Commentary on this tale from Marie Louise Von Franz
In Greece there was a cult of the goddess Artemis of Brauron, who was a bear goddess. Young girls of good families were given to serve the goddess from their twelfth to sixteenth year. In the awkward time when girls are just as difficult to keep at home as boys, they were given into the service of the goddess. They behaved like tomboys—neither washed nor cared for themselves in any way, spoke roughly, and were called bear cubs. Thus the bear cub societies of the mother goddess served to reinforce the feminine under the veil of protection. In this way, the feminine personality could develop unharmed by the problem of sexuality and go into life with a certain amount of maturity, gained in security under the bearskin. – “The Feminine in Fairy Tales” – Marie Louise Von Franz
The one-sidedly feminine world, where everything is so gentle and rosy and nobody quarrels, needs the bear…….A woman who wakes up after being too passive, too feminine, faces the possibility of being too aggressive. But no one hits the bull’s-eye the first time; it takes practice, and the fact that she at first shoots wide of the mark accounts for the many typical exaggerations, when too little or too much aggression and insufficient adaptation are replaced by outbursts of affect…… The dwarf who entangles himself is an image of the negative animus in woman, who is, however, in the story eliminated by the bear, the positive animus. – “The Feminine in Fairy Tales,” Marie Louise Von Franz
Thoughts on this adaptation.
In terms of storytelling – my goals are always to modernize, find humor, and explore the psychological symbols in these tales. Our film playfully tweaks the locations of the original tale but the plot points are the same. Now, instead of a greedy “dwarf,” I’ve cast a greedy little capitalist.
In the original story, the Dwarf is verbally aggressive. He berates the women and insults them. Marie Louise Von Franz, in “The Feminine in Fairy Tales” explores this character as a negative part of a psyche, the part that bullies and is cruel to us.
In our film, I’ve had fun with the insults, and just as the Grimm tale reflects life in Germany (Von Franz also discusses these connections to the story), our adaptation explores economic/political tensions in the character of the “little man.”
Filming Snow White Rose Red & the Little Capitalist
Other chthonic beings are the Cabiri or chthonic dwarf gods. Of the Cabiri Jung writes, “…they are eternally striving from the depths to the heights and therefore are always found to be both below and above.” Bears too, are found to be chthonic beings, representing the dark, concrete merciless shadow. -Dr. C. George Boeree
Thinking about Snow White Rose Red & the Little Capitalist
Art, fairy tales, and dreams are all ambiguous. There is no “right answer” as to the meaning of the symbols. But exploring the symbols can provide insights into my inner world. Here are some questions for this film to use for reflection, if desired.
What stays with you, what images feel most potent, disturbing, intriguing?
When/how have you been innocent in your life?
What wildness in yourself have you encountered? When, where was it?
What does the “dwarf” bring up for you?
When has this quality shown up in my life? (inner voice, hard on me?)
How do I deal with inner/outer treasures?
When did my wildness or dangerous strength help me?
When have I had the strength or courage to kill something that needed extinguishing?
