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| Foto: Cristina Vales |
Snow White is back –and for the second
time this year no less. First we had the “funny” version of the princess with
“Mirror, Mirror” and now we are presented with the dark and overpowering version
in “Snow White and the Huntsman”. Apparently, Hollywood is trying to change the
essence of who we think Snow White is. In fact, movies, books and TV are
starting a trend were we can see a bunch of complex female heroines with the
will and mind to be strong and independent—like Katniss from “The Hunger Games”
or Carrie from “Homeland”- which is awesome.
The traditional
female role is changing and even blockbusters are embracing the change. I
personally enjoy seeing a woman fight with her own skills and smarts opposed to
seeing the damsel in distress waiting for the strong and handsome man to come
and save her by kicking 40 guys in the ass. It is interesting to see a woman
fight with her means and if we think about it, it also gives a whole new
meaning to the man’s presence in the story. It gives new ways to create
characters and new ways of telling stories.
As we see these
new characters it is also important to note what kind of girls and women are
being chosen to play these heroines. In this case we have Kristen Stewart, who
ironically has been typecasted for playing the ultimate damsel in distress—which
frankly, comes from people who doesn’t know the rest of Stewarts career-. When
I heard that Kristen Stewart and Sam Claflin were giving a press conference for
the movie, I jumped at the chance to go and understand where this character and
story were coming from.
To begin, I must
say I have immense respect for Kristen Stewart. I really believe she is a
normal girl who is living an extraordinary situation and handling it to the
best of her social abilities. And I say this because I had the chance to go
into the photo call with bunches of photographers and reporters and they were
all saying how mean she was and how conceited she was. She wasn’t.
Then, she came
out and I had 30 tall and bulky dudes trampling me to take a picture and
screaming at her in Spanish for her to pose and look over to their cameras. They
were basically chastising her for being “rude” when she probably didn’t even
understand the language they were speaking. And that’s when I realized how
unforgiving the media can be and how subjective things like these can become. We
expect these people to be chatty and smiley and sometimes their personality
isn’t set that way, that doesn’t mean they are rude or mean.
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| Foto: Cristina Vales |
That is why I
was glad she was able to defend herself as they asked her why she wouldn’t stop
to say hi to her fans at the airport. “I would love to walk through an airport
alone,” she said with a big smile on her face. She apologized if someone felt
brushed off and added, “México is the most welcoming and passionate. They are
unabashedly happy to see you.” She expressed her sadness for not being able to
go out in México City, because her security team won’t let her.
After the photo
call, we all went to the press conference that was set up pretty cool, with a
fake forest and low color lights. Kristen and Sam were brought on stage and
immediately were asked what lured them into the project. Sam said that it was
interesting to reinvent a classic fairy tale by reinventing their classic
characters.
Kristen said
that they wanted, “to stay really true to who Snow White was classically.”
Meaning: she is a girl who is not pretending to have the abilities of a boy,
but a woman that can fight in more ways than physically. She also told the
press that this particular story appealed to her because they were able to show
a very dark part of a fairy tale that, in the end, made the light in the same
movie even more gorgeous.
Stewart stated
that princess stories weren’t her favorite when growing up. But for her this
princess was different, “the cool thing about our movie is that it humanizes
the characters.” Sam agreed by saying his character was “a more realistic man
who is able to defend himself and has backbone.”
At this point,
the conference was accompanied by the chants of dozens of teen girls who were
waiting outside and screaming “Kristen! Kristen! Kristen!” over an over.
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| Foto: Cristina Vales |
Stewart was very
clear when she said she is not inclined to become an action movie star. “There
has to be a reason for the stories you tell,” then she added. “All of my action
is motivated by fear and she is not crippled by it. She moves towards it and is
ultimately compassionate.” Sam then added, that although his main roles in
“Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” and in “Snow White and the Huntsman”
have been action driven, he is eager to get other type of roles that would
challenge his acting.
Both actors praised their co-star Charlize
Theron, saying she was very professional, beautiful. Stewart claimed that
Theron was an inspiration as she was growing up. “Charlize blows your hair back
when she gets in the room,” she said.
During the whole
conference both actors had a smile on their face and were gracious, even if
some of the questions asked were somewhat aggressive. They both expressed their
happiness with the result and after a couple of pictures they left the stage.
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| Foto: Cristina Vales |
Later, as I was
leaving the hotel, checking the photos I had just taken, I noticed the bunch of
teen girls who we could hear when we were in the conference. So I decided to
cross the street, just to realize they had guessed I was just inside and mobbed
me. They began interrogating me about
how cool she was, if she looked pretty, if she was truly mean. I told them she
was actually awesome and they seemed happy. Then, Sam Claflin decided to say hi
to the fans from a balcony and I’m sure I lost 20% of my ability to hear. After
that, I left, but not without wishing the fans good luck and hoping for Kristen
Stewart to go out and say hi to them, I later heard she actually did.
So, now you can
all go see “Snow White and the Huntsmen” which opens June 1st and
see for yourselves if the reinvention of the modern heroine is a reality or
just the hopeful thinking of people who produce these movies. And for those
interested, my review will be up soon for you to enjoy my awesome criteria on
movies.
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