Mirror
Mirror is a comedy film that mirror-writing from Snow White, the Grimms’ Fairy
Tales. This film was directed by Tarsem Singh, an Indian director and starring Lily
Collins, Julia Roberts and Armie Hammer. This film was based on the Snow White but
added some new plots to bring out freshness.
Mirror
Mirror started with the evil Queen gradually used up all the national
treasuries to satisfy her desires like to keep her the most beautiful lady in
the country. She controlled the country and forbade Snow white from the
governance. One day she met a very rich Prince from the neighbor country, the
Queen wanted to marry him regardless of the methods in order to solve the
financial problems. However, the Prince was fall madly in love with the
beautiful Snow White. The Queen started to jealous Snow White and sent a
servant to kill her in the monster forest. On the other hand, Snow White
detected the Queen squandered the national treasuries and treat the people so
mean. She tried to take back the regime and her love, the Prince, from the evil
Queen with the help of the seven dwarf knights.
For a traditional fairy
tale, an evil Queen, a poor Princess and a handsome and brave Prince are the
must have characters. These characters altogether composed a miserable story
that the Queen treated the Princess very badly and the Prince was whom the one
could help the Princess. The iconography of this film was very typical. There
was a castle, glamorous clothes, delicious meals and luxury goods such as gold
and diamond. They are the stereotype images fairy tales. These things
represented the images of the Queen and Snow White was very noble and elegant. The
setting of this film was mainly focus on three different places. For instance,
the setting was in the great castle when portraying the Queen’s daily life. When
talking about the citizen, the setting was in an old and dirty town. The
distinct setting of different characters demonstrated a very big gap in their
identities and raise up a clear impaction for the audience. The rich and the
poor were shown in a very contrast color. The rich like the Queen, Snow White
and the maids in the palace were dressed in colorful clothing. When shooting
them, the multicolored constructed a warm and dignity atmosphere. However, when
focusing on the poor, the color tone was very murkily and dark which produced a
poor, hopeless and dingy feeling. These contrast comparison displayed the clear
difference between the rich and the poor. Besides, the ending provided a new
experience for the audience, the musical element was involved. Like the
original story, Snow White took back the control of the country successfully
and married to the Prince and singing and dancing in the Indian like music. This
film not just followed the original blindly, but also introduced some new plots
and elements. It was worth to enjoy it, Mirror Mirror.
Law Fong Fong ( 1031 7365 / 2085 8049)
Thanks for the second post! You have examined the movie in a few dimensions such as the casting, the main characters, the setting, and various cultural icons. The examples cited are illustrative and appropriate, all pointed to the construction of a typical “fairy tales” that seems to match the audience’s expectations.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, what impressed me most is the ways it deviates from the old romance story. Perhaps you may uncover the connotations of the so-called “new elements” integrated in the film. For instance, what are the social/cultural values embodied by the brave princess who saved the prince in the end? How does the film portray such a female heroic figure in the traditional fairy tale setting? Can it disturb/break the typical gender images and power relationship inherited by the fairy tale?