Snow White

So, I saw Snow White and the Huntsman tonight, with Danny for our Dannaversary. I would say I feel bad for Danny, except it was wonderful to have my beloved with me while I broke down, in the best possible way.

By the end, I bawled. *spoiler alert* Snow White kills the evil queen after charging the castle which once belonged to her father, the King. At the end, she is crowned. The movie does not end with a wedding. Snow White never concedes her power to rule to another. As a (cis) woman, I have so long become accustomed to Hollywood's stereotypes of women I did not expect that image, a strong woman as a benevolent queen to strike such a deep, deep chord. but it did. It was just an image, just a story, but stories are important. This one just happened to hit me where it hurt. The beauty of a woman of valor. I don't see Snow White so much as a fairy tale than as a metaphor for "feminine" (cis gender women's) consciousness. She is weak and helpless in the beginning, but she "dies" (here I take it as a death to a subordinate and servile existence) and when she resurrects, she is ready to fight for justice. I admit, I saw Jesus there. And Momma Godde. And everybody who has ever fought back against dehuminazing social, political, economic, or religious systems. I saw a woman who refused to surrender her heart, literally, to the evil Ravenna and, really, the idea that in order for s woman to have value, she must remain beautiful on the outside. At all costs.

I swear it was a spiritual experience. Hollywood hardly ever lets women be anything other than a love interest or a sex object. Or, if they are strong and (for lack of a better phrase) kick ass, she will invariably still have to be rescued by a man. I was so surprised at Snow White's independence (at least by the end), like I said, I cried (unabashedly. Crying is no weakness!). Maybe in the days to come (class is over) I can put together a thorough analysis. Though it struck my little white feminist heart deeply, it is not an unproblematic film. There were several places where I wanted to discuss the racial inequities (the villain is named Ravenna and the heroine Snow White), the tokenism of little people, and the constant woman-on-woman hate. I am not sure this film passed the Bechdel test. Or, if it did, it did little to combat the stereotype that women hate other women...

I think I will structure the next posts like this: the good (a little of which I have written on here)

The bad: Little people as dwarves. I mean, it is understandable since the "seven dwarves thing" but still reslly problematic. Also, the fact that SW is kissed twice while unconscious. Also, the fact that the two (named) women in the film were set as enemies because of beauty standards.

The ugly: race. There are only a handful of people of color in the film. None of which are more than bit players or extras. Also, we have all things good and noble symbolized by "whiteness" and all that is bad as "darkness."