I love fairy tales, they are my
favorite stories. The darker the better, though I do like light and funny ones
on occasion too. Fairy tales are another form of parables, as they are stories
with deep meanings put very simply and memorably. I am glad these kinds of
stories are making their way to the big screen again, as I hope to one day make
my own live-action, fairy tale epic or two. Not only that, but we as a culture
are hungry for stories of passion and purpose, stories that reveal truths
using imagination and bringing up fresh water from the wells of our dreams.
It was the beautiful banner (above) hanging in the cinema that hooked me into seeing Snow White and the Huntsman. The visuals of the film are just as captivating their promotional artwork and trailers promised. Breathtaking cinematography captures not only a phenomenal setting, but also emphasizes the importance of color in storytelling. It was rich with the fantasy element but also raw and choppy to bring realism to the scenes. This film had much of the feel of Elizabeth: The Golden Age in style right down to its strong, metal-plated heroine, and all woven with the magnificent score provided by one of my absolute favorite film composers James Newton Howard. I could go on and on about the technical proficiency of the film, but my aim is always the film’s heart and for fairy tales that is the most important element.
I worked for a theater company when
this movie was out, and whenever people would exit the auditorium I would
always hear someone say, “ But, Charlize Theron is so much prettier than
Kristen Stewart….blah, blah...” Sorry if I sound pretentious, but, these people
obviously missed the entire point of the film.
Queen Ravena is aesthetically more beautiful, why shouldn’t she be? She poured every bit of money,
effort, magic, and time into making her outer appearance young and beautiful
forever. Ravena also missed the
point. If she had cultivated her inner character half as much as she cultivated
her looks, she would have been much stronger in every way.
The point of the story is that Snow White focused more on her inner character. She
spent most of her life looking dirty and shabby in prison, and spends almost
the entire film staying that way. She isn’t wasting precious time on perfecting
her outer appearance; her heart and her time are dedicated to helping her
people and seeing the success of a good and righteous kingdom. Her strength and
passion, purity of heart, and nobleness of intent are what made her fairest.
Her passion inspired men to fight at her side, whereas Ravena only used magic
and fear to do so. In that light, who of the two is the more powerful one?
Ravena grieves from years of abuse and instead of
preventing abuse to anyone else, she uses her suffering as a weapon. She is highly
against men and blames them, claiming that men only want what is young and
beautiful and that both of those things are the source of power. Ironically,
she is enabling the very thing she stands against. By using her beauty, and
even her sexuality to a degree, as a weapon, she is saying that those things
are the only way a woman can become powerful. It’s an extremely
counterproductive and non-progressive way of thinking. So the reason she is so
easily defeated in the end was because Snow White had found the way to truly
govern people and leave a lasting impression through the strength of good and
noble character. Ravena had only put her vitality into her beauty, and since
beauty always fades, she would never be capable of true and lasting power.
Instead of pushing against men, Snow
White actually draws her strength from them as an equal. The Huntsman, for
example, is key to Snow White discovering her own confidence. Instead of doing
everything for her, he teaches her and stands with her. It takes him a bit to
see her strength, but when he does he doesn’t let her just sit there feeling sorry
for herself, but encourages her to defend herself and her people.
Oddly enough, even with two men who love her, this movie isn’t
very much about the romance. Her childhood friend, William, is a man
of good character, but lacks the fiery personality and presence of the Huntsman.
The Huntsman was easily my favorite character. Though he is definitely very rough
around the edges he has a poetic and gentle inner spirit. The speech he speaks
over her “dead” body was absolutely beautiful. I don’t know if it’s the words
themselves or the simple and direct way Chris Hemsworth has with line delivery,
but who hears “…you’ll be a queen in heaven now and sit among the angels…” and
isn’t melting? Chris Hemsworth is showing more and more that he can carry a
movie. His acting and screen presence have grown tremendously and I look
forward to seeing him in more challenging roles in the future. This isn’t an original story, but it is a very original way of telling it. For instance, the scene where she kisses William poses a very well-done change. Typically, the Queen comes as an old beggar woman to tempt Snow White with an apple. For obvious reasons, that would not work in this story. So she comes to her as her dear childhood friend and the apple is part of a game they played. Coming to her as someone she trusts is far more treacherous than using the guise of a stranger. Also, it’s more believable and yes believability is important even in a fantasy, perhaps even moreso in a fantasy.
Another change I really enjoyed was the way they presented
the dark forest. The beloved Disney version shows Snow White fleeing for her
life and hallucinating frightening images in the darkness. In this version
there are plants camouflaged in the ground that emit a cloudy gas (drugs,
pretty much) that make you hallucinate and that is what makes the forest so
terrifying. As the huntsman puts it, “the forest feeds off your weakness.”
So it's common knowledge that I hate Twilight and everyone in the world seems to
hate Kristen Stewart, but she honestly wasn't bad in this film. She wasn’t Bella. She does have some things she could work on in her performances,
for example she has this natural way of having her mouth open ALL THE TIME. She isn’t the first actress I’ve known to do this, it’s a personal habit, but it’s definitely distracting. Anyway, with
time she has the potential to grow and learn, especially after she scrapes the final
awful Twilight movie off her plate.
Though
I really enjoyed this film, I do regret that it didn’t have as much character
development as I require in films, so points taken off for that. Thirty minutes
longer for characters and plot development would have made this good film
great. I know I say this every time I write about a blockbuster these days, but
rushing stories is a huge pandemic in contemporary film and it must be cured.
There is no excuse for it in a fairy tales especially, when the epic-ness of
the story is already there and you have only but to flesh it out. We are
nothing, filmmakers, if not master storytellers. The means make the ends more
satisfactory, and what happens in between Once upon a time and Happily
ever after is even more crucial than those famous lines themselves.
