MOVIE

      Nowadays there are lots of new movies come out in the cinema. The trend that most of the directors in Hollywood use is to make an adaption movie based on novel, comic, fairy tales and etc. I assume this is maybe because the audience knows the storyline and interested of how the directors will transform a reading material into a movie. The down side of this trend is the similarities of the movies even with different versions for example Mirror Mirror and Snow White and The Huntsman. Both movies are an adaption movie but different styles of plot and were released in 2012. The story is basically adapted from one of the most famous fairy tales in the world, The Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs. Since at the young age we were told about the story of Snow White, a simple story of a charming little princess saved from the evil deeds of her wicked step-mother, the queen, by a group of seven adorable dwarfs. 

       The Mirror Mirror movie is a comedy fantasy film directed by Tarsem Singh and released on March 30, 2012. It stars Julia Roberts as the Evil Queen, Lily Collins as Snow White, Armie Hammer as Prince Andrew Alcott, and Nathan Lane as Brighton, the Queen's major domo.  It is a fun take on the classic Snow White story. This time, however, the story is told from the evil Queen’s perspective. After Snow White’s father dies, the Queen locks up Snow White. Meanwhile, the Queen takes the townspeople’s money for her own selfish wants. A Prince comes to the kingdom. He meets Snow White and is instantly fall in love with her, but the Queen wants him for herself. Knowing she must help the townspeople, Snow White approaches the Queen. The Queen tries to get rid of Snow White thus she’s left stranded in the forest but then meets the Seven Dwarfs. With the support of her new friends, she roars into action to reclaim her birth right and win back her Prince. 

      Overall, Mirror Mirror is a funny, nicely crafted family movie. It has a very strong moral value showing that magic is harmful. It also shows that greed, vanity, and selfishness are destructive. The Dwarfs have been stealing from the people, but once Snow White comes into their lives, she convinces them that stealing is wrong. They work together to reclaim the people’s money from the Queen, who’s wasting their money on her selfishness. Snow White is a great heroic role model. She’s pure, kind and always tries to do the right thing. The film has a nice self-deprecating sense of humour and age-appropriate physical gags, while still keeping the storybook elements of castles, balls and scary woods that have thrilled and delighted children for generations.

      Whereas for the movie Snow White and the Huntsman that were released on May 30 2012 and directed by Rupert Sanders, is more on action fantasy film. It stars Kristen Stewart as Snow White, Charlize Theron as the Wicked Queen, Chris Hemsworth as Eric the Huntsman and Sam Claflin as Prince William. The movie has more twisted plot compared to the Mirror Mirror movie yet still follow the original storyline of the Snow White. Thus the movie can be summarizes as followed; Once upon a time, King Magnus and his Queen have a beautiful daughter, Snow White, who is raised with her best friend William. When the Queen passes away, the King grieves her death but has to fight against a dark invader army. He rescues a beautiful prisoner, Ravenna, and on the next day he marries her. On the wedding night, Ravenna stabs King Magnus on the chest and brings the enemy army led by her brother Finn that destroys the King's army. Ravenna imprisons Snow White on the Northern Tower of the castle while William, his father The Duke and a few survivors escape from the castle. Years later, the kingdom is completely depleted and Queen Ravenna, who is an evil witch, keeps her beauty draining the youth of young ladies. When the Magic Mirror tells that Snow White would be the source of her immortality, she asks Finn to bring the princess to her. However, Snow White escapes and flees to the Dark Forest. Queen Ravenna brings a Huntsman that misses his wife and she promises to bring her back to life provided he catches Snow White to her. But when he captures Snow White, he discovers that the evil Queen lied to him and he becomes the protector of the princess. Meanwhile William learns that Snow White is alive and he heads to join Finn's men to meet her. The Huntsman and Snow White meet the eight dwarfs that bring them to the magic Fairy Tale Land. When they are attacked by Finn and his men, William also finds them and the group heads to the Duke's castle with the intention of beginning an uprising against the evil Ravenna.

      

      As for the values portrayed in the movie, the importance of taking a stand against evil deeds, resisting and fighting evil or in other words actively pursuing what is right and good. The story is one of good versus evil and the consequences of bitterness, jealousy and vanity, fuelled by a selfish desire to remain young. One of the messages in the movie is that the endless quest for eternal youth only leads to jealousy and bitterness, and we cannot escape the fact we will all die and meet our maker. Like the world we live in today, people are desperate to look young because they can’t face death and are afraid. The mirror lied to the queen by telling her she was the fairest in the land, when really she was only a shadow of reality.

    These two movies are the example of adaption from fairy tales with almost the same plot. The only difference is how the director narrated the movie, it can be just a simple story or twisted story so the movie can be more interesting and different than the other movies.