The Queen in Walt Disney's version has no name, but the scenes that present her as a character show the strength and qualities of her. The entire movie opens up with a scene of following the queen into her mirror and seeing her from the mirror's point of view. She is displayed in the shot with dark hair and eyes, red lips, and a womanly silhouette. These elements show the sexuality of her character and the power that is behind her. This version of the film gives more depth and dimension to the Queen than the silent film did. It makes the viewer question who their loyalties are toward in the way that we are introduced to her as a being and a person rather than a flat figure in a film.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
The Queen's Identity
In the silent film, the Queen is given a name which makes her more human like and relatable rather than evil. But, this is the only element that suggests this. She is flat and there is not much evidence into the vision of her as a character in general. As the audience, we do not know much about the Queen and what she represents in they story. There become three women against Snow White later in the story, the queen being two of them. Her character was split into two roles, one of the queen and one of the witch.
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It's interesting how the name-less Queen is the one with the most personality. The Queen is such an interesting character to me because she is so versatile. You can do so much with her and the different variations of Snow White prove that. She's a fun character while oddly, Snow White remains pretty much the same throughout the versions.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I definatly think the stories and even the movies concentrate more on the queen/ witch and her developing personality. I personally cannot stand snow white- she is pretty much the worst princess ever. I liked how you compared the significance of names in both movies. In class we discussed how the name gave significance and the viewer was able to watch the movie thinking it was an actual location, with actual characters. However, i don't think any of the characters were well introduced and developed in the silent film- truthfully i think the only character that was somewhat interesting was the hunter. I would love to discuss the queen and her versatility and dynamism as a character.
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