a DIACHRONIC study of the IMAGE of the POWERFUL FEMALE in POPULAR (and maybe other) CULTURES
Thursday, July 25, 2013
YEAR 1937: THE EVIL QUEEN
This is easily one of the most recognizable Walt Disney villains, the nameless queen-- currently called "the Evil Queen" in company publicity, according to a Disney wiki.
In keeping with the fairy tale source story, one never knows much about the Queen's background, and little is said about the circumstances by which she becomes Snow White's stepmother. Once Snow's natural mother and father are both dead, the princess is relegated to the status of scullery maid. As with most "princess stories," Snow's burgeoning beauty is the thing that saves her from drudgery, though it also puts her in danger of being killed by the envious queen. One might say that the Queen suffers from a "Cassiopeia complex," in that her envy for a younger woman's beauty leads her to put the younger woman in peril.
Given that the Queen ends up sacrificing her own beauty to strike at Snow White-- since there's no mention of her being able to transform herself back from "Hag" to "Queen"-- this would appear to be the very definition of cutting off one's nose to spite the face.
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