![]() Lewis, whose White Witch similarly tempts Edmund away from the other children in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Nevertheless, the influence of ‘The Snow Queen’ can be seen in many works of children’s literature: the Snow Queen’s temptation of Kay almost certainly influenced C. But although the film followed Andersen’s tale in the early stages of the movie’s development, the two narratives and characters ended up being very different. ‘The Snow Queen’ is often regarded as a precursor to, and major influence on, the 2013 hit animated film Frozen. If the ultimate message of the fairy tale, when reduced to its core elements, is trite (love and beauty triumph over scientism and realism love, if you will, conquers all), and if that message even rings a little hollow to those of us who have spent a little time in the ‘real world’, then such flaws are easily swept away by the captivating beauty of the tale itself, with its use of icy landscapes, clear and powerful symbolism (the mirror, the tears, the snow and ice itself), and refusal to follow the ‘prince + peasant girl = marriage’ formula beloved of many writers of fairy tales. Yet this isn’t how Andersen intends to analyse or scrutinise his tale: he clearly was a Romantic who was unhappy with the way the world really was and felt that love and beauty should triumph over intellectualism and rationalism. Nor is there anything wrong with being fond of maths (another ‘skill’ Kay picks up following his encounter with the mote of glass). The problem stems from losing all appreciation of the rose’s beauty, but blind romanticism and idealism are just as flawed (and arguably, just as dangerous). But seeing a worm in the rose when there is one isn’t nasty cynicism: it’s just realism. When Kay is ‘infected’ by the grain of glass from the magic mirror, he does lose the ability to see the beauty in everything around him. the Snow Queen).īut what does love triumph over in ‘The Snow Queen’? ‘Cold reason’ might be one answer. Here, the gender roles are noteworthy: unlike ‘ Sleeping Beauty’ or ‘ Snow White’, it’s not a male character saving and waking a female character, but a heroine who rescues her male friend from the stasis (death?) he has been condemned to by the evil witch character (i.e. They spring from genuine sadness that she has lost him, and their warmth is enough to thaw his icy heart and bring him back. This, of course, is what the tears that Gerda sheds over the frozen body of Kay represent. But they can be cured of it, if they are shown love by their friends and those close to them. This suggests that a person’s individual circumstances shape their views and their personalities, and that they aren’t necessarily to ‘blame’ for how they behave. By the same token, Kay’s cynicism isn’t his own fault: it’s just his rotten luck that the grain of the mirror gets caught in his eye. But the glass doesn’t infect everyone: Gerda is able to retain her innocence even as she grows up, as is Kay once he is saved by Gerda.
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