We’re almost there and so is Gerda, so we sneak into the Snow Queen’s castle to see how things look from the inside. And they don’t look very good, one might say. There was never any real joy here, not so much as a little dance for the polar bears, for which the wind could […]
Well, we’re riding with Gerda on a reindeer and we’re headed to Lapland because a dove said the Snow Queen lives there. Eventually, the girl and the animal arrive in front of a hovel, when they find an old Lapp woman frying fish over a whale-oil lamp. Gerda tells her story again, for like the […]
Did you bring a gun? Yesterday we left the Prince and Princess’ castle in Andersen’s Snow Queen: we were with little Gerda and we were on a rather conspicuous carriage, made of gold and shining like the sun. Gerda bids farewell to her two crow friends, now blissfully enslaved in the Royal Castle because fuck […]
Well, Gerda is running away from the old woman’s house and winter is coming again. Eventually she finds herself conversing with a crow, although she’s having a little trouble understanding him. There seems to be a difference between crows and sparrows, when it comes to talking to them: where her grandmother is well versed in […]
Well, do you remember where we left our poor dear Kai? I think the illustrator who mostly nailed the creepy situation is William Heath Robinson, with a bare-breasted Snow Queen on her throne and the boy sleeping at her feet. The main concept is revolving around the apparent inability of the Queen to have children […]
Well, yesterday we saw the first part of this long and complex tale, and it involved a magic mirror whose splinter can turn someone’s heart to ice. And if you’re thinking you already saw that in a cartoon, you’re right: it’ one of the very few inspirations Disney took from this tale to weave the […]
As much as you might think that I loathe Hans Christian Andersen (especially those of you who have read my Little Mermaid lengthy piece), there’s one tale that I absolutely adore and it’s The Snow Queen. It’s his longest tale and was originally published on December, 21st 1844. The story is divided into 7 parts: […]
When I talked about Arthur Rackham, quite some weeks ago it seems, I mentioned that two themes might have been worthy of a separate discussion: his love for twisty trees and his portrayal of water-nymphs, mermaids, water-maidens such as Woglinde, Wellgunde, and Floßhilde and my personal favourite: Undine. So this Sunday I step out of […]