cruelty clearly portrayed to infamous characters like Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Instead, Magnifico works as a complex antagonist with a tragic backstory, believable goals and ambitions that rival the main character, yet not in the moral sense. Without a strong villain to contrast the main character's embodied supposedly good morals, the message to audiences become unclear and potentially detrimental.

Disney shows shape childhoods. (Source: CANOPY)

The crux of classic Disney shows has always been teaching good morals to children, which is essential in their upbringing. Rapunzel taught kids to step out of their comfort zone. looking beyond appearances to appreciate a person's true character. What wisdom does Wish impart?



(Written by Cleo Foo Zo Ann)


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