[Raina Schoen Thomas]

<p class=”p1″>The tale is painting the picture of an ideal woman: beautiful, obedient, dutiful, innocent, docile, pure, etc. The character of snow white is often described as very flat and not very interesting. Her beauty and purity are the only things she needs to get by, which is giving little girls quite the misleading and hindering message. The character of the evil queen however is much more interesting with many qualities (apart from the evilness and jealousy) that ought to be revered. Her independence, creativity and maturity, however are written off as disloyalty, witchcraft, and undesirable old age. The evil queen’s positive qualities are given a negative connotation while Snow White’s bleak ones are painted to be charming.</p>
<p class=”p1″>I really liked the part mentioned in the reading about the frame of the window and the frame of the mirror. Both enclose the female figures and put an emphasis on their appearance. The window frame is for the perspective of others in the garden below (and the reader) while the mirror encourages the woman herself to crumble inward. The quest for unattainable beauty and eternal youth becomes a personal fixation and ultimately, in the case of the step mother, destroys her soul.</p>
<p class=”p1″>When I was a little girl, Snow White was my favorite princess for a number of years. I wore the same dress every halloween, which slowly became quite tattered. After my dad showed me the Star Wars movies, I quickly switched to dressing up as Leia. Looking back, I can’t seem to make sense of Snow White’s initial appeal. I seemed to have just decided to like her and insisted on wearing the dress as I re-watched the early Disney film on VHS. Despite my obsession with her, I would often leave during her scenes to go get a snack. She was a boring character, and I think I realized that on some levels, but I had the dress and the dress would make me beautiful and that seemed like something that was important. Thus the favoritism was allowed to persist until it was incinerated with a rifle plasma blaster.</p>

[Brittany Pratt]

I agree that Snow White manages to fall flat as a character, especially in early adaptations. In addition to her purity and beauty, the reading mentioned how in many versions of the story, much of the “action” Snow White does revolves around caring for the seven dwarves. I wonder if this adds to the appeal of a character we can look back at now and see as boring. Is it possible that Snow White is so beloved by young children, specifically girls, because she functions as the “model” adult woman? She’s beautiful, caring, and quiet, which is exactly how society encouraged, and arguably still encourages, young women to behave. Life is a lot easier for the Snow White’s of the world, as the story reinforces, but it’s far more interesting and daring to be the evil queen.

[Jason Whelehan]

I agree particularly with the framing mechanisms. When I read the section you mentioned on the frame and the mirror, I was reminded of a film, “Imitation of Life”, where the director uses mirrors and frames to illustrate the feelings of being trapped by the main character, Jane.

There is a quote from another film, “A Room with a View”,  that really captures the scopophilia  represented in the glass coffin  in Snow White, “…He wants you for a possession, something to look at like a painting or an ivory box.” There is an added element to the fetishism and voyeurism we have talked about in class in the glass coffin, though I can’t put my finger on it. Obviously, the element of death is there but still, there seems to be a lot packed into the imagery in the glass coffin, and its placement on top of the mountain as well.

 

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