Akira's Nightmare Animation Writers And Story Editors Forum: Snow White and the Queen Stepmother

An Immovable Object Meets An Irresistible Force

Rivalry is a character driven plot. It is an educated observation whenever an irresistible force meets an immovable object. The audience will then ask the question. What will happen? Here lies the conflict, the engine of the plot under discussion.

A rival is a person who competes for the same object or goal as another. A rival is a person who disputes the prominence or superiority of another. Thus, it is said that the possibilities are endless whenever two people compete for a common goal.

Snow White, the Disney Animation Feature, used rivalry as a plot structure. Thus, one can immediately see two rivals in the material, the Powerful Stepmother and the Charismatic Snow White. As the material unfolds, it is clear that the object of competition is Beauty. The urgency may vary in frequency for each of the rivals, but it is still the object being disputed in this case.

Being a character plot, one must then study the need and want of each of the rivals. In Snow White's case, she needed to be loved and she wanted to feel this love from her stepmother. On the other hand, the Evil Stepmother needed to learn the value of love, in particular, unselfish love. But, as revealed in the story, her obsession towards physical beauty became the most important "want" in her life.

As the material progresses, one is able to see the most striking assets and liabilities of the rivals. The Stepmother is the queen. Thus, she has power and she uses this power to command her servants to do her bidding. But given her power, she does not have legitimacy. And for her, legitimacy is encapsulated in Physical Beauty. On the other hand, Snow White has this natural charisma. Charisma that she uses in order to influence other people to do her bidding. Given that she has no power, her legitimacy emanates from her inner beauty. Therefore, you have two characters that compete for beauty but varies in terms of the interpretation of what is beautiful for them.

The conception of Beauty, in this case, becomes a moral question. Which is more important, Inner Beauty or Physical Beauty? Each of the rivals tries to push for what she believes to be more important as a conception of beauty. Beauty therefore is the arena of the rivalry, the rivals are two competing notions of what is beautiful. In the end of the animation feature, the lesson is clear. Inner Beauty is far more important than what is said to be physical beauty.

Here lies the magic of the material, given two stereotypes, it presents a cliche that is a product of packaged emotions. And so, we have a proportionate treatment of the material. When confronted with a cliche, the next best thing to do is to create stereotypical characters to inhabit such a cliche.

Side track, politically, this is a good discussion for political science majors. Probably this is why I like this animation feature so much. One is confronted with socio-political concepts of power, influence and legitimacy. The question of what makes a ruler legitimate is one of the moving dilemmas in the material. Is legitimacy more relevant when influence becomes an active component in a ruler's style of governance? Or is power essential in constructing a legitimate ruler? Apparently, the one who created the material was never a fan of Machiavelli. Nevertheless, it is clear that for him or her, charisma is essential for governance to be legitimate. At the end of the material, Snow White found his crowned prince and somehow we can say that if ever Snow White becomes the queen of a kingdom, her legitimacy will be based on her charisma. Thus, exercising influence over her people. Unlike her stepmother who was a tyrant.

The dynamics between the rivals is the source of the conflict. The conflict, being the engine of the material, provided the movements in the plot. Both characters are confronted with the conflict, Inner Beauty vs. Physical Beauty. As individuals, it was clear that the Queen chose her want over her need and Snow White chose her need over her want. Because each of the rivals represented a notion of what is beautiful. We ask question, who got rewarded? Is it Snow White or the Queen Stepmother? Well, for one thing, Snow White gained the friendship of the seven midgets and at the end she got her prince while the Queen Stepmother met an ugly death. Given the ending, Snow White is clearly the winner and the Queen is the loser. In effect, inner beauty won over physical beauty.

Snow White is a timeless material because the subject is also timeless, beauty. It has a wide market because beauty, in itself, is a universal value. It does not alienate any culture. And lastly, the material is a packaged emotion. It draws its power from sentimentality. Hey, one way of the other, we read the fairytale story. And I bet boys wanted to be the prince and girls wanted to be Snow White. And perhaps others, like my political science professor, in secret dreamed to be the Evil Stepmother.