I found it interesting that the name
of the story is written in Low German, yet the text is in High German. I wonder
if there was any intent behind that, and how it relates to the piece we read by
Zipes on fairy tales being written down and thus becoming more exclusive.
I was kind of confused by the idea
of the mother wanting her to be “as red as blood”, and Snow White ending up
fulfilling that wish. I guess it means she has rosy cheeks? It seems like a
strange desire to me. I did read the annotation about it being an aspect of the
Triple Goddess, but it still didn’t make a ton of sense to me.
I’ve definitely seen the “great
forest” trope before, where someone is stuck in a forest and grows mentally.
Although here, I don’t think her growth is as pronounced to me as in other
stories. But the trope in general makes a lot of sense to me; being alone with nature
gives someone the opportunity to do a lot of thinking and reflecting.
I’m curious as to why when Snow
White was running through the forest, the beasts didn’t attack her. The text
gives no reason for why they didn’t harm her. It makes me wonder if there’s an
underlying reason for it, like because of her beauty or something. Also, the
things in the forest are hurting her as she runs, so I feel like there’s a
meaning behind that as well.
I thought it was interesting how she
says a prayer before going to bed. In a modern Disney film, I feel like they
wouldn’t show this. I’m also curious to watch the film to see if she does a
prayer in that one, because it was created earlier. It makes me curious to see
how religion plays a role in Disney films in general.
I found it funny how the seventh dwarf
slept one hour in each of the beds. It emphasizes the non-individualistic
nature of the dwarves. I found that annotation about the dwarves pretty
interesting. It’s cool to see what they represent based on the connotation of
the time.
The looking glass is a snitch.
As I read, I was trying to think of
the moral/message of the passage. I think a very probable one is that envy and
comparing yourself to others is bad, but I wonder if that’s the message the
original authors were going for. I feel like they could be going for a
different one, since many of the stories at the time had messages that were
towards women/children and encouraged gender roles and the likes.
I thought it was interesting that
the first two ways Snow White “dies” are through things that deal with a woman’s
looks. First the bodice being tied too tight, and then through the poisonous
comb. A bodice is kind of like a corset, which is something that restricts
women and also can be looked at as enforcing gender roles. The comb is also
used to “control” women, because it tames hair. I think it could be meaningful
that these two things are used to kill her. I don’t think this is what the
Grimm brother meant, but it could be looked at as commentary on women obsessing
over looks to the point where it harms their health.
I didn’t like the fact that the dwarves
“gave” Snow White’s body to the other man. That definitely wouldn’t pass in a
modern time.
The ending was pretty weird to me,
the idea of forcing someone to wear extremely hot shoes to kill them. It does
make sense that Snow White would punish the step mother for trying to kill her
multiple times, but still, kind of a grotesque way to die.
Overall, I didn’t think the story
was that entertaining. It still was interesting to see how it compared to the
movie and stuff.
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