The Victory of Good in Snow White and the Huntsman

Recently I had a chance to catch Snow White and the Huntsman and it was an enjoyable reimagination of the fairy tale. It’s a wonderful story about the way goodness brings restoration in a world mired by a corrupted force, a theme which is rooted in a biblical worldview.
Ravenna (Charlize Theron) is the evil queen step-mother who murders the King Magnus, ruler of the land of Tabor and father to Snow White. Ravenna then uses her own outward beauty to as well as dark magic to maintain control over the land. Her powers are self-consuming, and using her magic mirror, she finds fair young maidens in order to magically suck their youthful essence to regenerate her aging body. The very land of Tabor also loses its life force, and is riddled with dead plants and trees.

The magic mirror informs Ravenna that she can only maintain power so long as she is the fairest in the land, but the late king’s daughter Snow White (Kristen Stewart) is coming of age and will one day be the fairest of all. The only way Ravenna can remain in power is to consume Snow White’s heart.

Snow White had been locked up in a tower since childhood. She represents true beauty, more than just external appearances, but a pure heat of goodness. She cares for an injured bird. In her most desperate moments, she recites the Lord’s Prayer.

Moments before Ravenna’s brother Finn could come to take her heart, Snow White makes a daring escape from the tower and flees into the Dark Forest. Ravenna then hires Eric the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) to find Snow White, kill her, and bring back her heart. The Huntsman agrees on the condition that Ravenna would use her power to bring back his deceased wife. He eventually finds Snow White, but learns that Ravenna really has no power to raise the dead, and that he would also be betrayed. The Huntsman then helps Snow White escape. When Snow White eats the poisoned apple, it is his kiss that brings her back to life. The two of them, along with the Seven Dwarfs, and the army of Duke Hammond, a knight loyal to King Magnus, go into battle and defeat Ravenna.

Snow White and the Huntsman presents a profound understanding of the antithesis between good and evil. Darkness ultimately consumes people and it offers no life in return. Satan is even likened to a devouring lion (1 Pet. 5:8). Evil does not give life, but takes life away, and whatever it takes, it only takes for its own selfish purposes. Conversely, true goodness seeks out one’s own interests, but the interest of others. This is the essence of divine love. A central component to the biblical gospel messages is that “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). It is this divine goodness that ultimately preserves and gives life.

“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others” (Phil. 2:3-4).