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Archetypes In Snow White

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Textual composers use literary archetypes as a vehicle to represent society's attitudes and values, particularly those that have changed throughout the years and those that are still evident in society today. Through the comparison of the classic 'Snow White' Grimm's novel, director Tarsem Singh's 2012 Snow White adaptation 'Mirror Mirror' and Matt Phelan's 2016 Snow White graphic novel, we can analyse how character archetypes have changed throughout time, featuring similar characters in three vastly different adaptations of the fairy-tale, Snow White. Character archetypes represent society's ideals of different genders, roles and various individuals that each have personal attitudes and goals throughout the tale that carry the story. Different …show more content…

The Huntsman represents the constant battle between right and wrong and the influence of peer pressure. The Dwarves represent the need for a companion in life and parental influence upon an individual. They support and teach the younger characters, leading them through their trials and tribulations and can form emotional attachments along the way. Each archetype each features an individual value or attitude being taught to their respective audiences, the texts demonstrate how these attitudes and values are constantly changing to fit society's expectations and standards.

Through the character adaptions of Snow White through the studied texts we can discover society's changing attitudes and values by analysing the character archetypes and their role in the story. A common character archetype can be found in the main protagonist, Snow White. Her innocence and purity constantly demonstrated throughout the progression of stories represents society's expectation of women and the need for ladies to be beautiful, rosy-cheeked housewives to proud, courageous individuals. The texts represent the role of women in society at the time of publish and by analysing each text and the time period it is set …show more content…

Society's attitude towards doing the right thing and the wrong is conveyed through the character of the huntsman, an individual constantly fighting to be a good person while being submerged under the evil influence of higher powers. The ethics of the Huntsman in Matt Phelan's graphic novel is represented through the varying contrast of colours within his frames, effectively replicating the fight between darkness and the light. His reminiscence frame is filled with lighter colours, conveying the happiness in his life before it was infiltrated by the evil Queen. The large power frame demonstrates her control over him, with status being conveyed through the man's body kneeling to the ground beneath the Queen's foot standing over him. The hypnotic eyes of the Queen, willing him to do her bidding, suggests the unexplainable power bullies have over good souls, they can easily meld and shape them to follow the former's word. The following frame of the Huntsman features blackness surrounding him, his entire body grey except for a shadow of white over the forefront of his mind, representing society's insistence that while someone may do bad things, they can be a good person. His final frame is lit up with a

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