Claudia Hoffman
Evil queens and witches—same species? Consider Snow White in its numerous non-Disney incarnations. Does the queen have supernatural powers herself, or is she just a psychopath with a magic mirror and a flair for poisoning (and disguises)?
As I was about to write this post, I started to wonder. Maybe I’d been wrong all these years to conflate witches and evil queens. I consulted my copy of The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (Bantam, 1987; Jack Zipes, trans.). Here’s the smoking gun I found:
“This time I’m going to think of something that will destroy her,” she [Snow White’s stepmother] said, and by using all the witchcraft at her command, she made a poison comb.
Hagsome is as hagsome does, as far as I’m concerned. On with the post ...
In the 1997 film Snow White: A Tale of Terror the queen is demoted to lady, and it’s unclear at first if she’s evil at all. The mirror is there, shielded from prying eyes in a spooky carved cabinet. There are also a pet raven and a creepy mute brother. And what to make of this meditation from Lady Claudia (Sigourney Weaver) on her mother, from whom Claudia inherited the mirror?
“Would she be angry, knowing that the world which so despised her has embraced me?”
I smell mom kabob. Like mother like daughter?
On the other hand, Claudia seems truly committed to making a success of the stepmother thing. At first. Unfortunately, Snow White, aka “Lilliana,” is a brat (Taryn Davis) who grows up to be ... a bigger brat (Monica Keena). When Claudia suffers a catastrophic miscarriage a third of the way into the movie, her anguish turns to blind hatred of her stepdaughter, and about time, too. With the mirror’s guidance, milady quickly starts to make up—makeup?—for lost time. Bring on that apple!
As Lady Claudia, Weaver, exquisitely costumed, is equally radiant and terrifying, as well as perversely sympathetic. Seen against a backdrop of Czech castles and forests, Tale of Terror has a dark, old-world authenticity that makes this my favorite Snow. Note: it’s also plenty gruesome, so send the kiddies to bed before you queue it up.
As I was about to write this post, I started to wonder. Maybe I’d been wrong all these years to conflate witches and evil queens. I consulted my copy of The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (Bantam, 1987; Jack Zipes, trans.). Here’s the smoking gun I found:
“This time I’m going to think of something that will destroy her,” she [Snow White’s stepmother] said, and by using all the witchcraft at her command, she made a poison comb.
Hagsome is as hagsome does, as far as I’m concerned. On with the post ...
In the 1997 film Snow White: A Tale of Terror the queen is demoted to lady, and it’s unclear at first if she’s evil at all. The mirror is there, shielded from prying eyes in a spooky carved cabinet. There are also a pet raven and a creepy mute brother. And what to make of this meditation from Lady Claudia (Sigourney Weaver) on her mother, from whom Claudia inherited the mirror?
“Would she be angry, knowing that the world which so despised her has embraced me?”
I smell mom kabob. Like mother like daughter?
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| Becoming evil ... |
As Lady Claudia, Weaver, exquisitely costumed, is equally radiant and terrifying, as well as perversely sympathetic. Seen against a backdrop of Czech castles and forests, Tale of Terror has a dark, old-world authenticity that makes this my favorite Snow. Note: it’s also plenty gruesome, so send the kiddies to bed before you queue it up.
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