Fairy Tale Feeturettes Vol 5: The Snow Queen: Gerda

:-D Hi Everyone. It's time for a brand new volume of Fairy Tale Feeturettes. Tonight's "Feetured" post deals with an animation adaptation of the Snow Queen. In it the protagonist is a girl named Gerda who is barefoot throughout the story. Actually the fact that Gerda is barefoot is a key story point in this one... Gerda sacrifices her brand new shoes in order to find her friend Kay who was abducted by the Snow Queen.

(These are from an animated short of the Snow Queen Narrated by Sigourney Weaver released in 1992. A tremendous Thank you to JTurner for recommending this short for this series. ^_^)

Previous Volumes of Fairy Tale Feeturettes:

Vol 1: Snow White

http://animefeet.blogspot.com/2016/04/fairy-tale-feeturettes-vol-1-snow-white.html

Vol 2: Josephine from Bluebeard

http://animefeet.blogspot.com/2016/07/fairy-tale-feeturettes-vol-2-bluebeard.html

Vol 3: Lizbeth from The Old Woman in the Woods

http://animefeet.blogspot.com/2016/08/fairy-tale-feeturettes-vol-3-old-woman.html (Part 1)

http://animefeet.blogspot.com/2016/08/fairy-tale-feeturettes-vol-3-old-woman_15.html (Part 2)

Vol 4: Grimm Fairy Tales Classic: Cinderella

http://animefeet.blogspot.com/2016/09/fairy-tale-feeturettes-vol-4-grimm.html 

I think probably almost all of us are familiar with the Snow Queen tale on some level. It is the Hans Christian Andersen story that loosely inspired Disney's Frozen. That said before watching the short these caps were taken from... I really only knew vague details about the story; bits and pieces about the title character etc. The Snow Queen is one Andersen's longest story and it is divided into 7 segments. To summarize... the story focuses on two children; a boy named Kay and a girl named Gerda. Kay unintentionally attracts the attention of the Snow Queen while looking out the window at night and she kidnaps him. He falls victim to glass from her magic mirror that freezes his heart and makes him unable to love anyone. The Snow Queen then takes him with her to her Icy domain. Gerda journeys to rescue her friend and free him from the Snow Queen's control. It's an intense story... incredibly exciting and definitely worth reading.

This animated adaptation follows the original Hans Christian Andersen story very faithfully depicting all the segments of the story scene for scene. Visually the animation is really nice. It should be noted that there are no other voice actors for this cartoon besides the Narrator... Actress Sigourney Weaver (of the film Aliens and Ghost Busters). She does a remarkable job telling the story though depicting all the characters in it and describing the events in such a way that she can carry the story on her own. Combined with the detailed animation to depict the scenes. This version of the Snow Queen is a great adaptation of the story and enjoyable to watch.

In terms of Characters...the protagonist of this story, Gerda, is a remarkable girl. She's the type of classic heroine that readers (and viewer's in this case) aspire to be like. In fact I would say that she even goes above and beyond what is expected of hero character. It takes a special type of hero that is willing to give up being treated like a princess, risk her life against robbers, journey through the cold and snow (barefoot I might add) and face off against the Snow Queen herself for the sake of a friend. In the story Gerda demonstrates bravery, kindness, selflessness and determination. She is definitely the type of friend that you would want in your corner. ^_^

Ok everyone! That's all for tonight. I also want to give a special shout out to Dean Lawrence who Turns 18 today. Happy Birthday man. ^_^

Until next everyone. Stay warm and try to avoid losing your heart to the cold. ❄

-KSC