I mean, it was a pretty dreadful movie, all told, but I am totally fascinated by fairytales and what different retellings of fairytales can tell us about society's expectations of women at the time. Like in, this one, Snow White is WAY less passive, which is awesome - and the movie was heavily promoted with that warrior theme, all the posters and stuff had KStew in her armour, riding into battle.
But the beauty=virtue and trying to be beautiful=evil was actually, like, more explicit than in the original tale. It was deconstructed to some extent, but not very well, because the film was pretty shitty and couldn't really construct a decent plotline, much less subvert one.
I totally think Snow was showing other qualities, like bravery and smarts (or, we're told she's smart, but that battle plan was absurd) but it's her inherent 'virtue' that's pushed in the scene with the white stag, that the dwarves claim will heal the land and that virtue is explicitly linked to her beauty, and even if it wasn't it's the kind of 'virtue' that involves being pious and praying and not touching men and being innocent and excessively sheltered from the world (which is totally a great quality in a head of state) and NOTHING HAS CHANGED since the Brothers Grimm were doing this shit, not one god damned thing.
Just: oh my God, don't get angry, I wasn't trying to undermine what you were saying or anything, just sharing my thoughts? I have so much admiration but your writing and the way you think, seriously.
I agree that the way the movie was promoted and the way it showed Snow White as being a strong, warrior woman was great. I just don't think the movie lived up to that promise. (Though KStew does look fetching in mail, Chris has a point there.)
I think the main problem of the movie is that it could've been really good, and ended up not living up to its potential. It could have been a movie about a strong woman and a criticism of the fairytales' vision of women's place in society and the things they should try to achieve, but it wasn't.
I agree with everything you say, I do. The image of women in our society is deplorable and makes me want to cry and I still want someone to explain 50 shades of grey to me because what.
I am not angry at you! Fairytales make me angry a lot. Which meant I spent a stretch of many months often angry while I was writing my thesis. But I like talking about things like this, and hearing what other people's thoughts are! I am going to see Brave tonight, so my next post will hopefully be significantly more "the world apparently is not all sucky".
My thesis was entitled "Stepmothers, Witches and Servants: Interfeminine Relationships in the Tales of the Brothers Grimm" and was mostly about how classical fairytales don't have any room for positive, supportive female relationships - if a lady is not your blood relative, she is your competition and must be vanquished. Which was one tiny aspect of a whole bunch of stuff I could have discussed, but 20,000 words was not nearly sufficient to detail all of the shitty gender politics going on. SO I get REALLY fired up about gender and fairytales.
But the beauty=virtue and trying to be beautiful=evil was actually, like, more explicit than in the original tale. It was deconstructed to some extent, but not very well, because the film was pretty shitty and couldn't really construct a decent plotline, much less subvert one.
I totally think Snow was showing other qualities, like bravery and smarts (or, we're told she's smart, but that battle plan was absurd) but it's her inherent 'virtue' that's pushed in the scene with the white stag, that the dwarves claim will heal the land and that virtue is explicitly linked to her beauty, and even if it wasn't it's the kind of 'virtue' that involves being pious and praying and not touching men and being innocent and excessively sheltered from the world (which is totally a great quality in a head of state) and NOTHING HAS CHANGED since the Brothers Grimm were doing this shit, not one god damned thing.
(Sorry, got a bit angry at the end there)
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I agree that the way the movie was promoted and the way it showed Snow White as being a strong, warrior woman was great. I just don't think the movie lived up to that promise. (Though KStew does look fetching in mail, Chris has a point there.)
I think the main problem of the movie is that it could've been really good, and ended up not living up to its potential. It could have been a movie about a strong woman and a criticism of the fairytales' vision of women's place in society and the things they should try to achieve, but it wasn't.
I agree with everything you say, I do. The image of women in our society is deplorable and makes me want to cry and I still want someone to explain 50 shades of grey to me because what.
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I am going to see Brave tonight, so my next post will hopefully be significantly more "the world apparently is not all sucky".
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Oh, enjoy the movie, then! It does seem awesome.
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