Sunday, November 25, 2012

I Immediately Fell For The Wicked Queen

Watched "Snow White and the Huntsman" with DD the other night. Charlize Theron is great and Ian McShane is a dwarf! I got to wondering about the backstory on the mirror.

The Magic Mirror

The true treasure of our kingdom, they all called it,
My flawless honesty, and didn't they realize
I'd know their admiration was a lie? It was a birth gift
Doled out by a bitch of a godmother, double-edged--
It was the closest thing those women could do to fighting,
Of course, throw a curse in the guise of a blessing:
She will be untouchably beautiful, she will be above
All others all her life, he will understand the true meaning of riches,

That sort of thing. He will be ever-honest, that was mine.
Drove a few tutors mad and two wives away. Then the new queen
Came along, and clapped my spirit under glass. Gave me
The one gift I'd never had: He shall reflect on things
Before speaking.
Her little joke. She spends most evenings
In her chambers, with me; I remember what it was like
Not to get invited out much. She'll never abandon me.
People pity me my enchantment, but I pity them
Their enslavement: I am the only one permitted
To tell her that she is not fair.


1 comment:

Slothrop said...

Amazing - I never thought metaphorically about that mirror until I read this. It always seemed the strangest plot point in the story (& we're competing w/ forest cabins full of dwarfs).

True, he's "flawlessly honest," but he also reverses every image (upon reflection). Who is he? The court jester (King Lear's fool, etc.)? The true artist? The pairing of Woody Allen w/ the Evil Queen seems like pure genius; as the butt, he was always able to tell us the truth, & survive. And he's fragile. Like comedian Jimmy Barrett tells Betty Draper on "Mad Men," "Looks like we're stuck at the kids' table, watching the cool people." Before telling Don what nobody else in the show is capable of telling him.

Another in a long line of symbiotic doppelgangers, worth a whole fairy tale of its own. You clapped its essense under glass, as usual. Magic poem.