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Mirrors in popular culture
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Posted On :
Dec-16-2010
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Article Word Count :
809
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Mirrors have been used in an assortment of fairy tales as story motifs so as to deliver the full significance of the story in a perfectly vivid manner. There is no shortage of befitting fairy story illustrations and as such we can start with Charles Finger’s ‘The Wonderful Mirror’ (1924) which is taken from ‘Tales from Silver Lands’.
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Mirrors have been used in an assortment of fairy tales as story motifs so as to deliver the full significance of the story in a perfectly vivid manner. There is no shortage of befitting fairy story illustrations and as such we can start with Charles Finger’s ‘The Wonderful Mirror’ (1924) which is taken from ‘Tales from Silver Lands’. The story features a king and his yet to be married daughter who live a happy life in their castle. The king decides to remarry and soon after his health starts declining for no apparent reason. The new queen takes to mistreating the princess in her father’s absence. Luckily a young peasant farmer man finds a mirror capable of revealing a person’s true character and he decides to use it to investigate the cause of the king’s failing health. The mirror reveals that the queen is in reality an evil two-headed toad that has cursed the king to die. The farmer and the princess jointly discover where the toad lives and finally slay it whereupon the king regains his full health.
In ‘The Snow Queen’ (1989) by H.C. Andersen, an evil hobgoblin makes a mirror whose reflections show everything as distorted and ugly. The mirror is then shattered and the numerous tiny pieces enter the hearts of the land’s people which serves to make them really mean and unkind to each other. Two kids, a boy and a girl named Kay and Gerda respectively, are introduced as childhood friends. One day Kay disappears but Gerda manages to find him at the palace of the Snow Queen. She saves him and all becomes well for the kingdom once more.
Alice Low’s ‘Medusa’ (1985) as contained in ‘The Macmillan Book of Greek Gods and Heroes’ describes Perseus’ attempts to slay Medusa the Gorgon. He is presented with a shiny brass shield by Athena, which he is to use as a mirror. With the shield Perseus is able to protect himself from looking into Medusa’s eyes directly and by doing so he becomes successful in killing the Gorgon.
Evan’s Problem (1968) by Ellen Pugh and taken from ‘Tales from the Welsh Hills’ is a story about a farmer, Evan, and his wife who cooks really poor meals for him. Evan grows thinner by the day and is forced to seek the company of some travelling gypsies if only to get food. Before they depart, the gypsies gift him with a mirror and upon looking into it Evan thinks he is seeing his father’s portrait. He decides to hide the mirror from his wife’s sight because she and his father do not cope but unfortunately she finds it and looks into it as well. She thinks her reflection is a portrait painting of her that Evan has paid for. This prompts her to change her behaviour and from that day on she starts cooking proper meals for Evan.
The Brothers Grimm (1989) tale of ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ details a jealous stepmother who sends her stepdaughter, Snow White, into the woods to her death just because her mirror said that the young girl is much more beautiful than she is. Snow White escapes and is taken in by seven dwarfs. The wicked stepmother searches for her and tries to kill her thrice. The third attempt puts Snow White in a coma whereby the dwarfs place her body in a glass coffin on a mountaintop. A passing-by young prince is captivated by her beauty and in love he asks the dwarfs to let him have her. As the coffin is being moved, the bearers stumble and this stirs Snow White into coughing up the piece of poisoned apple that is lodged in her throat. She and the prince get married and live happily thereafter. The jealous stepmother is then forced to dance until her last breathe with her feet having been bound in red-hot shoes of iron.
‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’, also by H.C Anderson, tells of a king who is so into fine dressing that he wastes his kingdom’s monies on extravagant attires. Two swindlers then approach the king and convince him that they can weave special clothing which will enable him to point out from among his officials those that are undeserving of holding positions of authority. The swindlers get busy pretending that they are making the said clothing but there is nothing of the sort in the works. On ‘completion’ of their task they dress up the king - with nothing - in front of a mirror but although he and his officials can’t see a thing of the sort no one dares say a word. The king is finally put to shame by the words of a child who brazenly declares that he is naked but by then the two rogue ‘tailors’ are long gone.
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Article Source :
http://www.articleseen.com/Article_Mirrors in popular culture_45192.aspx
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Author Resource :
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Keywords :
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