#the magic mirror

[princesssarisa]

Character ask: The magic mirror (Snow White)

Favorite thing about them: I like its mystical truth-telling power. I also enjoy the fact that it's open to so many different interpretations in different adaptations of the tale. What it looks like, what it sounds like, how it speaks (from a face carved into the frame, a spirit that appears in the glass, the Queen's own reflection, etc.) just how sapient it is, whether it likes the Queen, dislikes her, or is neutral, and whether it's an entity itself or has an entity trapped inside it varies from version to version. This way, it never becomes boring.

In the Disney film specifically, I like its eerie, otherworldly appearance and voice, and the sense of emotionless moral neutrality it conveys.

Least favorite thing about them: Well, it serves the evil Queen and tells her where Snow White is.

Three things I have in common with them:

*I usually tell the truth.

*I think Snow White is beautiful.

*I've been inside a castle before. (In my case, a few crumbling old ones in Ireland.)

Three things I don't have in common with them:

*I'm not a mirror.

*I'm not omniscient.

*I don't speak in rhyme.

Favorite line: From the Grimms' tale:

You, my queen, are fair; it is true.

But Snow White, beyond the mountains

With the seven dwarfs

Is still a thousand times fairer than you.

From the Disney film:

Famed is thy beauty, Majesty.

But hold! A lovely maid I see.

Rags cannot hide her gentle grace.

Alas, she is more fair than thee!

and

Over the seven jeweled hills,

Beyond the seventh fall,

In the cottage of the seven dwarfs

Dwells Snow White, fairest one of all

brOTP: I suppose the Queen, in a way.

OTP: None. Except in the anime The Legend of Snow White, where the spirit imprisoned in the mirror, Speck, does have a love interest, a female spirit named Mylarka who's imprisoned elsewhere, but who reunites with him in the end.

nOTP: Any human.

Random headcanon: It was a gift to the Queen from whoever taught her the art of magic. Its creator meant her to use its omniscient power for good, to ask it questions about the needs of her people and use it to become a better ruler. But instead, of course, she only uses it to satisfy her vanity about her beauty, and to learn who her rivals are so she can eliminate them.

Unpopular opinion: I don't think it represents the king. Not inherently, anyway. This seems to be a popular reading of the tale among scholars: that the mirror is a stand-in for the absent figure of the Queen's husband and Snow White's father, and that the Queen's jealousy of Snow White's beauty merely represents the true source of conflict between stepmothers and stepdaughters, competition for the husband/father's love. That's a valid reading, of course, but I don't think it's inherent. I'd sooner argue that the mirror represents the male gaze in general than that it specifically represents the king. And I don't think it inherently represents the male gaze either, unless you think the only reason why women ever envy other women's beauty is because beauty equals male approval. Some adaptations have it speak with a woman's voice instead of a man's, after all. Or even with the Queen's own voice (since it is a mirror), making it seem less like a symbol of other people's feelings about the Queen and Snow White, and more of the Queen's own inner knowledge of Snow White's superior beauty.

Song I associate with them: Its instrumental theme from the Disney film's soundtrack.

Favorite picture of them:

From the Disney film:

Assorted fairy tale illustrations:

Hans Conried (a.k.a. the voice of Disney's Captain Hook) in the 1977 special Disney's Greatest Villains, which was later incorporated into A Disney Halloween.

The spectacular mirror puppet (voiced by Patrick Stewart) in Disneyland's 2004 stage show Snow White: An Enchanting Musical.

[crossoverheaven]

We live to serve our master but also we ARE our master, sort of?

BONUS:

[disneynerdpumpkin]

GUYS LOOK

LOOK

The Slave in the Magic Mirror is seen after Magnifico is sucked into his own staff

[stone-cold-groove]

The Magic Mirror.

[retrocgads]

USA 1993

[yen-sids-tournament]

We just realized, more than 24 hours after the Round 1 info post, no one submitted:

"Magic Mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?"

[texasthrillbilly]

"Run, run, Lost Boy", they'd say to me. "Away from all of reality."

[obscureanimeoftheday]

Obscure Anime of The Day:

Himitsu no Akko-chan

Aired: 1969-1970

Genres: Comedy, Fantasy, Magic, School, Shoujo

[hjbirthdaywishes]

April 26, 2024

Happy 66 Birthday to Giancarlo Esposito.

[princess-ibri]

In the Disneyverse, is there somehow a fine line of difference between the Moroni Olson/Tony Jay/Birth By Sleep!Corey Burton Magic Mirror and the Hans Conried/Happy Haunting!Corey Burton Magic Mirror? Also, is Willoughby the assistant mirror spirit from the 1951 Walt Disney Christmas Show a part of the Disneyverse?

The only spirit in the Magic Mirror in the DisneyVerse is Voland, who is ultimately malevolent. Any depictions of the personality of the Magic Mirror in Disney promotional materials are non canon to the DisneyVerse. As such no Willoughby, sorry.

[geschwartz]

[1nky-quill]

Babe new Xenogenders just dropped

MagicMirrorCharic `✦ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹

A Xenogenders connected to the Magic Mirror from Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

(Made by me for me, free use, please reblog if use)

[princehendir]

Number one rule in gaming: Never leave the character creator.

[feloire]

[maliciouscigarette]

Art by giganticbuddha (here's their ko-fi)