1. SNOW
WHITE
&
THE
HUNTSMAN
A DECONSTRUCTION
Presented by
Nur Aida & Nadiah

2. Snow White and the Huntsman
Trailer Official 2012 [HD] - Chris
Hemsworth - YouTube.flv

3. Syntagm & Paradigm
• Movie trailer – spatial & • Changing shots(focus, long
temporal syntagm shot) . Long shots to convey
• narrative, sequential ideas of journey &
syntagm magnitude of war, close up
• Bracketing syntagm shots on characters’ faces to
(montage of brief shots) convey the emotions
• Opening frame – dark • Binary –
clouds & ravens; final frame black/white, natural/unnatu
- doves ral
leader, natural/supernatural
, good/evil
• Soundtrack selection/dark
overtones
• Deeper voice of characters
• Choice of font
• Choice of costume

4. Choice of shots

5. Dialogues
Queen: Do you hear that? It’s the sound of battles fought and lives lost. It once
pained me to know that I am the cause such despair, but now their cries give me
strength. Beauty is my power. (hegemonic reading)
Queen: Mirror, mirror on the wall. Who’s the fairest of them all.
Mirror: You are the fairest, but there’s another destined to surpass you.
Consume her. Then, you shall live forever. (paradigmatic choice of words)
Queen: Find me someone who doesn’t fear the dark forest to hunt her down.
Huntsman: Why is she of such value?
Queen: That is none of your concern.
Huntsman: If I refuse? (oppositional reading, paradigmatic choice of words)
Queen: Lips red as blood, hair black as night. Bring me your heart, my dear,
dear Snow White. (paradigmatic choice of words)

6. Hegemonic reading & Myths
• Text – movie trailer
• Beauty is power
• Stepmothers are the adversary/to be feared
• Conventional Beauty = youth, innocence,
natural, nobility
• Women = witchcraft
• Negative view of women in power
• The men will save the day/damsel in distress
• Royal succession – primogeniture
• Fairy tales = magical elements

7. Oppositional Reading
• Snow White as modern woman – take up warrior
role, a woman fighting her own cause
• The huntsman – defiant / anti-
establishment, choice of weapon (axe)
• The huntsman teaming up with Snow White and
the dwarfs (the underdogs)
• Huntsman – London’s Saville Row label, USD5000
for an entry, by appointment only

8. Intertextuality : Snow White’s costume = Grimm’s fairy
tales, 1937 Disney version

9. Intertextuality: Snow White in armour = Joan of Arc

10. Intertextuality: Queen’s black robe = Madonna’s music video
‘frozen’ & turning into ravens

11. Intertextuality: The huntsman & axe = Thor (Chris Hemsworth) &
hammer

12. Iconic images
• Castles
• Vast plains
• Dark forest
• The kiss
• Knight’s armour
• Horses and knights, battle on the beach –

13. Indexes
• Facial expression – queen, snow white
– Queen = anger, satisfied, distant, cold
– Snow white = scared, struggling, bewildered
– huntsman = serious, angry, masculinity
– direction of the eyes – looking up, looking ahead
• Sounds
– horns – battle/ war
– laugh, sigh – queen’s cruelty/ evilness

14. Symbols & Connotations
• Mirror Used in
traditional witchcraft,
cannot lie, if broken 7
years of bad luck
• Red apple Temptation, lust, sin
• white horse Carries patron saints/
world saviour in the end
times
• Raven Evil, black magic and
death
Love, peace/ as
• White doves messengers; in Judaism,
Christianity, military &
pacifist groups.

15. Symbols & Connotations
• Black Evil witches; worn by religious
Christian figures
• Purple light/smoke Associated with royalty and
nobility
• Silver & gold Riches; strength; power,
perfection
Bleak, frozen feelings that the
• Winter characters harbour; death;
suggest the absence of hope
• Axe Authority; fascism - ancient
roman symbol of authority &
strength through unity

16. Codes
• Social code
– Verbal language – the
queen, the mirror, the
huntsman
– Bodily codes – the
queen, Snow white, the
huntsman
• Textual code
– Aesthetic, genre & stylistics
– romanticism, narrative
– Mass media