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A William Stout illustration for the Norwegian fairy tale East of the Sun, West of the Moon.
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The Blue Fairy
Wow, I love her wings! She’s so glamorous!
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L. Kate Deal, 'The Wild Swans', ''Child Library Readers'', Book Four, 1928
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Cinderella's Remake if it had been released today
I wasn't supposed to speak anymore of the movie we shall not name so I'll try to make it about the most recent Disney live-action remakes... But this is also what I actually hold against them. Yes I do believe some of the changes they brought to the movie-that-shall-not-be-named were completely unecessary because Disney just literaly dug a hole in quicksands without thinking how they would literaly drown themselves in problem, while they had perfectly safe bridges to walk over RIGHT NEXT TO IT... But this isn't, in the long run, the main flaw of the movie as what seems to be its main flaw it is desire to stick exactly to the original movie. The original animated movie.
The entire point of making a live-action remake is to EXPLOIT, USE, EXPLORE the live-action medium to do things that cannot or should not be done in animation. I am not talking about the essence of a remake, I am talking about a cartoon/live-action transition. Those are two different medium, two different worlds, two different matters to shape. One would have thought, when they started their remakes, they understood this as their big successes - be it their Alice, their Maleficent or their Cinderella - were all about making things different from the original animated movie. That made them good movies - not obviously as in "you like it" but as in "yeah, it works on its own". But the most recent remakes (including the {CENSORED} one) are all about trying to recreate visuals and aesthetics and costumes and hairstyles that DO NOT work in live-action... BECAUSE IT CANNOT WORK IN LOVE ACTION! Especially stuff like the FIRST Disney movie which was literaly designed out of a cartoon aesthetic that was NOT trying to be realistic in the least. More recent Disney movies like The Princess and the Frog, or Tangled, had a more "realistic" aesthetic that allows for an easier live-action transition. But the more you go back the more you return to Disney's original little Silly Symphonies cartoons, which are of course IMPOSSIBLE to translate as live-action! Yes they had live-action models to draw the scenes, but these movies were created to fully embrace the possibilities of cartoon, and thus had physically impossible things or stuff that would look ugly in real-life...
I still hold that the greatest Disney live-action remake of all time was 101 Dalmatians.
#the re-embracing of the aesthetic worked for little mermaid for example#because the movie was far more recent#and thus the live-action transition wasn't as jarring though it did felt little effort was put in reinventing it all#but with snow white COME ON#they should have seen it coming how it didn't work at all#the costumes and the hair do not work for me#especially with the evil queen - the evil queen is the HARDEST villain to recreate “faithfully” live-action#this is why they had to do variations in stuff like OUaT#anyway this is just another random rant#honestly if they had done something different and not tried so hard to stick to the original#i think the movie could have worked better#now mirror mirror feels more like a Disney live action remake than the actual remake
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A Motherly Poison
By Alex C. Mouse
With all this talk about Snow White going on, I decided to take my shot at reimagining one of the most iconic scenes of the fairy tale. I want to see your sincere opinions about this.
This is a scene from a story I’m sure you’ve already heard many times.
If you close your eyes, I’m sure you can picture it: a small timber-framed cottage in the heart of the woods, and in front of it, a young woman with hair as black as ebony, skin as pale as snow, and lips as red as blood.
This story is engraved in stone in the palace of your memories, but what we call fairy tales were made more for them than for us. The fairies live for so long that their memories could never keep up with them. After a century or two, it all becomes a mess of senses, thoughts, and feelings. They need something to keep all this chaos in order—a key to bring something concrete out of the abstract. A story that, no matter how simple, will always bring something out of them.
Snow White told them everything that she remembered, and as always, the story trickled down from the Enchanted Ones to us mere mortals. Yet, one detail Snow kept to herself, locked inside her own palace of memories.
I found her diary in my research, and I found her small secret. It’s nothing that will make you see the little princess in a bad light, as numerous revisionists have already tried over the years, but it’s something that must be told in order for people to understand her story.
I also must add that so long has already passed since those times. Rapunzel’s tower is empty and in ruins, Peter Pan left Neverland, the forest critters ate the gingerbread house, and from Cinderella, only one glass slipper is left. So much time has passed in Nemoia, and much more has passed in the Other Realm, the one without fairies.
I’m a storyteller, so I could never tell you exactly what she wrote. It’s best for me and for you that I dramatize my findings.
So, again, picture this:
A young woman leaving a small cottage in the heart of the woods. Her long mithril dress shone in the sun. It had been a gift from her uncles. Since she could remember, they did everything in their power to keep her safe.
“You must never leave, Snow White. You mustn’t talk to strangers,” was what they always said to her right before going to the diamond mines. Snow White always found ways to bend the rules of the dwarfs and go to the forest though.
Snow went to the giant wall that separated the cottage from the rest of the woods—a wall of giant dwarf statues made of wood and bronze, all smiling and with pickaxes raised up, mid air. Their beards were iron wires on which white rose bushes grew—Snow’s favorites.
She pulled the cord, and the water of the creek forced all engines and gears to move. The dwarfs started moving, their pickaxes going up and down without break. Some even whistled steam. Two large bronze doors, ornate like oak trees, opened, and from the other side, a woman wrapped in a dark cloak already waited for her.
The black cloak hid her face, and she walked hunched, as if hiding from view. In her hand, she carried a large basket, filled to the brim with apples.
“Are they gone?” the woman asked.
Snow White smiled. “Yes. They will only return by sundown.”
“Great,” the woman said.
The cloak fell to the ground, revealing a beautiful woman dressed in a simple but elegant purple and blue mantle. She was too old to be young and too young to be old. Her hair still looked as dark as the blackest raven, and her eyes still had life and vivacity behind them, even if the wrinkles under them could no longer be properly hidden.
Tears flowed from the woman’s eyes, and upon seeing the scene, Snow White couldn’t keep hers dry.
“I missed you so much, dear,” the woman said.
“Me too,” Snow said between the tears. “I missed you, Mom.”
Snow White promptly led her mother inside. With a cup of milk and a slice of freshly baked peach pie, Snow greeted her. They had so much to talk about.
Snow had found her mother during one of her frequent secret visits to the village. Among the thickest trees, in the darkest spot, around a place where not even the huntsmen dared to go, these women had found each other after so many years. It was already late, and Snow White needed to go before the dwarfs returned, but Snow showed her the place where the dwarfs lived and they promised to meet each other soon. And now her mother was there in the flesh, just like she remembered.
“I knew you probably were with the dwarfs, but I didn’t know how to find them,” her mother said. She carefully examined the place, touching and sensing all the wooden furniture. “I tried finding their cave again, but it was abandoned.”
Snow’s eyes widened. “How do you know about the cave?” she asked.
Her mother chuckled. “I was an orphan. They were everything I had. Before the dwarfs were your fairy godfathers, they were mine. I left them when I married your father, when I became queen.”
The Queen pulled the apple basket and placed it over the table. “I brought apples from our orchard. Your favorite. Do you remember?”
Snow White’s smile widened. “Yes! Yes! Yes! I remember when you baked apple pies for me. You always pushed away all the servants from the kitchen.”
The Queen smirked. “My magic works best when I’m alone.” She winked.
Snow White continued, “And then, by the afternoon, the whole palace was smelling good. The servants were always imploring you for a slice. You let me sit on your lap while you gave me the first one. It was always too hot.”
Snow laughed.
“You never waited. You were a hungry little monster,” the Queen said.
The Queen pulled Snow White and held her firm while playfully tickling her sides and arms. Snow laughed while struggling to free herself. Suddenly, she was a small child again, and her mother was right there with her.
“I thought about making apple pies with you, like the old times,” the Queen said.
Snow White looked at the apples. They were the most reddish apples she had seen in her lifetime. They didn’t even look real. They were so red that they almost looked black. Yet, just like sin, they were a temptation.
She didn’t lose time. She rushed around the dwarfs’ cottage to get all the ingredients to make the crust.
“I remember the mirror. Is the mirror still there?” Snow absently asked.
The Queen dropped a plate on the floor, shattering it into several pieces.
“Mother, are you alright?” Snow asked.
The Queen gave her an expression she couldn’t decipher very well. Her eyes looked right through her, and her teeth seemed slightly gritted.
“Of course, I’m fine, my dear,” the Queen said.
Snow White started peeling the apples.
“I remember the mirror. It almost covered the whole wall of your bedroom,” Snow White said while cutting the apples. “I liked to play in front of it. You always got so mad when you caught me in your room.”
The Queen pulled the knife from Snow’s hands with such speed that it startled her.
Snow turned to her mother and saw her expressionless this time. Something was stuck in her throat—something she wanted to say but, for some reason, held back.
“What do you remember?” the Queen asked.
Snow White chuckled. “I remember you. I remember the palace. I remember the servants. Then you being very mad at me for some reason. I remember a scary man taking me to pick flowers when I was seven, but then I got lost, and the dwarfs in the cave found me. Some accidents happened, and we moved. After we moved, they said it was best if I avoided leaving the cottage.”
The Queen sat in a chair. She seemed tired, and—was it fear on her face?
“What accidents do you remember?” the Queen asked.
Snow White kept talking. “A comb got stuck in my hair, and I don’t know why, but I passed out. When I woke up, they said I should keep my hair short. Then a bodice got too tight around my waist, and I passed out again. When I woke up, they said I should only wear mithril dresses and that they would protect me from most everything.”
“That’s so horrible, dear,” the Queen said.
“But it’s all over now. My uncles are overprotective, but they’re nice. They always bring me something from the mines or some gift that some fairy friend of theirs gave.”
The Queen remained silent for a couple of seconds. “Do you remember your father?” she said.
“No. I was too young when he passed away. As far as I remember, it was always you, and then suddenly, my uncles.”
“Good,” the Queen whispered under her breath. “Do you have a boyfriend?”
Snow White blushed. The pale white skin turned rosy red for just a few moments. “There’s a boy. He’s from another kingdom. I think he’s from Achelois. I always see him and some others training in the woods. I met him a few times, and we even hung around the village once.”
The Queen grew quiet once again. “But it’s not true love, right?”
Snow laughed. “Of course not. I’m just a girl from the forest.” Her voice became more timid and small. “I know for sure that he must know a lot of girls prettier than me. I’m not that special. I will never be as beautiful as you.”
“Exactly!” the Queen said, surprising Snow.
Snow turned to face her mother, and both stayed quiet for a few seconds.
“You are the most beautiful woman in the world,” Snow White said to the Queen.
“I used to be,” the Queen said, her countenance now haggard.
“I remember those fancy balls you dragged me to when I was little. No noble could take their eyes off you. Not even the servants,” Snow White said.
The Queen chuckled. “This was a long time ago. When you reach a certain age, people stop paying attention to you and turn their eyes to the next pretty little thing.”
Again, the Queen looked at Snow White with such intensity that the girl didn’t know how to reply.
“There are other things besides beauty,” Snow said.
The Queen laughed. “Not for me. I stayed so long as the fairest of them all that I don’t know what I am outside of that.”
“You have the dwarfs,” Snow said. “I'm sure they will be happy to see you again.”
The queen closed her eyes and smirked, more to hide frustration than to show joy.
“I shouldn’t even be here. I said some things and did some things that they will never forgive me for.”
“You still have the people.”
“The people no longer love me. We are one step away from a revolution.”
“You still have me,” Snow White said.
The Queen closed her eyes, and now visibly gritted her teeth. Snow could see her hiding something within herself—a wild feeling that begged to be released.
“Do you know what? I’m already hungry. Aren’t you? Forget the pie. Let’s eat these goodies here right now.”
Snow White didn’t know what to think. “We can eat the peach pie.”
The Queen forced a smile. “But the apples are tempting me. I picked the best ones.”
“Okay,” was the only thing that came out of Snow White’s mouth.
She picked one apple. It looked so shiny and polished that she could see her reflection in it.
“Maybe my uncles will be really mad with me this time.” Snow said.
“If anything they will be mad at me.” The Queen laughed. “You’re safe with me. You’ll always be safe with me.”
Snow White smiled. “Thanks, mom.” She said before taking a bite.
It took a few seconds. She first felt an itch around her tongue, then it spread through her whole mouth. Soon, her whole mouth was burning.
“Are you okay, my dear?” the Queen asked.
“I feel weird,” Snow White managed to say.
Snow White felt her tongue swelling and her throat closing. Suddenly, the whole world started spinning. She tried keeping her balance but fell to the floor.
The last thing she remembered before the whole world went dark, before all her senses were lost, was the Queen standing there, grinning at her.
Sometimes, even mothers lie.