12/17/2023 0 Comments Magic mirror snow white huntsmanThat there’s something wonky about Ravenna’s thing with the mirror is underlined later when Ravenna, after eating some poor young girl’s essence, much more confidently addresses the mirror and is told that now Snow White is the one now. In this first exchange, she is vulnerable to a form of self-suggestion that is represented by the mirror. It’s tone is belittling to the grand dark think Ravenna sees herself to be. It’s teasing out her ambition, her sense of herself, and holding these things up for her to see. Think about how the voice actor enunciates “Is there no end to your power?”. The mirror’s tone is one of subtle mockery, also, and that is easily missed if you’re not paying close attention to how it speaks to her. What’s worth noting here is that Ravenna doesn’t look relieved, but even more wild-eyed and afraid. She needs reaffirmation and the mirror gives it to her. Her fear, though, is a wild-eyed one that seems completely irrational. And she should be, it’s a creepy motherfucker. The first time you see the mirror, Ravenna is afraid of it. What may be a bit less obvious is the role her mirror plays in this. That she is so damn howling sad/mad underneath it all is only appropriate. Ravenna is the Mean Girl of fairy tale land. She is representative of women who cynically use their appearance that way as well as being an indictment of vanity (especially in women). Ravenna, in spite of her vasty magics, needs to seduce her way into the kingdoms she pathologically destroys. She’s bitter about her past and, I’d argue, about her self and that’s just one of the ways the movie is critical of the character and what she represents. That’s abundantly clear in the movie from her past (young pretty thing brought in to replace old wife) to the way she conflates spiritual purity with physical beauty: she only sucks the souls out of beautiful girls. The first thing I need to say about Ravenna is that she is obviously obsessed with physical beauty. This essay must begin with Ravenna and her magic mirror. I used that line for my review precisely because it isn’t undermining any feminist over/undertones and I’ll get to that a bit later.īecause the seed of the arguments for my position has become a mighty tree even in the absence of actually having an argument, I decided to write this as a way of exploring why I think Snow White has so much going on for it in terms of feminism and why it never actually cashes any of that in for cheap sexualization or whatever, like my friend asserts about that catchy line. We haven’t had a chance to properly discuss it but so far he’s offered the Huntsman’s line “you look very fetching in mail” and the bits about “fairest blood” as evidence. There’s been a lot of talk about this and one of my friends has asserted that it undermines those themes. To me it is evident that the movie has feminist themes, if not intentions. So let’s talk a bit more about Snow White and the Huntsman. The mirror is one of the creepiest elements of a frequently creepy movie.
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