*trigger warning for mention of rape, white supremacy*
*spoilers...kinda*
A Caveat
So, I promised an analysis of Snow White. Before we go any further, I would like to clarify something. Feminist analysis has always been criticized as nit-picky. Snow White, I realize, is a very old folk tale dating from the sixteenth century. The story came from a place in time when calling little people dwarves wasn't viewed as problematic. It also came from a time when a story of sixteen year old girls being raped and forced into servitude (true story in the originals) constituted important information to convey in story. I'm almost sure it once served as a cautionary tale for young women.
Reading up even perfunctorily on the older versions of Snow White (the non prettified Disney versions), we do have a vast improvement. As far as the bald misogyny goes (one could make a case we need folk tales like that now, sans the victim blaming, to uncover such inequities as the sex trade, or racism, or the ubiquitousness of rape).
Now, even while Snow White (after Disney) is just a fairy tale, it is by no means "just" a fairy tale. Yes, it is a story. But, the question is: why do we produce and consume this kind of story? Why is this story being made, or what enables us to tell this story? Furthermore, what messages do we receive, implicitly, from story and how do they shape our thinking? These are issues we need to examine while watching movies. I think it was Camus who said a story is a philosophy put into images....
In truth, I don't know how to process Snow White yet. As Anna Joy, I loved it for personal reasons. As a feminist, I realize that not everyone (little people, people of color, fat people, people who have experienced sexual assault) could enjoy it in the same way. Or even at all.
Given my own, visceral gut reaction to the film (despite its very problematic elements), I can only agree (as feminists of all colors
have always said) that representation in media (as in all aspects of social, economic, and political life) matters. Everybody (not just white guys) desperately need to see themselves reflected in culture. With agency and human dignity. Snow White does this, to some extent, for white cis women. Or, it did for me definitely. Although, its nascent feminism deserves 2.5 stars out of 5 (despite the way this sounds, this is progress...slow progress, but progress nonetheless).
This is what this review is about.
Representation
Of course, though initially I wanted to write about its racism and tokenism, I don't feel I can (or should, as an ally) speak much to either in this film. All I can really say is that there were like, max, two or three extras (I noticed) who happened to be poc. And, as I previously mentioned, the miasmic concept of "darkness" and "blackness" as evil (black ravens as Ravenna's totem) and the super, super pure whiteness of the heroine as everything good pervades the thing (also, are we to believe that in this entire vast kingdom, there are only a handful of non-white people? Jeez).
Renee, over at Womanist Musings, has taken on the "special snowflake"-ness of the protagonist and has given a much better account of the racial bullshit going on there. There is much.
My concern, or, no, rather, what I can speak to with integrity, is the representation of white women in this film.
As Renee pointed out in her review, the idea that pureness of heart alone makes all the men (no women warriors) in the kingdom ready to fight for her is problematic. Perhaps it is her pedigree as long lost princess, which makes sense, but as Renee pointed out, there was little beside her beauty to inspire loyalty...would the men have followed her if she were black? Or fat? Disabled? Was her beauty really "inner beauty"? I mean, it was Kristen Stewart, who is very, very conventionally attractive. Perhaps on first blush one could read it this way (the way I did that moved me so. It is a very possible reading), though my instinct tells me this "pure was of heart" was only secondary. Sadly, Snow White doesn't really have much of a personality. She's a Mary Sue for most of the movie.
I did appreciate the fact that Snow White gets to fight. I'm always disappointed in films where the kick ass feminine/female lead, who, throughout the rest of the entire film is gun toting, straight up badass marks-woman, or skilled mixed martial artist, but suddenly becomes helpless at the climax when those skills might really, well, actually come in handy. The masculine/male lead ultimately saves her and then the two fall into each others arms. Or (Sucker Punch, I'm looking at you), the protagonist does kick ass, on her own, but in outfits that would only cover a six year old sufficiently...and/or then, we realize it is all in her head (I really hated Sucker Punch. Besides, "ha ha, it was just a dream/hallucination" movies are just, imho, categorically annoying. Ok, maybe with the exception of Fight Club/American Psycho...).
No one came to Snow White's rescue. She gets to face danger and to prevail by herself. She faces her nemesis (her alter ego perhaps?) on her own, something women rarely do on screen.
Sexual Assault
I've already mentioned, in passing, the unconscious kissing. On one hand, I know. It is an integral part of the (Disneyfied) fairy tale. Though, when Disney made its version in the thirties, and everything was animated so idyllically, it was difficult to find the notion...well, "rapey" instead of romantic. Or, maybe it was the fact that I was, at most, seven when I first watched it (after which, I went through a really, really embarrassing Snow White phase. I had the yellow dress and everything. Once, while tottering along in my walker, I threw myself to the floor after "eating a poison apple". Scared the hell out of my parents. Remind me to burn all those pictures)...
In this version, with such beautiful cinematography, I wondered if both William and the Huntsman were going to mount Snow White's "corpse." No lie. It was just straight out creepy given the fact that both were obviously, madly in love with her. It was made even more creepy to know one out of every six women will be raped or sexually assaulted in her lifetime. And, on college campuses, for young women approximately Kristen Stewart's age, that number rises to one in four. On college campuses, the "poisoned apples" are called alcohol and Rohypnol (or whatever new date rape drug has come out since I was in DARE). I really wonder if this could have been worked out another way. A more creative, less "rapey" way to deal with her resuscitation (like in Tangled! True Love's tear enlivening all that has died, or something).
I really doubt that we, culturally, understand how much women's bodies are commodified, how public they are, even with all this anti-birth control legislation in our collective face lately...or that from womb to tomb women are viewed as physically available. Watching pregnant women and trans* men's stomachs get touched, often without consent much of the time, is just really creepy to observe while at the grocery store or a baby shower or anywhere really. The Snow White kiss, while small, is just another bead of sexism trailing into a vast river...it looks romantic, but it is the same class of romantic as having an obsessed stalker. Not by kind, just degree.
Ravenna and Beauty
Now, let us discuss Ravenna, the villain. There were a many things I actually really appreciated about her character, especially her backstory. We don't get that for many fairy tale villains. Mother Gothel, Mallificent, the Wicked Witch of the West, Ursula (whom I secretly rooted for). Traditionally, these women were just "bad to the bone" and two dimensional as paper dolls.
It created some depth to learn that she, too, was cursed. This humanizes her because, despite Charlize Theron's constant commanding, we find that under that she is just as wounded and victimized as Snow White. She was as trapped by the curse evened foil. Not that this makes her any more endearing, though, it contextualizes a character to whom the words "bitch" and "man-hating harpy" may be easily assigned.
And she does hate men, as evinced by her words to the king before she kills him (not that misandry is exactly endearing either, of course). She knows she will only be powerful if she is beautiful on the outside. This is the genius of Ravenna (as with the other various permutations of the Evil Queen). The curse is, ultimately, the beauty standard!
About fifty times a week, I encounter the meme that heterosexual women hate or envy other heterosexual women because of the others perceived beauty (thus their attractiveness to men). And while I have enough anecdotal evidence (and have seen scientific studies from time to time) that verify this claim, ugh.
It is not necessarily a biological link that connects women, but a shared experience (which is why women of color, queer, and trans* women often need safe spaces from white, straight, or cis women, who have historically been really, really, really obtuse concerning their complicity in oppressive systems).
Why would a person forego the chance to connect with others who have had the same experiences in society? To share and learn and commiserate? In a place where, on average, women still make 71 cents on every man's dollar (and, of course, white woman make more than any other group of women) and where most of those in poverty are women and their children, and most legislative and governing bodies are dominated by men, why would we deny ourselves some kind of solidarity and support?
Oh, that's right. Kyriarchy. Anyone who is femme (or "anything that bleeds for seven days and doesn't die is not to be trusted")
Snow White almost unmasks the beast that is feminine competitiveness!
The pursuit of outward beauty, at all costs, IS one of the most common and easily accessed forms of power women possess.
So, while I don't like Ravenna at all, I have to empathize. Plus, her costumes (that crown!?!) were absolutely gorgeous.
Agency
As I've also said before, i was so happy this story is not about love. It is about fighting for what believes in and against oppression. Since movies that feature feminine/female characters so often cast them as sex objects, the love interest, or the Bridget Jones single pining for love, it is refreshing to see one that allows the heroine to be complete, on her own. Not an appendage or someone else's muse. She has her own tale worth telling. She, in herself, is a whole person.
At the end, on the throne, Snow White catches the Huntsman's eye. For the briefest moment, one thinks she will run and embrace him as so many feminine/female leads have done before in movies---she will run to get her man. And then, they share a look of recognition. They journeyed together, and he assisted her through unfamiliar territory (which is a great . She is grateful. And, she saved the queendom, now ruler by right and resolutely regal. She stays put and the movie maintains its continuity.
Empowerment?
Finally, I would like to address one more issue this movie raises. Actually, it is more of a question. From the above paragraphs, one might infer that I see this move toward women participating in battle, a stereotypically masculine task, on screen as a good thing. I'm of two minds.
On one hand, it is encouraging to read it on a metaphorical level---as a parable about a woman finding her true worth and the struggles she must face to get there (that's why I can't stop thinking about it). Perhaps this is why war or action movies seem to inspire many men (not all, of course). It isn't, perhaps, just action or the violence but the courage and valor to which, along with the characters, they (sometimes) aspire.
Perhaps, this is also why many (not all) women forego the action genre. I personally never enjoyed battle scenes until there was a person with whom I identified sitting on the horse, and then I was on the edge of my seat. It is difficult to get excited about a movie when your class (of person) is sidelined as a pretty face, but little else. The guys get all the plot, but the ladies...not so much.
On the other hand, is this kind of empowerment really empowering to anyone of any gender in the long run?
Ever notice that to insult a man, we tell him he "does x like a girl" or call him a sissy, or a pussy (or pussy-whipped), or a son of a bitch, or a bastard. All of the insults, beside asshole or dick, have to do with the feminine. A pussy is commonly a woman's body part. A son of a bitch is an insult to a man through his mother, equating her with a female dog, someone subhuman. A bastard is someone whose mother bore a child out of wedlock, in other words, his momma was a slut (a "bad woman"). In all of these insults, a man is equated with women or associated with "the wrong kind of woman." Sometimes, the distinction isn't very clear at all....
For girl's, a daddy's girl (unlike momma's boy) isn't an insult. It's a badge of honor. In the same way, we complement young women when teenage say: "oh, you're not like other girls. You're cool." In other words, being a girl, socially, is a step down and being a boy a step up:
"Girls can wear jeans and cut their hair short because it's ok to be a boy; but for a boy to look like a girl is degrading, because you think being a girl is degrading..."
I wonder that if women are cast in stereotypically masculine roles will this just serve to further demean stereotypically feminine ones. If woman can now be a "warrior queen" (ok. Xena. Buffy. I know) can a man now be a caretaker without feeling demeaned? Does it mean being femme or feminine will be further stigmatized for all genders? Or will butch or masculine now be mandatory for all?
You know, and I know, both butch and femme people of all genders are capable of both loving bravery and fierce tenderness, but how often will this point be missed?
All this said...
Snow White is a strange place to be culturally.
No comments:
Post a Comment