The affects of parental figures on children: Hawk Snow White

 

Regal Academy, for being a kids’ show with fewer rules than kindergarteners’ games, has some very detailed characterization, naturally forming relationships, and behavior linked to the little things in their lives. I’ve done a LOT of musing on the subject, and whether accidentally or intentionally, the characters have deductible struggles and inner worlds that are strongly connected to what we know of them and their home lives. Second essay on this topic is about Hawk.

A few things to get out of the way for those who don’t know Regal Academy. The show is a “fairytales are real” setup and focuses on the grandchildren of classic fairytale heroes in a school, Regal Academy, located in The Fairytale Land. The school breaks the classes up into teams and teams collect grades more on group effort and success rather than individual. Our main team consists of Rose Cinderella, Travis Beast, Astoria Rapunzel, Hawk Snow White, Joy Le Frog, and after season 2, LingLing Iron Fan. Their grandparents, with the exception of Princess Iron Fan, are teachers at Regal Academy.

Hawk has a LOT to unpack. And most of it is because of his grandmother. Shocking. If I had to create a list based on how terrible the grandparents are to their grandchildren, Snow White would be on the very goddamn top. Now, similarly to Astoria, Hawk’s main parental figure is his grandmother. His parents are not as actively ignorant as Astoria’s mother, but they are “professional heroes” and hardly spend any time at home. So Hawk is stuck with Snow White.

Snow White is very judgmental and cruel. One thing easily recognizable is that Snow White wants Hawk to be perfect, the perfect prince, the perfect grandson, the perfect student. He isn’t. Thus, Hawk is a constant disappointment. However, it is important to note that even if Hawk was perfect in every way, he would still be a disappointment. See, Snow White’s standards for what her grandson must be are fluid. There’s no singular image he has to learn to live up to. He would never be good enough, no matter how perfect he became. Snow White is expecting an unreachable goal from Hawk while simultaneously pushing the “Live up to the family name” thing that is present in most families and being unapologetically blunt and critical.

This causes Hawk to have a sort of split personality. I’m not talking multiple personality disorder here, I’m talking about masking. Hawk is introduced as the perfect prince charming and for the most part, that’s what he is. But soon, we start seeing through the cracks. The first and most obvious is that while he is a master at dragon riding and heroism class, all the action-related things that Prince Charmings are supposed to be good at, he isn’t very good in the textbook-based classes. He’s not too good with studying and he is kind of a loveable idiot. He has street smarts, but not book smarts. And the more time he spends with his team, especially when away from school, the more the perfect prince persona slips away. When in school, in class, or anywhere else where he can be observed by his grandmother or the other teachers, he is a model student, following the rules, carrying himself like a prince, wooing the ladies, and he is much more quiet and reserved. But when out on assignment or at a part of the school that is more student-populated, he is more carefree, loud, and impulsive. That is because when with his friends, with no chance to be observed by his grandmother, he is able to be his actual self. This is represented in a bit of a visual storytelling element in season 1. All main characters have a school uniform look and a street look, both of course representing them in ways. Hawk’s school uniform is neat, without wrinkles, his tie is neatly tied. His school look screams “model student”. His street outfit however consists of a rather child-like-looking shirt that is clumsily tucked into his jeans. It’s not fully messy, he still has this need to be what his grandmother wants him to, but it’s no longer screaming perfection. It’s much more human.

Now Hawk is very aware of the expectations he has to live up to and that he is failing to live up to them. As I said, Snow White is unapologetically blunt. She literally called Hawk a disappointment to his face once. And I know it was supposed to be a joke that she doesn’t know how to say she is proud of him, but she didn’t know how to say she is proud of him. That is how Hawk had to live for most of his life. And with no support from his parents. And when they are there, Hawk is overtaken by this urge to impress them. He looks up to them, but as more like distant heroes one meets sparsely, if at all, rather than as his parents. This all causes him to live with constant anxiety and a constant need to perform no matter what. He is also blatantly unhappy when he’s home.

While, technically, this essay is about Snow White’s actions and how they affect Hawk, I do want to take a moment to discuss why Snow White is like this. And I am not excusing her actions. She is cruel. But the reason she is is because of Fala. Fala is Hawk’s older sister, and as we learn in season 2, she got abducted when Hawk was but a small child. We actually get to see Fala for a bit and it becomes clear that she is the most powerful magic wielder in the Snow White family, she is smart, she is skilled in the things princesses are generally supposed to be skilled at, she can think outside the box, she is absolutely lovable, she is observant, and she ate Joy’s bug-food, which is a feat on its own. Basically, she is perfect. The perfect princess. The perfect granddaughter. And Snow White lost her. Snow White then proceeded to unknowingly project her grief onto Hawk, trying to turn him into his sister. Hawk is obviously not Fala, but even if he were more similar to her, it wouldn’t have been enough. Snow White was trying to replace Fala with Hawk, but even she knew, subconsciously, that he was not Fala, thus, nothing Hawk ever does or achieves is ever enough. This is why Snow White is so cruel to Hawk.

Hawk actually has a part of him, that often goes unnoticed as it is usually overshadowed by Rose being Rose, but he is a constant supporter of everyone. No matter who it is and what the struggle is, he is right there to encourage them or loudly celebrate their victories. This is because he knows what it’s like to live under pressure, to be a disappointment, to be seen as a failure no matter how hard one tries. So he makes sure to always let his friends know that they are enough, that they are smart, and skilled, that even if they fail, they are good enough for their friends.

Another very important effect of Snow White’s cruelty and constant disappointment is Rose. (I’m calling it now, all of these essays will include the love interests.) Hawk is, of course, in love with Rose. I want to talk about how it wasn’t love at first sight like most fans claim, but that’s not what we’re here for. Snow White, like most grandparents in The Fairytale Land, wants Hawk to be dating. I guess it’s a keep the family line going thing. Snow White is very vocal and strict about how she wants Hawk to be with an eligible princess. Pretty, obedient, quiet, disciplined, kind of a damsel. (Frankly, I’m surprised Snow White and Rapunzel never tried setting their grandchildren up.) Rose is none of those things. Except pretty. She is loud, impulsive, chaotic, the general response to when she has an idea is to run away before you get caught in the fallout. Snow White has disapproved of Rose as a person in general since day one and she has not hidden that fact at all. Hawk is aware of his feelings for Rose, but he is also aware that those feelings are directed toward a girl who goes against everything his grandmother wants him to find in a princess. Therefore, he doesn’t confess his feelings because he knows that openly loving Rose would disappoint and even anger his grandmother and he does not want that. He doesn’t want to give her another reason to be disappointed in him.

Once again the thing that can help our hero grow in a healthy-er way is Rose. (Told ya it’d be a theme.) She has none of the pressure Hawk does and has a strong conviction that everyone should be allowed to be who they are. Her sheer self-esteem is enough to inspire those around her to be themselves and she is quick to offer encouragement and clear acts of praise no matter the situation. This allows Hawk to start seeing his actual successes, not just his faults Snow White highlights. He learns to become more confident in himself. By the second half of season 2, he even sheds the “can’t ask Rose out because what will Granny say?” attitude. He clearly breaks away from his grandmother’s unreachable expectations and starts growing as his own person.