Way Back to Paradise by Felser Joseph M.;

Author:Felser, Joseph M.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hampton Roads Publishing

Snow-Blind

One day out of the blue I mentioned something about my snow /white synchronicities in an email to a friend named Suzanne, a psychology Ph.D. and a keen sensitive.

“Oh, yeah,” she replied, “the Snow White archetype is really powerful.”

Snow White?

This is where it gets embarrassing. You see, I had always written the phrase “snow-white,” or “snow/white,” but never, ever Snow White. It never occurred to me that I was dealing with a famous character out of a fairy tale. Or rather, that she was dealing with me. That yet another cultural myth was alive and well and messing with my life (even if it was for my benefit) had been the furthest thing from my mind.

So I dusted off my edition of The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales. 16 I read Joseph Campbell's scholarly commentary. I poked around here and there. I took a look at the extensive work on fairy tales done by Marie-Louise von Franz, a longtime student and colleague of C. G. Jung. I also read the poet Robert Bly's book on the Iron Hans fairy tale.17 I won't bore you with the details. It wasn't that methodical in any case. I just followed my nose wherever it led. I'll share a few thoughts, and leave it at that. (The experts can pick it apart as they like.)

First, a few preliminaries:

1. Walt Disney was not the first to ‘Disneyfy' these stories by cutting out “offensive” details. The Brothers Grimm themselves bowdlerized the oral stories they collected and wrote them as they saw fit. Sometimes these details matter.

For example, in the 1819 Grimm's edition, Snow White's mother dies after giving birth and it is the evil stepmother who tries to murder her stepdaughter out of jealousy. This is the way most of us know the tale. But in the earlier 1812 edition, there was no stepmother: the murderous queen is Snow White's own biological mother. This was too shocking for the tender ears of good German burghers! So the Grimms fudged the text.

However, the original scenario makes it much clearer that the villainous queen and the super-naive, ultra-pure Snow White are strictly symbolic figures. After all, one could rationalize that her stepmother in disguise might fool a young seven-year-old girl. But how likely is it that a daughter would fail to recognize her own mother—three times, no less? The sheer preposterousness of it jolts you into another level of awareness. Take away the absurdities, and you inadvertently remove the cues that guide the reader toward a deeper understanding and appreciation of the story's true meaning.

So, from here on in, I'll just assume that you've tossed your Disney video and at least familiarized yourself with a decent translation of the 1812 edition of Grimm. That way I can skip the tedious process of retelling the story and cut to the meaty parts.

2. No one knows how old these stories are, who wrote them, and why. Joseph Campbell insists that fairy tales are fragments of high culture myths that have degenerated.

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