STEVEN POOLE
Trigger Happy
Shoot first, ask questions later
Within the world of fairytales, there is nothing especially frog-like about a frog. Stories do not go into slimy detail about quotidian amphibious life. The frog could as easily be a squirrel, or a spider. Instead, the frog serves a narrative function: its purpose is to be kissed and turn into a prince or princess. Similarly, a fairytale does not explore the internal psychology and occult religion of a witch; she too exists primarily in terms of her function, to frustrate the hero or heroine’s desires in numerous possible ways, including transforming them into a frog. A witch is simply a particular token of a narrative archetype: the “villain”.