Someday My Prince Will Come

I've read a lot of comments online about how princess stories are bad for girls because they teach them that they don't have to do anything about their problems; a prince will come and magically rescue them.


But there has to be more than that to princess stories. There has to be a reason that these stories have been treasured and told and re-told for generations.


Yesterday, my sister randomly decided that we should have a "princess week" and watch all the Disney Princess movies, starting with the oldest. Today, we began with Snow White.


So in no order in particular, here are some things I noticed.


Snow White is generous, kind, and sweet. She is mistreated but shows no wish for revenge. She wishes for a prince to come. Is this bad? No! She is simply practicing patience. She does not leave the castle because the castle is her home. And if she did leave, where would she go? What could she do? She is much safer within the walls of her castle. She is a princess after all.


She finally leaves the castle when she finds out that the Queen wants to kill her. She wasn't concerned about the mistreatment. She is concerned about her life.


She recognizes her faults: getting too freaked out in the forest. She realizes she shouldn't have gotten so freaked out at the forest. I don't think she was exaggerating though. That forest was SCARY!


When she gets to the dwarfs' home, she is concerned for their welfare, thinking they may be orphans. She cleans their house because she wants to do something nice for them. She asks if she can stay because the Queen wants to kill her. But she doesn't want to abuse of their hospitality. She offers to keep house for them. They can use the help, and it's what she knows to do.


She is kind to the old hag. That says a lot. Although she doesn't wish to go against the dwarfs' orders to not let anyone in the house, she cannot bring herself to refuse to help a seemingly helpless granny.


She is pious. She prays. And she's very tidy. She likes to keep things clean. And she's beautiful. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that.


In a way, the prince can represent the Savior and the Queen can represent the devil, trying to steal our destiny. After giving into sin (the apple), Christ comes to save and redeem us and take us to Heaven. Of course, the parallels aren't exact, but they're there. I don't know if the Brothers Grimm had this in mind when they collected the story and put it to paper, but the similarities are uncanny. And I'm not the only one who has seen it. Go to http://tinyurl.com/6dr8ztp and you'll see what I mean.

If anything negative can be said about Snow White, one can say that she didn't do anything about her situation. She looks into a well and wishes that "the one she loves" willcome for her. And when she sees him, she literally runs away from him. Why didn't she go out and look for a guy? That we'll never know. She was probably too busy being a scullery maid, treatment that as a princess, she didn't have to endure. (You can say that the devil had her under her control, but this is a bit of a stretch. The Queen kept snow White under her power, under bondage and away from her true destiny.) There's nothing wrong with wishing for a guy, but there's also nothing wrong with meeting a variety of people and fervently looking for the one. For Snow White, this would probably mean going to balls and such. But hey, the Queen has obviously got her imprisoned. In the original tale, we don't have this problem, since the prince doesn't show up until after she's eaten the apple.


After she falls in love with him, we don't hear about him again. Then again, she didn't know that she was going to leave the castle. She probably expected him to come back. The film tells us that he had been searching for her, so we can assume that he came back to the castle to find her gone and then went out looking for her. That's definitely something we can admire about him.


In the meantime, Snow White couldn't leave the dwarfs' cottage because the Queen still wants her dead. The dwarfs' are really smart because somehow they know that the Queen is a witch and can easily find Snow White with her powers, and they and Snow White know that she should not leave the cottage. When the witch tells her that the apple she's offering is a special wishing apple, Snow White wishes for her prince to come. This is definitely more justified than the first time she wishes this. After all, she can't go out to find him because doing so would be plain stupid since the Queen is out to kill her, so the only alternative is that he come for her.


The only thing I want to know now is whether or not the whole kingdom was looking for her. I mean, is there no one in that castle who would notice that she was missing save the huntsman and the Queen? This isn't explained in the original either.


But Snow White still resonates with people. Why else would two film version be coming out? Snow White and the Huntsman and The Brothers Grimm: Snow White are coming out next year. Definitely going to be watching those. And I'll try to watch the new ABC Family series Once Upon a Time, which will also feature Snow White.


Conclusion: I love Snow White, Happy is my favorite dwarf, and I can't wait to see Charlize Theron play the Queen.