The Magic Mirror

To continue along with the discussion we started today in class, I'd like to further examine the "character" of the magic mirror, since "it" is one of the primary drivers of the plot, more so than Snow White, the prince, or the dwarves, and arguably more than the queen/stepmother (who may or may not be the same person). In all written texts, the magic mirror has no gendered voice, it is simply an inanimate object overtaken by some magical force. The same is true for the 1916 film version. The mirror has no voice, as indeed no character has a voice in this silent film. And while silence is only due to the contemporary filmmaking technology, let's pretend that this silence was instead thought-out and chosen a such. In my opinion, a silent mirror is in some ways more in keeping with the queen's psyche argument. We may not hear it, but the queen certainly does. The mirror does not need to speak because its visual image tells all. The mirror reflects its fair queen, but her reflection pales in comparison to Snow White's and that is obvious. No words even need to be spoken, for it is all internalized.

But what does internalized mean? If we want to continue with the queen's psyche argument, the Disney version could be seen as the voice of patriarchal society, which is the queen's own voice because she's been indoctrinated within that society. Therefore, the male voice refers us to the ways in which men in our society get to judge what is beautiful, so that women can only consider themselves beautiful when a male affirms their beauty. In contrast to the queen's psyche theory, however, the Disney mirror, rather than simply being magical as in the 1916 version, is also demonized with fire and smoke. "He" is a mask, not a person in and of himself, but an outward guise to hide a person's true appearance. So while he inhabits the most human form of any of the mirrors in film Snow Whites, the magic mirror is still not fully human, but rather some illusion to be summoned. It is also important to note that the queen's reflection is entirely lost in the mirror so that only the mask and smoke are featured. This separates the mirror from the queen's character to such an extent visually that it would be very difficult to extend the queen's psyche theory much further than I already have.

In the 1961 DEFA film, the mirror is portrayed with the queen's reflection, while its frame lights up and a female voice comes forth when asked its question. The magic mirror being coded female eliminates the patriarchal judge of beauty evident in the Disney version. Instead, the prince is the only male character who decides what is beautiful. The mirror then becomes more of an expression of female jealousy. She (the mirror) is perhaps entirely representative of the queen's own feelings, while at the same time being separate from her (the queen at one point asks her serving woman what the mirror said and the mirror possesses knowledge of Snow White's whereabouts that the queen isn't conscious of). The feminized mirror provides an objective female voice that tells us what beauty is, perhaps regardless of patriarchal society's views.