“An archetype provides a window into a society’s attitudes and values”
Throughout history, the purpose of fairy tales has shifted from pure male entertainment to didactic children's tales. A particular time period's values are evident through analysis of archetypes found in fairy tales from that era. This theory is explored through the Brothers Grimm fairy tale "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (SWSD) originally published in 1812, Matt Phelan's film noir style graphic novel "Snow White" published in 2016 but set in the 1920s, and Robert Stromberg's modern appropriation of Sleeping Beauty, the feature film "Maleficent" released in 2015. In each of these texts, the archetypes of the villain and heroine have shifted in order to adapt to the changes …show more content…
The archetype of the villain has become one of the most fluid, changing characters in texts. Through different readings of texts, different discussion points about the villain can be explored. From a dominant reading of the Brothers Grimm SWSD, the villain archetype hold most of the marginalised values. One of the strongest values explored through the villain archetype is vanity. When the Evil Queen repeatedly asks the question "looking-glass upon the wall, who is fairest of us all?" her obsession with her reflection and being the most beautiful is evident. The repetition reinforces the insanity that the Queen has been driven to from her obsession, and the negative connotations of the words associated with her obsession such as "hate" and "envy" demonstrate the juxtaposition that she is, despite being beautiful, portrayed as ugly because of her vanity. The purpose of this is, since being a didactic text, to demonstrate to aristocratic audiences that if you are not modest with your beauty, you will not be considered undesirable. However, from a resistant reading, the Queen can be seen as a more desirable character than Snow White. The Queens rise to power over even the King, who is not present in the text, and her cunning plans to take down Snow White, can now be respected from the resistant reading of modern audiences. In the "Snow White" graphic novel, the archetype of the villain is realised by Snow White's step-mother, Queen of the Follies. This archetype strongly represents the greed and narcissism of the 1920s, particularly after the stock market crash. The first time we see the villain "in person" is from a low angle shot. The angle conveys her immense self-confidence and superiority to her audience, which from a dominant reading gives the responder an idea of her narcissistic personality, which continues to develop into an insanity. This
Throughout history, the purpose of fairy tales has shifted from pure male entertainment to didactic children's tales. A particular time period's values are evident through analysis of archetypes found in fairy tales from that era. This theory is explored through the Brothers Grimm fairy tale "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (SWSD) originally published in 1812, Matt Phelan's film noir style graphic novel "Snow White" published in 2016 but set in the 1920s, and Robert Stromberg's modern appropriation of Sleeping Beauty, the feature film "Maleficent" released in 2015. In each of these texts, the archetypes of the villain and heroine have shifted in order to adapt to the changes …show more content…
The archetype of the villain has become one of the most fluid, changing characters in texts. Through different readings of texts, different discussion points about the villain can be explored. From a dominant reading of the Brothers Grimm SWSD, the villain archetype hold most of the marginalised values. One of the strongest values explored through the villain archetype is vanity. When the Evil Queen repeatedly asks the question "looking-glass upon the wall, who is fairest of us all?" her obsession with her reflection and being the most beautiful is evident. The repetition reinforces the insanity that the Queen has been driven to from her obsession, and the negative connotations of the words associated with her obsession such as "hate" and "envy" demonstrate the juxtaposition that she is, despite being beautiful, portrayed as ugly because of her vanity. The purpose of this is, since being a didactic text, to demonstrate to aristocratic audiences that if you are not modest with your beauty, you will not be considered undesirable. However, from a resistant reading, the Queen can be seen as a more desirable character than Snow White. The Queens rise to power over even the King, who is not present in the text, and her cunning plans to take down Snow White, can now be respected from the resistant reading of modern audiences. In the "Snow White" graphic novel, the archetype of the villain is realised by Snow White's step-mother, Queen of the Follies. This archetype strongly represents the greed and narcissism of the 1920s, particularly after the stock market crash. The first time we see the villain "in person" is from a low angle shot. The angle conveys her immense self-confidence and superiority to her audience, which from a dominant reading gives the responder an idea of her narcissistic personality, which continues to develop into an insanity. This