December Talking Meme: Snow White and Cora Mills
I first consciously noticed this one during The Miller's Daughter in season 2, but it's impossible to talk about without spoilers, and thus I shall employ the protective cut post haste.
Among the many, many things which make The Miller's Daughter such a great episode for me is the fact that the scene in which Snow manipulates Regina into taking Cora's heart, putting it back and thus effectively killing her mother is so very similar to the scene in which Cora manipulates the child Snow White into revealing Regina's secret. In both cases, one of the reasons why the manipulation works so well is that no direct lie is employed. In The Stable Boy, Cora is worried for her daughter, wants them to be closer, and would do anything for Regina's future. She's just leaving out the part where she's long decided what kind of life Regina should have, not Regina, and "do anything" most certainly does include murder. And of course, she's playing on little Snow's grief and guilt for her own dead mother (more about this in a moment) in emphasizing that Snow, of all people, would know how Regina would miss her mother were they to be separated.
In The Miller's Daughter, Snow doesn't use direct lies, either. She's using her knowledge of Regina, of Regina's relationship with Cora, and precisely that longing for maternal love which Cora first used in The Stable Boy. "You can have a mother or a new Dark One" is true as far as it goes. As with Cora, it's the omission of key facts which constitutes the lie and the tricking, in this case the fact Snow has just used the lethal candle on Cora's heart before giving it to Regina. (The candle which Cora herself once gave to Snow White the child as a way to either save her mother and become a killer, or be tormented about the lack of action for the rest of her life.) (Truly, only Snow and Regina could have become Cora's killers. Anything else just would not have done.)
This was when it first occured to me that for all that Cora has a life long obsession of making Regina live the existence Cora herself would have wanted, thus justifying her own choices - and even transferring this to her replacement daughter figure Anastasia in the spin-off - , Regina isn't actually like Cora at all. But Snow in several ways is. Look again at that manipulation and how it functions. It's not that we don't see Regina - once she's become the Evil Queen - be manipulative (though she clearly likes simply giving orders best). Her first encounter with Belle in Skin Deep comes to mind. But not only does Regina prefer to operate from a position of power even in her manipulations (another example would be when she needs Jefferson to take her to Wonderland, or to get that apple for her), but to use real emotions of hers or the other party, especially if this involves the other party seeing her as vulnerable or "weak", for a deception isn't how she operates. For Snow's deception to work it's instrumental that Regina doesn't think of her as capable of this, not least because she's been goody two shoes Mary Margaret, "the idiot" in Regina's eyes, for 28 years; Cora can lay it on heavily with the distressed mother lamenting the enstrangement because she's not concerned for any dignity lost there.
Now of course Cora does stuff like this on a regular basis, and Snow White doesn't and broods about it and what this makes her afterwards, culminating in her offering her heart to Regina. I'm not saying Snow's a budding supervillain. There are a lot of differences between them, too, not least the background - while Snow has some experience of being powerless and hunted (her time as an outlaw after Regina ascended the throne), she lived her childhood in riches and safety, cared for by a lot of people, whereas it's instrumental for who Cora became that she started her life as a peasant with apparantly her drunk father relying on her to bring in the food, not vice versa, and the burning ambition to become more. But the show goes for parallels (in both a contrasting and resembling way) more than just that one time. What a young Cora says when giving up her firstborn is almost identical to what Snow says in a similar situation with Emma, with one key difference. "My chance" versus "your chance"; Cora gives up Zelena because raising a child at this point would destroy her hopes to ever be more; Snow gives up Emma because they're all about to be swallowed by a curse, and this way Emma has a shot of escaping it and saving everyone else. But they are both capable of it.
(Earlier in the show if later in chronology, we've also seen Snow, in the pilot when Rumplestilskin asks her and Charming for their unborn child's name, give it to him unhesitatingly, not because at this point she has any illusions about how dangerous Rumplestilskin is but because the matter of Regina's impending curse is urgent. Similarly, in the Miller's Daughter flashbacks, Cora reads the contract - the only one of Rumple's marks who does - and signs the "firstborn" clause anyway. Which works both before and after we know about Zelena re: what it says about Cora.)
Snow doesn't have Cora's need to justify her life through her daughter, which makes her relationship with Emma a whole lot healthier, but her relationship with Regina, otoh, has Cora-esque tones even when Cora's life isn't at stake. Her letter to Regina which Graham delivers, written on the assumption he's going to kill her on Regina's orders, doesn't just contain understanding (because of Daniel), forgiveness and affection; it also contains the explicit "now be a great queen" clause which might have done as much as anything else to make an enraged Regina throw it in the fire. What hurts Cora most about the news her daughter sent someone to kill her (Hook) is that Regina didn't come to do it in person, and when she hears Regina's expression of love over her supposed dead body later, she forgives her, but her idea about who Regina should be, the queen she should be, are as firm as ever. It's Regina's abuse of her power as queen that finally turns Snow against her, which is protectiveness of everyone else's lives as the main motivation, but disappointment in Regina is also there.
Young Cora, in a radical solution to her problem of being in love but also convinced that love could ruin her and her dreams, takes out her own heart. (And it's perhaps this which later saves Will Scarlet from Daniel's fate: that he asks her to do it to him for a similar reason.) Young Snow gets a magical potion to rid herself of her love for Charming. More mature Snow, otoh, goes for the sharing of heart solution - after having had to crush David's heart first in order to save her daughter -, and asks Regina to do it, unhesitatingly. And Regina, who has been both at her worst and best when people have faith in her (depending on who it is), actually pulls it off.
In late s3, when Our Heroes need to find out just what in the past Zelena intends to change and this results in Cora's ghost apparantly going after Snow White, it's a great symbol of how far they've come that Regina defends her. But the solution is equally fitting, because when Cora's ghost does get into Snow eventually, it's not in order to destroy her. The sharing of memories that occurs not only solves the immediate information problem (Snow concludes that what Zelena wants to do in the past is to kill Eva before Eva can interfere with the impending Cora/Leopold nuptials, which would result in Zelena being born a princess and neither Regina or Snow ever existing), but gives Snow a look at her own mother as someone other than a flawless idol and a better understanding of Cora's motivations. Which causes Regina to observe: "It's official; you have a better relationship with my mother than I did and you killed her."
I wouldn't go that far. Also, I think when in the most recent episode Under-the-Mirror-Curse Snow said that she doesn't regret killing Cora, this is also true for Snow in her right mind in the sense that she doesn't regret Cora is dead. (As to the method of killing, I think she does regret that.) Then again: Cora would respect that. Because these two might, just might, be who the other could have become if born in their place.
December Talking Meme: The Other Days
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1036679.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.
Among the many, many things which make The Miller's Daughter such a great episode for me is the fact that the scene in which Snow manipulates Regina into taking Cora's heart, putting it back and thus effectively killing her mother is so very similar to the scene in which Cora manipulates the child Snow White into revealing Regina's secret. In both cases, one of the reasons why the manipulation works so well is that no direct lie is employed. In The Stable Boy, Cora is worried for her daughter, wants them to be closer, and would do anything for Regina's future. She's just leaving out the part where she's long decided what kind of life Regina should have, not Regina, and "do anything" most certainly does include murder. And of course, she's playing on little Snow's grief and guilt for her own dead mother (more about this in a moment) in emphasizing that Snow, of all people, would know how Regina would miss her mother were they to be separated.
In The Miller's Daughter, Snow doesn't use direct lies, either. She's using her knowledge of Regina, of Regina's relationship with Cora, and precisely that longing for maternal love which Cora first used in The Stable Boy. "You can have a mother or a new Dark One" is true as far as it goes. As with Cora, it's the omission of key facts which constitutes the lie and the tricking, in this case the fact Snow has just used the lethal candle on Cora's heart before giving it to Regina. (The candle which Cora herself once gave to Snow White the child as a way to either save her mother and become a killer, or be tormented about the lack of action for the rest of her life.) (Truly, only Snow and Regina could have become Cora's killers. Anything else just would not have done.)
This was when it first occured to me that for all that Cora has a life long obsession of making Regina live the existence Cora herself would have wanted, thus justifying her own choices - and even transferring this to her replacement daughter figure Anastasia in the spin-off - , Regina isn't actually like Cora at all. But Snow in several ways is. Look again at that manipulation and how it functions. It's not that we don't see Regina - once she's become the Evil Queen - be manipulative (though she clearly likes simply giving orders best). Her first encounter with Belle in Skin Deep comes to mind. But not only does Regina prefer to operate from a position of power even in her manipulations (another example would be when she needs Jefferson to take her to Wonderland, or to get that apple for her), but to use real emotions of hers or the other party, especially if this involves the other party seeing her as vulnerable or "weak", for a deception isn't how she operates. For Snow's deception to work it's instrumental that Regina doesn't think of her as capable of this, not least because she's been goody two shoes Mary Margaret, "the idiot" in Regina's eyes, for 28 years; Cora can lay it on heavily with the distressed mother lamenting the enstrangement because she's not concerned for any dignity lost there.
Now of course Cora does stuff like this on a regular basis, and Snow White doesn't and broods about it and what this makes her afterwards, culminating in her offering her heart to Regina. I'm not saying Snow's a budding supervillain. There are a lot of differences between them, too, not least the background - while Snow has some experience of being powerless and hunted (her time as an outlaw after Regina ascended the throne), she lived her childhood in riches and safety, cared for by a lot of people, whereas it's instrumental for who Cora became that she started her life as a peasant with apparantly her drunk father relying on her to bring in the food, not vice versa, and the burning ambition to become more. But the show goes for parallels (in both a contrasting and resembling way) more than just that one time. What a young Cora says when giving up her firstborn is almost identical to what Snow says in a similar situation with Emma, with one key difference. "My chance" versus "your chance"; Cora gives up Zelena because raising a child at this point would destroy her hopes to ever be more; Snow gives up Emma because they're all about to be swallowed by a curse, and this way Emma has a shot of escaping it and saving everyone else. But they are both capable of it.
(Earlier in the show if later in chronology, we've also seen Snow, in the pilot when Rumplestilskin asks her and Charming for their unborn child's name, give it to him unhesitatingly, not because at this point she has any illusions about how dangerous Rumplestilskin is but because the matter of Regina's impending curse is urgent. Similarly, in the Miller's Daughter flashbacks, Cora reads the contract - the only one of Rumple's marks who does - and signs the "firstborn" clause anyway. Which works both before and after we know about Zelena re: what it says about Cora.)
Snow doesn't have Cora's need to justify her life through her daughter, which makes her relationship with Emma a whole lot healthier, but her relationship with Regina, otoh, has Cora-esque tones even when Cora's life isn't at stake. Her letter to Regina which Graham delivers, written on the assumption he's going to kill her on Regina's orders, doesn't just contain understanding (because of Daniel), forgiveness and affection; it also contains the explicit "now be a great queen" clause which might have done as much as anything else to make an enraged Regina throw it in the fire. What hurts Cora most about the news her daughter sent someone to kill her (Hook) is that Regina didn't come to do it in person, and when she hears Regina's expression of love over her supposed dead body later, she forgives her, but her idea about who Regina should be, the queen she should be, are as firm as ever. It's Regina's abuse of her power as queen that finally turns Snow against her, which is protectiveness of everyone else's lives as the main motivation, but disappointment in Regina is also there.
Young Cora, in a radical solution to her problem of being in love but also convinced that love could ruin her and her dreams, takes out her own heart. (And it's perhaps this which later saves Will Scarlet from Daniel's fate: that he asks her to do it to him for a similar reason.) Young Snow gets a magical potion to rid herself of her love for Charming. More mature Snow, otoh, goes for the sharing of heart solution - after having had to crush David's heart first in order to save her daughter -, and asks Regina to do it, unhesitatingly. And Regina, who has been both at her worst and best when people have faith in her (depending on who it is), actually pulls it off.
In late s3, when Our Heroes need to find out just what in the past Zelena intends to change and this results in Cora's ghost apparantly going after Snow White, it's a great symbol of how far they've come that Regina defends her. But the solution is equally fitting, because when Cora's ghost does get into Snow eventually, it's not in order to destroy her. The sharing of memories that occurs not only solves the immediate information problem (Snow concludes that what Zelena wants to do in the past is to kill Eva before Eva can interfere with the impending Cora/Leopold nuptials, which would result in Zelena being born a princess and neither Regina or Snow ever existing), but gives Snow a look at her own mother as someone other than a flawless idol and a better understanding of Cora's motivations. Which causes Regina to observe: "It's official; you have a better relationship with my mother than I did and you killed her."
I wouldn't go that far. Also, I think when in the most recent episode Under-the-Mirror-Curse Snow said that she doesn't regret killing Cora, this is also true for Snow in her right mind in the sense that she doesn't regret Cora is dead. (As to the method of killing, I think she does regret that.) Then again: Cora would respect that. Because these two might, just might, be who the other could have become if born in their place.
December Talking Meme: The Other Days
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1036679.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.