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wingedbeastWe started with Beauty and the Beast, which showed us a middle ages village that absolutely must have had personal experience with how expendable the noble class really is. Let's continue with the second most blatant example, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.
The Wicked Queen does some disturbing evil in this movie. Her motivation is simple and disturbing in itself, to be the most beautiful in the land. This is a queen, mind you, with legal authority over all the land. What's more, she's a queen in Europe, during the middle ages, and (as per at least one prayer scene by Snow White) a Christian country, which means that the official line is that she has divine right to rule. And, her primary motivation is to be the most beautiful.
She regularly checks her magic mirror. When the magic mirror's opinion says someone else might be prettier or "fairer" than she, the only option is murder. She commands a woodsman to kill the one the mirror thinks is the only one, in all the land, fairer than she. When she finds out that didn't work, she tries to do the job, herself.
Now, she is punished for that dark deed. She does die. But, she's never shown to be an illegitimate queen. The Wicked Queen is still, as far as the rules go, the rightful ruler of the kingdom. The handsome Prince that awakens Snow White with a kiss (which we hope has its own story to justify how he thinks that will help) would be well within law and cultural morality to punish the woodsman for having disobeyed the queen. The Great Chain of Being and even Christian morality as most often interpreted at the time all said that you obey your betters, regardless of their orders.
There could be a darker situation in Disney. Maybe, someday, there will be Disney's Elizabeth Bathroy. Until then, this is where we find the kingdom most intimately aware of how bad a rightful monarch can be.
It's all well and good for the Prince to say that the Wicked Queen is dead, long live the Good King. But, the damage is done, the system is shown to have a flaw that cannot be blamed on illegitimate rulers. MacBeth isn't the problem, Monarchy is.
That can easily all go unsaid. After all, monarchy, as a system, carried on not just on the weight of the arms in noble hands, but also on the fear that the alternative is worse. A King might not be good, but will make sure that tomorrow is like today, which is an ample fear when the closest alternative seems like bandits and thieves and murderers and warring neighbors.
But, not all of the neighbors are Kingdoms, at least not anymore. You see, there was this village in France. And, their noble lord (potentially king) just stopped coming out one day, stopped having anything to do with the outside world. The troubles that one would expect, bandits, lawlessness, warring neighbors, happened... and they took care of it for themselves. Then, the noble started acting again and tried to go on as though nothing happened. The result wasn't a smooth transition or an adulating public.
And, neither should the Prince have either. After all, the Wicked Queen may be dead, but it's not a Prince or another monarch that saved them. And, it's not like they have much reason to trust the system they have.
Snow White, herself, and her seven friends may be all in favor of a new monarch. After all, they will all benefit from the new rulership. One will be a Queen and the other will have the blessings of being the good friends of the Queen. But, for the rest, for the huntsman that may only evade punishment by the new King being magnanimous, if that? This deal isn't looking too good. There's a fight that needs to happen.
The Wicked Queen does some disturbing evil in this movie. Her motivation is simple and disturbing in itself, to be the most beautiful in the land. This is a queen, mind you, with legal authority over all the land. What's more, she's a queen in Europe, during the middle ages, and (as per at least one prayer scene by Snow White) a Christian country, which means that the official line is that she has divine right to rule. And, her primary motivation is to be the most beautiful.
She regularly checks her magic mirror. When the magic mirror's opinion says someone else might be prettier or "fairer" than she, the only option is murder. She commands a woodsman to kill the one the mirror thinks is the only one, in all the land, fairer than she. When she finds out that didn't work, she tries to do the job, herself.
Now, she is punished for that dark deed. She does die. But, she's never shown to be an illegitimate queen. The Wicked Queen is still, as far as the rules go, the rightful ruler of the kingdom. The handsome Prince that awakens Snow White with a kiss (which we hope has its own story to justify how he thinks that will help) would be well within law and cultural morality to punish the woodsman for having disobeyed the queen. The Great Chain of Being and even Christian morality as most often interpreted at the time all said that you obey your betters, regardless of their orders.
There could be a darker situation in Disney. Maybe, someday, there will be Disney's Elizabeth Bathroy. Until then, this is where we find the kingdom most intimately aware of how bad a rightful monarch can be.
It's all well and good for the Prince to say that the Wicked Queen is dead, long live the Good King. But, the damage is done, the system is shown to have a flaw that cannot be blamed on illegitimate rulers. MacBeth isn't the problem, Monarchy is.
That can easily all go unsaid. After all, monarchy, as a system, carried on not just on the weight of the arms in noble hands, but also on the fear that the alternative is worse. A King might not be good, but will make sure that tomorrow is like today, which is an ample fear when the closest alternative seems like bandits and thieves and murderers and warring neighbors.
But, not all of the neighbors are Kingdoms, at least not anymore. You see, there was this village in France. And, their noble lord (potentially king) just stopped coming out one day, stopped having anything to do with the outside world. The troubles that one would expect, bandits, lawlessness, warring neighbors, happened... and they took care of it for themselves. Then, the noble started acting again and tried to go on as though nothing happened. The result wasn't a smooth transition or an adulating public.
And, neither should the Prince have either. After all, the Wicked Queen may be dead, but it's not a Prince or another monarch that saved them. And, it's not like they have much reason to trust the system they have.
Snow White, herself, and her seven friends may be all in favor of a new monarch. After all, they will all benefit from the new rulership. One will be a Queen and the other will have the blessings of being the good friends of the Queen. But, for the rest, for the huntsman that may only evade punishment by the new King being magnanimous, if that? This deal isn't looking too good. There's a fight that needs to happen.
