I always fall for the wrong man... Part 2: Snow White

I'm not going to lie... I was really excited for this film, and I have really mixed emotions about having seen it.

After reading this review by James Franco hailing Stewart and kinda, sorta condemning the writers... I can see his point. Most of my qualms have to do with the writers... I will admit that.

The film was visually stunning, as it promised. I really enjoyed the forest, the dwarves, the castle... everything was a menagerie of terrifying, mystical and whimsy animals and creatures.

I enjoyed the menacing paradox of the Queen... locked into a lie and a spell as a girl. I felt like they spent a lot more on Ravena's character development than on Snow White's... She barely has any lines, and while her actions speak, and while others speak about her, and her "effect" on people speaks... she sort of jumps into a very dramatic speech at the end that falls a bit flat. I really wanted her to be the inspiring character that she was meant to be, but... I felt like I was being TOLD about her inspiration rather than seeing it for myself.

Likewise,... as with all films and tv, I fell for the wrong character again. I was supposed to fall for the Huntsman... he's the other title character, but I was too taken by William.

With the rise of the Hunger Games, the underdog guy has been on the market... Peeta, or more broadly, Team Peeta, has taken the world by storm... and with it, Team Gale.

William was a childhood playmate of Snow White and is madly in love with her, fiercely dedicated to the idea that he abandoned her when her father's kingdom got taken. With this new idea has come the stereotype of "The faithful guy"... He's very different than the whipped guy or the wimp guy. The faithful guy may or may not be tough. He has one driving passion... you. In any other context, he'd be considered a stalker, but in this case, he's the one. (Inspired, no doubt, by Edward Cullen... watching girls sleep... creepy)

Or in this case, he's NOT the one... since the Huntsman's kiss wakens Snow White. Here is where my real criticism comes in...

Snow White gets lured to her death by the Queen masquerading as William. Snow White loves William, kisses him... remembers him... William isn't unworthy, he spends his life trying to revenge Snow White. He tracks her relentlessly once he discovers she's alive... but somehow, Hollywood has decided the drunk, heartbroken Huntsman who had a wife like Snow White once,... He's her true love... umm... no.



The Huntsman may be a more masculine type of sexy, he may be tough and have his own issues,.. sure, he really loved his wife... sure, he might come to love Snow White... but we never get the hint ANYWHERE in the film that he thinks of her as more than a comrade or the Princess till he kisses her after delivering a speech about his dead wife and how the Queen took her.

He may believe in her... but that doesn't mean he loves her. William wants to defend Snow White--he's spent his life dedicated to her... the only possible thing I can imagine Hollywood to be thinking is that William was dedicated to his own imagining of Snow White, not who she really was... but, again, we don't see that... we see pure, loving dedication.

I don't know why Hollywood took away the kiss from William... It doesn't make sense to me. I never got the idea that the Huntsman was in love with Snow White. The closing scene where he's not at the coronation and he walks in late, she's looking for him... he seems like close friends rather than soul mates or lovers or true loves.

I'm not saying the Huntsman didn't love his wife or wasn't a good man... I'm just saying... he isn't for Snow White... not because he's a commoner or because he was married previously... just because he wasn't for her.

For the record, I've already stated my ideas about the entire Team Peeta/ Team Gale catastrophe here...

I don't know why Hollywood keeps trying to push one image of masculinity down our throats... and one kind of romance for that matter... but I wish they'd stop. Souls don't look at rippled abs and chisled jaws quite so much as Hollywood does... but the soul remembers love...