https://youtubetranscript.com/?v=DgaCikt1hSg

So as we are currently crown funding Snow White and the Widow Queen, and if you haven’t backed that yet, please go ahead and do that. I’m going to put out an interpretation of Snow White that I made a few months ago. And it’s interesting to look at it because my thoughts on Snow White has actually moved even further now as I continue to think about it, continue to have insight on it. We’ll get a few hints of why I make some of the decisions that I ended up making in Snow White and the Widow Queen. But it’ll also be in this continuation of the celebration of fairy tales that we’re doing now. So these are Patreon only videos that I put out over the years, so please enjoy. What I’m going to do is I’m going to show you what I’m working on. The thing that’s fascinating me right now, a project that I’m working on, I have many, many projects that I often forget to mention. Or that I mentioned just in passing, but that take up a lot of my time. And hopefully this will also, I’ll also use this as an opportunity to give you a few symbolic hints about what it is we’re talking about. And so the project is Snow White, as I mentioned in some of the Q&A’s, I think I’ve mentioned it, is that I wrote a version of Snow White. It’s about 5000 words. So it is a children’s fairy tale. And it will be something that I hope people can read in one sitting with their children. And I am having it illustrated by an artist. And we’re working really hard to create something which is going to be absolutely beautiful. That is one of the purposes of this. So designing a whole world, designing a whole aesthetic and working on Snow White. What I’m going to do is I’m going to kind of show you what we’re working on, what it looks like. And then I will give you a few keys about some of the secrets that are in the Snow White story. And the manner in which I’m trying to bring those out in the way I’m telling the story. And so here we go. And so the artist that I’ve hired to work with me on this is Heather Paulington. Who is someone that I mentioned before. Heather is someone who works on movies and TV. She has worked on many very famous movies. Here is her work for Maleficent. She’s an expert on surface design, object design, but also sets. She’s in general, she’s just really an expert at color and visual. And she’s the one who also worked on the new branding. So here’s some of her work on Maleficent. You can look her up online. She’s worked on the recent Eternals movie. Designing some of the Babylonian slash Kirby alien objects. So many projects. Mary Poppins, Into the Woods, Skyfall. I mean, it’s never ending. Just amazing work that she’s doing. And so the way that we’re working on this is I wrote the story. And the way that I wrote the story is I’m really trying to do what I’ve talked about. If you’ve watched my Spider-Man video, I’ve talked about what I call apocalyptic storytelling. Something which is the idea of taking the postmodern approach to storytelling. And joining it in a way that elevates it. So the way that we can describe postmodern storytelling is something like collage storytelling. Where we take different references. I mean, it’s something that you find in all works to a certain extent. But in the postmodern world, it seems to be taken to another level. Where, for example, you see series like exactly like Into the Woods. For example, like the movie Into the Woods. Or Once Upon a Time where they take all these fairy tales and they smash them together. And they do it in a way that is kind of dark. And is there to expose the dark underside of these fairy tales. Often there to expose how they’re related to sexuality. Twisting them somehow. So what I want to do is I want to do something similar. Which sounds weird, I guess. But it is the idea of using the kind of cynical insight that we get from fairy tales. So a good example would be understanding that fairy tales do actually treat the question of sexuality to a certain extent. But then showing how the way they treat it and the way we can see it. Can give you an insight about reality rather than just some dark insight. But maybe an insight that can move towards something more. So in the story of Snow White that is what I am doing as well. The idea is also to maybe use a kind of conscious storytelling. An awareness of the fairy tale that is more than just a naive folk awareness. A more subtle and maybe more sophisticated vision of the fairy tale. But then use that to reveal what is in the fairy tale. Rather than reveal what is in the fairy tale and how it is related to a more universal storyline. And so in the Snow White story. Let me give you a little hint about what is there in the Snow White story that we can help reveal. And so in the Snow White story, in the original. The Queen sees that Snow White is becoming beautiful and of course she becomes jealous and angry. And that is why she wants to have Snow White killed. But what is interesting is that the Queen, the relationship she has to beauty is something like she has knowledge of beauty. And so she sees herself in the mirror and the mirror tells her that she is the most beautiful one of all. Now we can imagine that that is a magic mirror. But it is not just a magic mirror. It is just a mirror really. You can say it is just a mirror. Because the mirror reveals to her a kind of self-awareness that makes her know that she is the most beautiful one of all. Now in the story it says that Snow White is actually the most beautiful of all. And Snow White is… Knows it and lives it in innocence. That she is innocent about her beauty. Let’s say. And that is what makes her the most beautiful one of all to a certain extent. That is actually what is making her more beautiful. Whereas the self-consciousness of the Queen is twisting her we could say. She is also getting older. That is also part of it. But that also has to do with the relationship between fading this idea of death and the relationship with beauty. So what is fascinating is that if you understand Snow White that way. Then you realize that the whole story has to do with that. And is actually very close to the story or the question of the fall. And so when the Queen goes out to let’s say try to kill Snow White. In the original story for those who know it. It is not just the apple. She goes there three times. And the first time she usually brings with her a corset. Sometimes it is a ribbon or a corset. And then she tells Snow White that she should put this on to make her more beautiful. This supplement will make Snow White more beautiful. And in my version what I have done is I have made it a belt. And I have also made it a green belt. And so for those who know what that refers to. This is the type of thing I am talking about. Where it is going into fairy tales. Bringing in to the fairy tales. Let’s say references to other stories. Which can help you understand what it is that is going on. What it is we are dealing with here. And so she brings a ribbon or a corset. And then chokes her as she falls. The second time she usually brings a comb. And in my version what I have done is I am using a hairpin. Because people don’t really understand the idea of a comb. That is not there just to comb your hair. But it is actually an ornament. Or you know an ornament to kind of hold your hair together. And then also show off. So it is going to be something like a hairpin that she is going to put in. And that is going to be beautiful. Now you can understand the problem. Which is that why is Snow White accepting these gifts? Because why is Snow White accepting these gifts to make her more beautiful? Isn’t she already the most beautiful girl in the world? Isn’t that the whole story? Is that what the story is about? That Snow White is the most beautiful one in the world? So what is interesting is that you can really see that there is a relationship between the story of the fall and this story. Which is that the Queen is trying to give her a supplement to add to her beauty. You know to make her conscious of the question of beauty and the problem of beauty. And therefore make her want to increase her beauty. But that is the funny thing about it. Is that she is already the most beautiful one of all. So there is a really deep trick going on. A trick that has to do with the idea of something like trying to get Eve to wear the garments of skin. Something like that. Trying to get someone to engage in the process of supplementarity. In a way that makes you forget or maybe know and forget in a weird strange way. That you are the most beautiful in the world. Know in the sense of a kind of explicit knowledge. But forget in the sense that you feel like you have to work towards making yourself beautiful. And so it is a really super, it is a very profound story when you kind of understand it that way. So what I have done in my version of Snow White is when the Queen comes and brings the apple to Snow White. She is going to be suggesting that this apple will give her knowledge of beauty. And so she says, don’t you want to know that if you eat this apple you will know that you are the most beautiful girl in the world. But the joke is that she is already the most beautiful girl in the world. And it is funny because when you see it that way you realize that is also what is kind of going on in the story of Adam and Eve. Because it says that Adam and Eve were created in the image of God. And then the serpent comes and says I am going to make you like God. And so there is an interesting little story. Which is that somehow what they are trying to get from the apple for themselves is something which at least implicitly they already have. And so at some point, you know, the idea in the story was that at some point they were going to get it explicitly. But it would have to be kind of given to them from above. But here you get this sense of the seduction of knowing that you are beautiful. But how this is also related to an entering into supplementarity. Which is the self-consciousness which forces you to want to add to yourself and to protect yourself. And that self-consciousness is reflected already in the image of the Queen and the mirror. So it is like once you kind of see the story of Snow White that way it becomes this very beautiful and powerful story that has to do with the fall and of redemption. Now of course there is a lot of other stuff going on in this which has to do with the transition between childhood and adulthood. And this is of course one of the big secrets of what the story of Snow White is about. And it also helps you understand, you know, you can understand that Snow White enters into the teenage world. She becomes a teenager and so because of that she has to deal with the problems of being a teenager. She has to deal with the problems of becoming a woman without the secret of the woman. Like without understanding what the reason is. Like without understanding what the reason of being a woman is. And it has to do with the fusion of blood as you can imagine. Which is why I think there is that in the story of Snow White. That there is this image of the fusion of blood in the story of Snow White. And so Snow White has to go into the forest. She is lost and she also has to go into this world where she is dealing with all these little men. All these idiosyncratic men. You could say all these men that aren’t fit for her to be a mate. And also in the Disney version they do a really great job at it. Which is that each of the dwarves represents an idiosyncrasy. It’s like here’s Sneezy or whatever. Here’s Doc and here’s Grumpy. And it’s like all these and they’re just characteristics. Idiosyncratic characteristics of manhood. But they don’t come together in the image of the prince. Which contains it all together in a way that makes him the proper mate for Snow White. So you can understand that she’s in this cycle. And she’s also learning to clean and to cook. Doing the traditional roles that a woman would do. But also facing all this idiosyncratic masculinity. But it’s like so what is the point? What is this for? What are we aiming? What is the purpose of this transformation that I’m going through? Which can only be found in the union, the true union with the man. Which is that that is what the menstrual cycle is for. That’s super interesting because even the most free sex, lifestyle, whatever that we’re dealing with now. It’d be very difficult to avoid the problem. Which is that that’s what the cycle is for. It is for fertility. Without fertility as part of the discussion, then it’s just a pointless cycle. And even you can understand that in some ways you could say that even kind of this sexuality without fertility in any way is also kind of this pointless cycle. And so Snow White is in this world where she’s learning to become a woman. She’s dealing with all this idiosyncratic and unattractive and small aspects of what masculinity is. And in a way you could say that it is in some ways a kind of dying. And the cycle is of course also a kind of dying. It’s a relationship to death. This is something which has been seen in every single culture pretty much. You know that there’s a relationship between the menstrual cycle and the moon moving into its dark phase. Or this moving into death and then returning into life. So moving out of fertility and into fertility, into the residue, and into let’s say a place of true fertility. So this is also a form of dying which is why it makes total sense that Snow White would be sleeping. And so when the prince awakens her from sleeping, that’s what he’s awakening her from. Which is this world of pointless stuff and death. And this transition which is like a baptism you could say. Which is this moving down into death to enter into a new stage of life. You know that is what the prince is awakening her to. And so we can see just how profound the story of Snow White is. And so the idea is to write a story, to write a version of Snow White. Which without explaining it the way I’m explaining it to you now, actually brings it out, exemplifies it in the story by referencing certain things. By referencing certain actually certain biblical passages and stuff. And so you’ll see when you read it. But this is the idea that I want to do for Snow White but also for other fairy tales as well. So what I’m going to do is I’m going to show you some of the stuff that we’re doing in terms of how it is that we’re working on this. And so what we’ve done and this is of course Heather’s work especially, is we’re creating what’s called a mural board. So a mural board is a kind of a board where you can put down a bunch of ideas and images. And so what we’re trying to do is to create a what we could call a kind of Byzantine fairy tale world. Which will end a certain ornamental world in which the Snow White story will happen. For some reason some of these titles are not reading. You can kind of see them appear and disappear. I don’t know why. So we’ve got the different references. Like we’re looking at references for covers. We’re looking at the different moods. At Byzantine ornaments of course. In terms of the clothing, in terms of the architecture. And then looking at certain illustrators like Billy Bin, Henrik Leffler. All of these who have worked on a kind of modern Byzantine style. Or kind of modern, here is more of a Persian style with Eric Lecain and some Celtic images as well. How to integrate the world of illustration with a more kind of Byzantine and medieval aesthetic. A way to use pattern in clothing, which we really, really love. And how to use also ornamentation in modern illustration. Kind of flatness and 3D together. So these are kind of some of these images that we’re working with. All right, let’s see what else we’ve got here. And some of the better versions of Snow White that have kind of that feel of a flatter, a more use of different architectural motifs inside the Snow White story. So you can give me an idea of the way that we’re looking at these things. And we are kind of using these as inspiration. All right, so here’s two ones that are coming closer. So you can see the prints kind of coming up to see Snow White. And then we’re going to use the two pages of the book as a storytelling mechanism. So you kind of see two sides, the prince and Snow White and the queen looking in the mirror. And you can have the knight with the waxing moon to show that Snow White is changing. And she’s moving towards the fullness of herself, you could say. And then also the crow. So the crow appears several places in the story. Here you can imagine what this is. So the hunter, Snow White getting lost in the forest and then finding the dwarves house. And so this will be like a layout. So we like a layout of two pages together. So I think it kind of gives you an idea of how we’re working. And so hopefully the idea is that this book will be something that a parent can read to a child, but that the parent will also get surprising insight from the story. So kind of like you see in these cartoons that they make these like Shrek or like these cartoons that are made now where there’s like secret adult references in the story. But usually those adult references are kind of dirty or some kind of salty humor or whatever. But here we’ll have adult references which will actually elevate the reader into a higher understanding of what their child is understanding at a basic level. And so yeah, so that’s the idea. I hope that you guys appreciate it. If you enjoy me taking you on to these kind of working into these projects, this is something that I could do because I’m working on a whole bunch of projects at the same time. So this is a little vision of what’s going on in the future. You know, I really appreciate you guys supporting me. You know, these projects like the Snow White project and even God’s Dog, for me at least at the outset is not something that I’m making money out of. And so the fact that I’ve got you guys to supporting the video work is also giving me time to work on these kind of projects and hopefully build this into something we hope to build it into something like a media company that would join the people that I really love and respect that I’m seeing are amazing workers. Like I’m already hiring Nicholas Cotar part-time. I’m working with Neil DeGrade on several projects that hopefully we can talk to you about in these videos and a bunch of other people too. Like I said, Heather and several others. And so as we kind of keep going, hopefully I can introduce you to some of these projects and some of the stuff that I’m furiously working on. And yeah, time is short, so we need to have better stories, right? I said so, so let’s do it. So everybody, thanks for your time and we’ll talk to you very soon. I’m Jonathan Peugeot and I’m inviting you to participate with us in our retelling and our celebration of one of the most iconic fairy tales of all, Snow White. A beautifully illustrated storybook, Snow White and the Widow Queen places our iconic character at the beginning of eight upcoming fairy tales which will speak to each other and harmonize in surprising ways. Snow White and the Widow Queen rekindles an adventure which will make you remember, rediscover, but also marvel and wonder at our rich heritage of stories. A heritage that still has secrets to reveal even after centuries of being passed down to us. In the past few decades, we have watched many of our stories, our fairy tales, our myths, become completely exhausted by efforts to deconstruct them, to reinvent them, and sometimes to even invert their original meaning. It has come to a point where we’ve almost forgotten why we cared about these stories in the first place. I firmly believe that for this reason, it is now time to retell and re-disrupt our original fairy tales in a spirit of celebration, of admiration and unashamed joy. I’ve spent the past two decades meditating on the strange narrative elements of Snow White and other fairy tales. After much thinking, I’m now bringing this story to our common hearth we find in the fire of time ready to present hidden treasures most of us have never noticed. To accomplish this, I have paired up with Heather Paulington, a world-class artist and designer who has worked on some of the most beloved film franchises of our time. Her work mirrors my writing in a collaboration that has produced a powerful synthesis of medieval style with the best 19th and 20th century illustration. I love the Kickstarter model because we can make the book more and more beautiful with every stretchable. We can offer art prints, a limited edition drawing by Heather, and even a Snow White illustration of my own. Finally, we’re planning a super exclusive leather-bound edition which pulls out all the stops. A storybook mantelpiece for sure. The profits of this crowd-funder will be used to start a new publishing company, Symbolic World Press, whose christened publication will be this very fairy tale series. Each book illustrated by world-class artists, Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, the valiant Little Taylor, and several more are next in line for publication, all existing in the same world and all fitting together like a puzzle moving towards the final surprising resolution. After all that, there’s no limit to what we can do. It’s time to reset the clock to retell our stories, so please join us in this celebration and creative venture.