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May 19, 2012 7:10 am  #1


Snow White and the Huntsman

As I like "dark" movies this one is definitely on my list to watch.

I love Charlize Theron there. She is so beautiful and evil at the same time.

Anyone seen this film? Opinions?

This film has its 'raison d'ĂȘtre', no doubt, but why is it that in the last few years so many fairytales or parts of these have been adapted into really dark motion pictures? I guess it is because of people like me who do not go for the Disney ideal world stuff. 


We live for books. - Umberto Eco
 

May 19, 2012 11:33 am  #2


Re: Snow White and the Huntsman

The original folk tales are often really extremely dark in content. There are common themes running through them which reflect the fears and life experiences of the people at the time. These stories would, originally, have been part of an oral tradition. Stories would have been retold again and again over the years, sitting around fires on cold, dark winter evenings. Accompanied by drinking more than likely. Professional storytellers would have travelled from village to village peddling their tales. Only much later were these stories written down by such people as the Brothers Grimm.

If you can, and have not already done so, read the originals. They are very far removed from the Disney versions. They are often violent, disturbing, weird and traumatic. In Sherlock it is the tale of Hansel and Gretel that is a point of reference in The Reichenbach Fall. What a jolly little tale that is! Death of mother, evil step-mother, rejection by father and attempted child abandonment in the forest. Return and rejection, further child abandonment in the forest with death by starvation, thirst or from wild animals the aim. Capture by a witch using a gingerbread house as a lure. Boy put in cage to be fattened up for the witch to cook and eat. Girl used as slave labour. Witch pushed into heated over and burned to death. Children find way home, step-mother dead and reunited with father (bit dubious about him though, I would think).


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Don't make people into heroes John. Heroes don't exist and if they did I wouldn't be one of them.
 

May 19, 2012 3:22 pm  #3


Re: Snow White and the Huntsman

Davina wrote:

If you can, and have not already done so, read the originals.

I grew up with fairytales and I have read them later again and again. And yes, I know that they are dark, cruel and really scary... and that is what they were/are supposed to be.

But my question in the first post was more about the motion pictures and the (new) interest in fairytales (on screen). It seems that more and more younger people do not even know fairytales and ,connected with that, names such as Brothers Grimm, Andersen, Hauff, etc. Therefore, I am just surprised to see people going to the cinema and watch movies like Snow White or Red Riding Hood, that's all. 


We live for books. - Umberto Eco
     Thread Starter
 

May 19, 2012 8:17 pm  #4


Re: Snow White and the Huntsman

Maybe, if they are ignorant of the original stories this is tapping into the very human enjoyment of the frisson of being scared. Many of them may not know exactly about the stories but they are still part of folklore, in its widest sense.


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Don't make people into heroes John. Heroes don't exist and if they did I wouldn't be one of them.
 

May 29, 2012 7:22 pm  #5


Re: Snow White and the Huntsman

I'm really looking forward to this new adaptation. I think it's okay to change it around and stuff, because it makes it suitable for a different audience. This is not going to be some childrens movie and I am really happy about that.

It's just sad that we cannot see movies in the original language here... I saw the german trailer and I didn't like it a bit. Especially Charlize Theron's voice, which is so powerful in english... and also the voice of the huntsman, which is a bit rough and sexy but in german it just sounds geeky and the voice is much too high -.-


"Remember that you were loved by me, and you made my life a happy one. And there is no tragedy in that." - James, Third Star.
 

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