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Saturday, May 27, 2017

MY 9TH FAVORITE DISNEY VILLAIN

GASTON

http://cdn.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/beauty-and-the-beast-gaston.jpg

FROM "BEAUTY AND THE BEAST"

WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!

Just a while ago I saw the live action remake of "Beauty And The Beast" with my girlfriend, and I have to say that after seeing the film, and re-watching the original for the 9th spot of my list, it's actually better than I remember it, mainly for how bland and pointless the remake was (but that's a review for a different time). Is it perfect, no, but the flaws in my opinion aren't distracting enough to keep you away from the emotional appeal of the film, which is where the focus for a film like this should be. We all find ourselves remembering and talking about the songs, the animation, the two romantic leads, the supporting characters, and hands-down the hottest animated male Disney villain.



Gaston is as perfect as a man can be by carrying a handsome face that a Disney Prince would have, a tall and muscular body with hair on his chest, and a loud booming voice (provided by Richard White) that drive all the girls in town nuts, and make the men wish that they were as handsome as he is. Looks aren't the only thing that draws people to attention him because he is a skilled hunter, who never misses a shot and doesn't fear any man or beast for how strong and tall he is, and how violent and slick of a fighter he is. This is a man who loves to hunt and kill wildlife so much, that he has his own bar decorated with the many animals he's killed, including a few exotic animals (like a Bald Eagle for example). And as if showing off his muscles to attract the girls, and hunting wild life to impress the villagers isn't enough to make him the biggest man in town; he's also a talented juggler, a powerful singer, and is apparently "good at expectorating" at a spiting contest. He is truly "the toast" of his village where the villagers will always follow him and be at his side, constantly praising him and go along with his plans no matter if they seem ridiculous or cruel.



What I find so amusing about Gaston is the design and concept of his character. As Belle's lover the Beast is monstrous looking and acts like an animal who would be the design and characteristics of a Disney villain, Gaston looks and behaves like the perfect Disney hero, or Prince if you will, that saves the day and gets the girl in the end. He's the complete opposite of the villains we usually get from Disney.

I won't say that he's totally an original character in terms of films from Disney because he does resemble two of Disney's other hunks, which are...

Pony



from "Darby O'Gill and The Little People"

And especially

Brom Bones



from "The Adventures Of Ichabod and Mr. Toad"

They're both strong and masculine egotistical jerks that love to hang out in pubs with the guys, and have the goal of ridding a suitor for the most attractive girl in town. But they do have their major differences, like Pony is good looking, but not everyone in his village respects him the same way that people respect Brom and Gaston. And while Brom is full of himself and a bully, he's not really as mean as Pony and Gaston are because he seems to have a genuine love for Katrina compared to the others, and even his rival Ichabod. But while Gaston's character is nothing that new for Disney, it seems that Disney took both of the best traits from their lesser known antagonists, mixed them together, added a few new things to still make their new villain feel new and fresh, and you have Gaston who tops them all!



Just like Brom and Pony, Gaston carries all those nasty traits that make him become a good looking egoistical jerk. He's the kind of guy who loves his looks and muscles so much that he'll look at whatever mirror, or object that can cast a reflection nearby to pose and praise himself for his own beauty. As well as loving to show-off for what an attractive muscular hunk he is. And being so confident that he can get any woman because of his good looks and nothing more, he chooses Belle for a bride, not because they both share common interests, or because of her intelligence, or even so much as being different from the other women in the town in terms of personality. Far from any of those. He only wants her because she's the most beautiful girl in town which "makes her the best" and feels like that he “deserves the best”, that's it. He's arguably the most sexist Disney villain out there for how much he thinks less of women. The moment when he greets Belle after surprising her with a show-offy stunt, he rudely takes away her book as she is reading it, complains how there are no pictures in it (well aside from one page that we saw earlier), tosses it in the mud, and blocks Belle from retrieving it as he tells her to stop reading books and to pay attention to him, who he thinks himself to be more important than books. And he doesn't stop there! He goes far as to tell her that women shouldn't read because it'll educate them and give them ideas! And the irony of it is when Belle calls him primeval, he laughs and thanks her having no clue what she means, probably because he's never read or at least never finished a book himself.



Despite Belle being a bit hard to get at first when she dismisses him, he is so confident to "woo and marry” her with his good looks that he gets the villagers to set-up and participate at a surprise wedding that he has prepared for Belle before he even proposes. When he does, despite dressing up in fancier clothing this time (similar to Brom's clothes during the dance scene at the Halloween party), he still doesn't succeed in stealing Belle's heart away since his behavior still comes across as rude and self-observed. Instead of throwing Belle's favorite book in the mud, he carelessly lays his muddy boots on top of it, and takes them off with his feet stinking up the house, as he claims to know what Belle's dreams are, when in reality they're actually his. And every time Belle tries to walk away, Gaston always corners her showing no respect for her personal space. Sometimes I swear from the way he walks closer and closer to her, it almost seems as if he wants to do more than just kiss and propose to her. That moment when he slowly walks up to Belle with a wicked and hostile looking smile as he knocks the chair out of his way, almost looks like that he wants to rape her. And the first image in my opinion where he goes past the lines of being a handsome ass.

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But the first time when Gaston truly reveals his true colors is when Belle opens the front door that he's leaning against to throw him out into the mud pond by her house. At first the scene starts out funny. We have Gaston's little friend LeFou strike up the band when there's no sign of Gaston or Belle coming out the door; we see Gaston's body lying in the mud; Belle quickly tosses his stinky boots out; and when LeFou notices where Gaston is, he stops conducting and sees a pig's head pop out of the mud (as if a pig is wearing Gaston's clothes) to suddenly revealing that the pig is laying on top of Gaston's head. But the laughs don't last long when Gaston chokes LeFou and angrily promises that he will have Belle for a wife, and violently throws him in the mud. We are followed by a nice little comical moment of LeFou talking to the pig, but before you can really laugh, we cut to Gaston walking away angry as he's covered and dripping with mud that ruins his good looks, where the music sounds ominous as we wonder what drastic lengths he'll go to marry Belle. Now where did the mud pond come from since we never saw it before or after the scene? Why is the door suddenly closed since Belle nor did Gaston closed it after he walked in? And how did he fall into the pond since the front door faces the side of the porch? Who really cares? I personally don't despite its continuity errors. Why? Because this scene beautifully captures Gaston descending into madness that has the right balance of comedy and intimidation.

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Before I go into Gaston's next attempt of marrying Belle, I'm going to take this time to talk a little about Gaston's sidekick LeFou, since I mentioned a little about him in the scene when Gaston first loses his cool. Lefou is more than a friend and assistant to Gaston, he's also his little cheerleader who praises all of his talents and looks whenever he feels down and out, or is seeking for attention when no one else is around to appreciate it or acknowledge it. Even as going as far as to starting and leading a musical number dedicated to him. But as much as he praises him and stays by his side, he constantly has to suffer his abuse, which is some of the funniest slapstick between a villain and his goofy assistant that's up there with Captain Hook and Smee, and Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear. My favorite bits regarding Lefou's abuse is when Gaston punches him in the head for making fun of Belle's Father just after laughing at the joke until Belle speaks against it. The whole surprise wedding scene. Gaston constantly punching him out during the song named after him. And when he's making a deal at his Tavern. However, despite LeFou getting most of the abuse, Gaston does occasionally get his good looks ruined because of his foolish mishaps that can all be seen in the song "Gaston", such as pinching his cheeks and spilling beer on his face. Though the slapstick with LeFou is hilarious, what adds plenty to it is his design, and voice work from Jesse Corti. Out of all the characters in the movie, Lefou's comes across as the most cartoony with his small size, wide eyes, pig nose, broken buck teeth, goofy voice, and eccentric personality, as he has a name that literally sounds like "thee fool". So when you see this goofball get pounded by Gaston, while looking painful and brutal, his reactions and wild personality make these harsh moments fun enough to give you many laughs.

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After hearing a motivational song about himself from Lefou, and sees Belle's eccentric Father Maurice barging into his Tavern begging for help to rescue Belle from the Beast, which of course nobody believes; Gaston smiles (in a not so charming way) as the wheels in his head begin to turn, where he comes up with a plan to enforce Belle to marry him. With most villains who are after women that don't want to marry them, they would either threaten the girl with their finances by being in danger of being thrown into the street if they don't marry, or blackmail or frame the women's true lover. And despite that Gaston does use the second option, it's actually grimmer than you think it is. Later on in the Tavern, Gaston has a meeting with the owner of the insane asylum Monsieur D'Arque to bribe him to go along with his plan of throwing Belle's Father in the insane asylum for his crazed personality, and his story about the Beast, unless Belle marries him. Gaston's attempt to imprison the old man is a million times worse than the Beast having him rot in the tower. It's not totally clear if we're in the 18th or the 19th Century, but regardless of what exact period the film takes place in, we're still at a time when people did absolute horrible and unspeakable things to mental patients that this eccentric and innocent old man is going to suffer if Belle turns Gaston down, which Gaston doesn't show any care about what happens to Maurice if Belle really does refuse his proposal. Either way, Gaston seems to be getting joy out of it as he watches Maurice being taken away after Belle turns him down. And I'm sure that if Belle didn't use the magic mirror to expose the Beast, Gaston would've found another way to lure Belle to him (probably the one regarding her fiances), or encouraged D'Arque to give the old man the worst kind of treatment possible to the point where Belle can't stand her Father to take this senseless abuse anymore.



And speaking of Monsieur D'Arque, he's another huge part of the reason why Maurice's supposed trip to the asylum feels so messed-up. D'Arque is a very shady fellow. From the moment we see him as he collects the gold that Gaston bribes him with, already you feel uncomfortable by his presence, for how creepy and zombie-like his design is, how greedy he is when looks at the gold and picks one up and rubs it against his face, and how eerie and sinister voice his sounds. And for those of you who seen the film but don't recognize the voice, or feel like that you've heard it before but don't know where, he is voiced by Tony Jay where his voice work for this character led him to voice the villain in Disney's "Hunchback Of Notre Dame" Frollo. And to make the casting of Tony Jay even more impressing, all the dialogue you hear was recorded during his audition, as he gave two readings, where the filmmakers decided to use his "Masterpiece Theater voice" out of the two.



So at first when we see him, he just comes across as a sketchy greedy old man. But when he clarifies what Gaston wants from him, thinking that his plan is despicable with a face of shame, especially when knowing that Maurice is harmless, he suddenly bursts out laughing clenching the gold coin in his hand exclaiming that he "loves" the idea for how twisted it is. And later on in the film when we see D'Arque approach Belle's house telling her that he's going to take Maurice to the asylum, but will take "good of care of him", he smiles just as wickedly as he did before, when he reveals to Belle his carriage to take Maurice away and the angry lynch mob that Gaston successfully persuaded to go along with his plan. These two little moments expose D'Arque to be a sadistic madman for how much he smiles and laughs at the misfortunes of others, where he more than likely enjoys watching his patients suffer, not caring if they're insane or not, which would make him the craziest man in the whole asylum despite that he runs the place. So with that in mind, think about the pain that Maurice will suffer if he gets thrown-in only ten times worse since the guy running the place is no different than the average madman inside the place. We never see the asylum, or see D'Arque attend to his patients, but we can imagine how cruel and dark the place is based on what we know of the asylums in that the era, and the actions and presence of the man who runs it.



Once Belle proves that her Father is sane with the magic mirror, Gaston looks at the image in disbelief that the old man was telling the truth, and that his plan has failed. But when Belle tries to tell the villagers that the Beast "is kind and gentle" with such deep feelings for him, Gaston suspects that she has feelings for the monster, which causes Belle to angrily call him the real one. When Gaston hears it, he realizes that the time that Belle has spent away from the village was with the Beast which she has developed a close connection to, thus causes him to snap, and use the Beast's hideous looks to make the villagers believe that he's a savage creature that will eat their children and terrorize their village, and must be stopped. And what's amusing about Gaston's use of propaganda towards the Beast is while he's pretending to act like the fearless hero to the villagers, this is the point of the film where he himself is acting like the true monster that he is by singing and expressing his anger and hatered toward the creature while expressing joy of scaring the villagers, as the Beast himself in the mirror looks sad and innocent. Plus instead of riding a horse that looks as pretty and gorgeous as he is, it's the complete opposite. The horse looks like something that the headless horseman would ride, for how vicious the animal acts with his red eyes, and dark fur, as Gaston rides the horse leading the villagers to the castle holding the magic mirror wearing a black cape, telling them that they will come back with the Beast's head. And the interesting part about the horse is, we never see it, until this point in the movie. As for the song itself, it's personally my favorite song in the movie that has an energizing beat that makes the stakes of the Beast’s life feel high, is powerfully sung by White and a choir of angry villagers, and is heavy with atmosphere.



I also love the fight with the villagers and the enchanted objects that follows right after the song, that's comical and colorful, but in many ways violent, scary, and even disturbing at times. I mean we have a candle stick nearly melting to death by a hot burning torch held by Lefou (the only scene when he ever looks intimidating); a duster either violently being torn apart, or raped; a kitchen full of knives and a maniacal laughing stove surrounded by flames; and for me the most disturbing and questionable thing of all in this battle, the baker getting eaten by a chest. Holy cow, did the baker just die? If so, then is that chest actually a person cursed by the spell, or a pet, or just an object that came to life? Cause if that's a person then that would be considered cannibalism. In many respects some of the other abuse that the villagers suffer not only looks painful, but seems like that they are being killed as well, especially the guy who gets crushed by the wardrobe. And if you look at some of the backgrounds, you'll not only see villagers who are either knocked-out, or lying on the floor dead, but you'll see some broken furniture lying about, indicating that some of the servants died in the fight.  It's a pretty messed-up and gruesome fight when really you think about it, despite coming across as comical and slap-sticky.



Though the villagers are driven out of the Castle after the battle, Gaston is the only outsider to remain inside since he ran out of the battle to search for the Beast as soon as it began, that eventually leads to the climatic showdown between Gaston and the Beast as the two fight on the roof of the Castle in a tense battle. When the fight begins, the Beast is so heartbroken and hopeless after Belle’s departure, that he decides to die since he will remain a Beast forever due to the shortage amount of time for the curse to be broken, which gives Gaston the opportunity to do whatever he likes to him. And he definitely shows no mercy when he attacks the Beast. He fires an arrow at him, knocks him out the window, kicks him around, and uses a statue as a makeshift club to bash his brains out. And as he's abusing the Beast, he's constantly laughing with absolute delight of seeing the Beast in pain, and insulting the down and out creature. But when the Beast sees Belle, realizing that she does care, he fights back, that shocks Gaston, but doesn't prevent him from trying to finish his task. All throughout the fight, his thirst for the Beast's blood, and lust for Belle's attractive looks, never lets up, he just becomes more and more angry and violent to rid the creature to take Belle for his own. And the more determined he is to get what he wants, the more he loses his attractive looks and charm, revealing the true beast within him, which is what makes him an upgrade compared to the two other antagonists that I mentioned earlier, because when they get angry, they still look good, when with Gaston on the other hand, he loses all of that completely. But while acting as savage and heartless as his foe earlier was in the film, when the Beast threatens to drop Gaston down the cliff, Gaston loses all of dignity and pleas for his life to be spared like a little frighten child, which is a side of Gaston that we never saw until this point in the film. The Beast lets him go realizing that he's not as cold and evil as Gaston is, but instead of Gaston running off, he literally stabs the Beast in the back which slowly kills him just as the Beast and Belle have a nice little romantic moment together.



But Gaston's joy for his victory doesn't last, when he loses balance and falls off the cliff leading to his doom, while screaming wildly that doesn't come close to his deep and booming speaking voice (even when being threatened by death). The interesting thing about Gaston's demise is if you freeze frame the image of his face when he falls, you'll see two tiny skulls in his eyes indicating that he is going to die since fans of the film were unsure if Gaston died or somehow survived the fall. But let's be honest people, judging by the height and the way the scene of him falling is played out, as well as containing the knowledge of other Disney villains dying by the forces of gravity, it is more than clear that Gaston truly did die with or without knowing that there are skulls in his eyes. Though I will admit that learning about the skulls in his eyes was a complete surprise for me, because when I freeze-framed the scene on my VHS when I was a kid to see his reaction as he falls, there wasn't any skulls in his eyes, that is until later releases of the film because of (once again) fans being so unsure about his fate, that's a pointless change, but still a cool addition to the film. At least better than the new song sequence "Human Again" that we now have to deal with when watching this film. And by the way, when I placed Scar from "The Lion King" on the list and talked about that his death was originally what Gaston was going to suffer, incase if you're wondering how exactly that scene was going to play out, well after Gaston falls, he survives the fall but breaks his legs and gets eaten by the wolves that surround him. Gaston was also originally going to commit suicide after stabbing the Beast in the leg and side since he knew Belle would never love him at this point, and madly laughs as he falls, which was considered too dark for Disney, and in my opinion stupid. I know Gaston was mad and everything, and that if he can't have her the Beast can't, but deciding to kill himself afterwards all because of a girl, when he can get almost any other girl in the world is pretty ludicrous, which makes me glad that the film stuck with the ending that they went with, and saved one of Gaston's demise for another film.

Gaston may not be the first good looking jerk to become villainous by Disney, but he's still the best one! His transition from an egoistical ass, to a blood-hungry monster feels organic, along with seeing his handsome looks slowly fade away. The lengths he goes to to get what he wants are despicable. Bright's performance, singing, and masculine voice give the character a lot of personality. And the abuse that gives to his sidekick is a riot. Gaston may be perfect on the outside, but on the inside he is the film's true Beast.

"It's over Beast! BELLE IS MINE!"
-Gaston

Friday, May 12, 2017

MY 10TH FAVORITE DISNEY VILLAIN

THE EVIL QUEEN

 

FROM "SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS"

WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!

I had to put the first Disney villain sooner or later on my list, and I thought what better way to start out my top ten favorite Disney villains of all time than with her. The film is indeed an important chapter to both Disney and film in general (whether you enjoy the film or not), and it is one of my personal favorite Disney films growing up, from it's charming lead, to it's comical sidekicks, to it's catchy songs, to it's gorgeous animation, to it's downright cruel and sadistic villain. And I swear that every time I see her in this film, she just gets more and more twisted to the point where she frightens me more as an adult, than she did when I was a kid. What do I exactly mean by that; well let's take a closer look.

 

When we learn about the first cruel thing that she does to Snow White through the writing in the film's prologue, at first she sounds like the typical jealous Step-Mother by making the poor girl slave over her as a maid dressed in rags since Snow White isn't hers, and that she wants to remain the fairest in the land. Granted this was Disney's first villain before the wicked Step-Mother in "Cinderella", which would indeed make her the first of that arche-type in the franchise, but we don't really see her abusing Snow White with work, nor does Snow White herself look that stressed or unhappy while working. So it appears that her efforts of forcing Snow White to work for her and look ugly doesn't seem to work...and you know what, IT DOESN'T. Why? Because when she goes to her Magic Mirror to ask if she is still "the fairest one of  all", the slave in the Magic Mirror basically tells her that her attempts to make Snow White look less pretty, and have her slave over her didn’t prevent the Princess from being fairer than the Queen, which doesn't please her at all.




The Magic Mirror who serves the Queen faithfully and tells her everything that she needs to know, is the first of the scary imagery that the film throws at us, as well as being the first animated sequence in the movie. The wind blowing and lightning striking that's followed by flames appearing in the mirror as the Queen recites the spell to summon the face in the mirror (making her thee first Disney character ever to speak a word in a full length animated Disney film) that's supported by a very grim score, already sends shivers down my spine for how dramatic the atmosphere is. And once we see the mirror’s purple and green mask like face that speaks that looks and sounds emotionless, as he's being surrounded by smoke and the color purple, you'd almost swear that she's channeling some kind of demon from hell for how demonic the face looks and sounds, and how hellish the background is. And for all we know, the face might as well be, since we don't too much about him, except that he is a supernatural being that knows everything, and can tell the Queen the truth without showing any signs of fear. I mean how does he know all this, where did he come from, did she create him with her black magic, did she sell her soul to Satan by giving her a mirror in exchange? We'll never know, and the mystery behind it all is what helps make this face so terrifying.




So she finds out that she's no longer the fairest in the land, and can't prevent it by making Snow White her slave. So what does she decide to do? Does she banish her; does she use one of her spells to turn Snow White into an animal or something? NO, she decides to kill her! And rather than killing her herself, she hires her Huntsman to do the job, and to bring her back Snow White's heart as proof that he finished the job, and that she can keep the heart in a wooden box (with a gold dagger piercing through a gold heart) as a trophy. And if he refuses or fails to carry out his task, she will have him suffer the "penalty" (which I'm sure means death). So before we hit the ten minute mark of the film, we learn that the Queen is not just a cruel Step-Mother to Snow White, but she has a magic mirror that knows everything, wants her Step-Daughter dead, wants to keep one of her organs as a trophy, and doesn't have a problem with killing one of her "faithful" servants! And the terrible fact is we didn't even get to the part that makes her so scary and deranged.



The Huntsman is only in two scenes of the movie, but you can tell when he's first introduced that he has served her loyally for many years, for how he bows to her with great respect, and how the Queen calls him her "faithful Huntsman". That is until he realizes that he's being sent to kill a Princess which he at first protested, until he is threatened. The scene when he's sneaking up to kill Snow White almost feels like a scene from a slasher film. From the way he sneaks up on Snow White as he walks closer and closer to the screen as we stare at his cold lifeless green eyes where the music just builds and builds to create suspense; to his shadow casting above Snow White which causes her to turn around, scream, and shield her eyes, as he takes out is shiny dagger and is nearly about to stab her. And what makes this scene even more messed up is as he's creeping up on her, we're seeing her helping a lost baby bird in a lovely environment to emphasize on her beauty and innocence, as we're constantly being enchanted and scared at the same exact time, that still gets me now as an adult! And the funny part is, when he drops his dagger and cries that he can't do it, we get a nice bit of subtle of humor involving him awkwardly wiping his tears on Snow White's dress as he begs for forgiveness. But the humor doesn't last long at all, because when he dramatically warns her that the Queen is going to kill her and demands her to run away in the woods we get to (in my opinion) the scariest scene in the movie that's drenching with surreal gothic imagery of monstrous trees, evil eyes in the darkness, and logs that turn into alligators (the image that scared me the most in the whole entire sequence when I was a kid), that's supported by a thrilling score, and petrified reactions and screams from Snow White herself.



One of the many cool things that I admire about the Queen is her design. She looks gorgeous and royal, and has a soft spoken sophisticated voice to match her beautiful design and position in power. But while you're admiring her beauty, you also feel intimidated by it, since she is always shown to be frowning, sounding cold and demanding, and wearing a gothic looking outfit. There's never a moment where she ever seems charming. The closest she ever gets to sounding like a classy Queen is when she sits on her peacock throne ordering the Huntsman to take Snow White to the woods… that is until she tells him the purpose of her plan which causes her eyes to light up and her tone to rise to show that she means business. And the scene when she asks the Magic Mirror if she is now the fairest since she assumes that Snow White is dead until she hears the news. The scenes involving the Queen that always make me uncomfortable is when she watches the Prince Serenade Snow White; whispers Snow White's name when she realizes who the fairest one is; and just stares emotionless when we zoom in on the box that she wants Snow White's heart to be kept in.

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But as unsettling as those scenes are, none of them ever match up to the final scene when we see her as Queen, which I'm of course referring to her transformation scene. Immediately after she discovers that Snow White is alive and living in the Dwarf's cottage, she closes the lid on the box in anger and marches down a stairwell leading to the dark parts of the castle. Before that point in the film, we’ve only been in the throne room, the chamber where she keeps her magic mirror, and the courtyard where Snow White works that all look pretty and decorative. But when we finally follow the Queen walk to the room where she makes potions as her long dark cape moves around (adding to the dark atmosphere of the scene), we see rats, cobwebs, and skeletons all over the place, as a fierce score  indicates that she is going to handle this matter in the cruelest way possible. And just by looking at the amount of dead skeletons that she has lying about, it seems that she is not a fair ruler, and that it's more than likely that the skulls are innocent peasants and servants that have either angered her, failed to give in to her cold demands, or are claimed to be fairer then her by the mirror. After all she is willing to kill an innocent princess just to remain the fairest in the land, which will probably be a short amount of time for her to remain the fairest until another person steals that position from her, where she'll try to have that person killed as well. I mean good god, her motivation maybe simple, but the lengths she goes to keep her status are way too extreme.



But let's get back to the scene where she decides to alter her appearance. Feeling like that no one will be willing to kill Snow White for how pure she is, she decides to get the job done herself by changing herself into something that no one will ever suspect. Now you'd think that she would turn into something cute and innocent like a lost child, or some kind of animal, or maybe make herself invisible (as Grumpy earlier suggested in the film) and use a sneak attack on her. But nope, she literally goes with the most shadowy thing that she can think of, which is an ugly old hag! Why?! Why disguise herself as something so suspicious where your first instincts when you see her is to scream and get the hell out of dodge?! Well it doesn't matter because she knows that Snow White has no bias against people no matter how deformed they are, and that the film obviously wants us to fear her presence rather than trying to have us think logically about it, which that's something that the film does best like any good fantasy film. The scene involving the Queen mixing the potions together and then drinking it and slowly change into the old hag has some of the most traumatizing imagery to have ever be brought to a children's film. I mean she's mixing potions that laugh and scream wildly; lightning, wind, and colorful bubbles and whirlpools chew up the scenery as she's changing; we witness her hair turning white and wavy as she holds her hand against her neck; and we see her beautiful hands turn old and frail with long sharp nails. And as all of this is happening when her potion takes it effect on her, she can be heard moaning, and looking like that the transformation is literally hurting her.

When things start to calm down a bit, we see her shadow, hear her voice now sounding old, and when we get a look at her in her new form, we see a part of face covered up by her sleeve, but is suddenly revealed when she exclaims what "a perfect disguise" it is, where we soon gaze at this...

 https://silverfluff.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/witch.jpg

Now I'm going to be honest, as twisted and hideously freaky as her design is, when I saw this as a kid I actually wasn't that scared of it. Alright moments like the face she makes when the scene darkens after she reads one of her spells, or when she suddenly appears at the window of the Dwarfs cottage, did had me creeped out a bit, but much like how I felt about witches like say The Wicked Witch of the West in "The Wizard Of OZ" for instance, I enjoyed her over the top villainy more than I was fearing it. Every time we see her in her old hag form she's always shown to be laughing, talking to herself, and making creepy faces, which I found to be as entertaining and fun as watching someone like Tim Curry voice a villain. The moment that always gets me laughing is when she offers her pet Raven a bite of a poison Apple, and after a few moments of the poor thing being cornered with the Apple shoved near his face, she laughs and tells the animal that it's not for him!

 http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/disney/images/9/91/Snow-white-disneyscreencaps.com-7469.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20131126154553

Speaking of the Raven, I like that during her transformation scene and when she's making the poison apple, we get to see his comical reactions to tone a bit of the intensity down. My favorite reaction from him is when he hides inside a skull head when he sees the Queen in her old hag form, and then later on jumps when she hears her react with awe when finding the potion that will kill Snow White.

Image result for old hag snow white

Now even though I don't personally find the Queen in her old hag form that scary, I still completely get why others would. Again, her old, frail and hideous design with those beady eyes, long nose with a giant wart, and having a hump on her back is indeed very unpleasant to look at. Her motivation to poison Snow White with a juicy red apple and later claiming it to be a wishing apple as she pretends to be a nice and harmless old peddler is a cool and yet very creepy concept, that warns kids about stranger danger just as effectively as the Child Catcher in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" in its own fairy tale way. And as much as I enjoy watching her joke around and cackle, I'll admit that I find it more messed up as an adult than I did as a kid. Watching her in this form, she not only looks more sadistic then she was a Queen, but acts and sounds it as well. She shows more enjoyment and thrill out of all the cruel things she's doing, when in her Queen form she seems more tamed. As I mentioned earlier, who remembers a single scene of her as a beautiful Queen when she smiles or laughs for that matter? I mean this old woman is laughing at almost everything that is considered to be cruel and unpleasant, such as the idea of Snow White being practically buried alive, and mocking and destroying the skeleton of a prisoner who starved to death as he was trying to grab a pitcher of water beyond his reach that was put there to torment him mentally. And aside from the scene when she transforms herself, we never see her talk to herself as much as she does as an old hag. And she doesn't even look at the audience compared to her alternate form, which just makes her seem even more out of touch with reality. It's kind of weird for how different she is in terms personality between both forms she takes, but it is still fitting. Whether she's going to be a calm and elegant Queen, or a maniacal old hag, both forms share the same goal and twisted nature for you to still to identify that they’re both the same person, rather than being your typical Jekyll & Hyde transformation. The only real question is which of these two personalities are actually hers? Well even though there's no clear cut answer, I always thought it was her old hag form since she herself is already known to be a witch by the Dwarfs since she practices black magic, and seems to be more at home with being wicked and insane, when as a Queen you get a bit of the impression that she's trying so hard to keep her insanity hidden so that she can remain a beautiful and professional leader. I could be reading way too much into this, but that's the impression I get when watching her in this film. What truly amazes me about both forms of the Queen is they're voiced by the same actress Lucille La Verne, which shocks me for how she can switch between a sexy and royal voice to an over the top raspy old voice so flawlessly. She just really gets into character when doing both identities. And incase if you're wondering how she did it so well, she just simply took out her teeth.

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When I first saw the scene of when the Queen poisons Snow White with the apple as a kid, I remember being shocked by it. I mean I knew she was going to live in the end, but just how the scene plays out her death has always been intense for me, mainly because we don't see her bite the apple and collapse on the floor. All we're focused on is the Queen watching her slowly die with excitement and quietly reciting the symptoms of the spell, and hearing Snow White moaning that's supported by a drum roll to build up the tension. And just when we think we're going to see Snow White's dead body hit the floor, we just see her hand fall to the ground as the bitten apple rolls out of her hand that breaks the drum roll, and is followed by dramatic music and the Queen cackling with glee as it begins to suddenly storm outside, happily claiming that she is now "the fairest in the land".

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But this tragic victory doesn’t last long when she finds herself being chased by Dwarfs and the animals through a raging storm that eventually has her trapped on the edge of a cliff with nowhere else to go. But that doesn't stop her from finding away to kill the little men, because she uses a stick to send a large boulder in front of her down the mountain to crush their little bones that excites her the same way as her attempts to kill Snow White. But her plan fails to succeed when a lightning bolt strikes the spot where she's standing that causes her to fall to her death. And she doesn't just fall; the boulder falls down with her and crushes her off-screen, causing the Dwarfs to watch this demise in shock. But it doesn't stop there! Her remains are also feasted upon by these awful things...




Wow, this film is actually darker than I remember it! They not only look ugly and scary, but the color of their beaks almost reminds me of blood for how red it is and the fact that they like to eat corpses. I don't know why they didn't want to eat Snow White's corpse while she was left alone lying dead in the cottage during this chase, since that seemed to be their intention as they're following the Queen around, but I guess they wanted to eat the Dwarfs as appetizers before heading to the main course.



As I'm on the topic of Snow White lying dead, let's not forget the scene of the Dwarfs mourning the loss of the Princess with organ music playing in the background that takes place after the Queen's death. Usually when villains die, there's a feeling of triumphant, but no we don't get any of that! We instead get a depressing funeral scene. So just to recap of what we get during this climax! We have the Queen successfully poisoning Snow White, only to find herself dying a horrible death after her success, that's then followed by the Dwarfs having a wake for Snow White! Thank god there's a happy ending that happens after all of this, because I don't know if I can sit there feeling happy to watch the Dwarfs build a coffin for Snow White that was originally going to follow after this gloomy moment in Disney history!



One of the cool things to have ever come out of the Evil Queen in the Disney franchise is the dark ride "Snow White's Scary Adventure". Now if you found the Queen as the old hag, or the scene of Snow White running through the woods, or even the things that the Queen planed to do to be scary; how about experiencing all of those nightmares on a ride where Snow White is never seen, the Dwarfs are only shown in like one portion of the ride, and that you're in the shoes of Snow White constantly running away from the Queen through the dark woods of scary trees, that ends with you being crushed by a giant gem?! Yeah, there's a ride of that actually exists, or did exist, until changes were made to make it appear to be more family friendly, by adding Snow White to the attraction, seeing the Dwarfs a little more often, and having the Queen die at the end instead of you. Aside from the one's operating in Tokyo and Paris, the only version of the ride currently operating in North America is the one in Disneyland, and though a bit tamed compared to the original version of the ride, it's still dark! It starts out lighthearted by seeing the Dwarfs and Snow White perform and dance to "The Silly Song", but once you see the Queen turn into the Old Hag, the darkness begins and never let’s out! 

The Evil Queen is Disney's first animated villain in their full length animated films, and is one of the most sadistic ones of them all. Her designs are scary. Her plans of harming Snow White and her friends are messed up. The people and creatures that serve her are just as terrifying, or in the very least as shady as she is. She's cold-hearted as a Queen, and deranged as an Old Hag. She knows black magic that she uses to her advantage. And every single time that she appears on-screen never seizes to be fearful or intimidating, especially when all this scary imagery is being put into ride form.

"Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who is..."

 Alright let's stop right there, and read what she actually says that many people misquote!

"Magic Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all"
-The Evil Queen

And just to add a closing quote of her in her old hag form

"Then I'll be the fairest in the land"
-The Evil Queen as an Old Hag