One quote people worldwide probably heard of is “Magic Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all”. In the 1930s, cinema was not one of the most viewed things, many people were being somewhat affected by World War II. During an extremely catastrophic time, Walt Disney decided to create “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, a movie filled with imagination that formed an incredible legacy. This movie was one of the earliest animated films at the time, and after a tremendous critical success, can still be seen among our youth. It is a classic Oscar nominated film that should be watched by children, teenagers and young adults. The fascinating plot captured the audience since the beginning. An evil queen, who aspired to be the most beautiful woman in her kingdom, had a magic mirror to which she asked if there was someone more beautiful than her. When the mirror responded that the young Princess Snow White was infinitely more beautiful, the queen was enraged, and ordered a hunter to take the girl to the forest and kill her. The hunter, taking pity on Snow White, left her and gave her instructions to run as fast as she could. As the wicked queen demanded that the girl's heart be brought to him, to show that he indeed fulfilled the order, the hunter killed a deer and teared out the heart, and presented it to the queen as if it were Snow White's.
Meanwhile, Snow White takes refuge in a small house, property of seven charming dwarfs that welcome her affectionately. But the queen
Cinderella has changed so little over time that it seems we’re still in the 1700’s listening to Charles Perrault. And yet it remains of the most popular fairy tales read to children. The role of women continue to be either the cruel, evil one or the good, docile one while the prince continues to be the saving grace of the helpless girl. The skeleton hasn’t changed much as well. A damsel in distress, saved by a knight in shining armor, who falls in love with her and they live happily ever after. Does this sound familiar? This sentence might as well be a fairy tale. We’ve seen this over and over in Cinderella, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White.
However, as those who are familiar with the story know, this was not the end of Snow White. When the Queen finds out Snow White escapes death from the huntsman and ends up living with seven dwarfs, she still considered Snow White a
The old version of Snow White contains dark and violent stories and harsh elements that were not proper for kids. However, the Snow White that is familiar today is very friendly and well adapted for children. The original story of Snow White is written by the Grimm Brothers in the 19th century at German. In several of the Grimms’ stories, it contains various odd scenes and violent parts. According to the Disney version of Snow White the queen tells the huntsmen to bring the heart of Snow in order to check whether she is dead or not. However, in the Grimm version of Snow White, the queen, which is the witch, sells a corset to Snow and makes her try on the corset and squeeze her by tightening it. Also, in the original version, it is not the prince’s
Though this could be explained away by luck or coincidence seems magical since most cannot simply request a child possess specific features. Then when the dear child is seven years old she begins to outshine the beauty of her stepmother who employs a hunter to kill the child. This huntsman though reluctant almost kills the young girl until she speaks; overcome by her beauty and innocence the huntsman cannot kill her and lets her escape (84). This again could be explained away as him simply having a soft spot for the beautiful child. Next she meets the seven dwarfs whose house she invades, whose food she steals, and whose beds she uninvited sleeps in, yet after seeing her face they invite to live with and by supported by them in exchange for some simple housework (85). Finally, after being poisoned by an apple and lane to rest in a glass coffin, Snow White is spotted by a traveling prince who is so enchanted by her beauty that he convinces the dwarfs to let him take her with him so that he might look upon her face always. And when the apple is jostled from her throat he professes his love to a girl he has only ever seen (89). Not only is her birth enchanted but her beauty appears to be as well. The older she gets the more people follow and obey her simply by looking at her. She enchants them. Her beauty is so magical that she, maybe unintentionally, controls the actions of those around her. This means that she not only saves herself from the
Everyone loves a good fairytale, and nothing is quite as magical and heartwarming as a Disney fairytale. The themes of love, comedy, and morality deem them as more than just little kids' stories, but suitable and entertaining tales for the entire family. This is known by a majority of the stories' readers. However, what one may not be so familiar with is the origin of these tales. Where did the stories of Cinderella, Ariel, and Rapunzel come from? The Disney writers certainly did not create them themselves. The differences in the originals will shock anyone familiar with Disney. And what about Snow White? There are differences between the original Brothers Grimm version of the ebony-haired, white-skinned princess and the Disney movie, believe it or not. Some major differences between both versions are the multiple ways the evil queen tries murdering her stepdaughter, the cause of Snow White's revival, as well as how the evil queen died. Why the story was altered is obvious:
Snow White starts off with a lonely queen who sat sewing by her window one mid-winter night. She pricked her finger and seeing the blood so red made her wish for a child who has cheeks as red as blood, her
The dwarves are amazed by the girl’s beauty and allow her to stay with them forever as long as she handles all the household chores. Snow White happily obliges and begins to take care of the dwarves. Unfortunately, the evil step-mother gets word of Snow White’s death being a fraud and makes three attempts to trick and fool the princess. On the third attempt, the old hag is successful and upon biting in to a deliciously plump red apple sends Snow White tumbling to the ground. The seven dwarves decide Snow White is to captivating to be buried underground so they decided to encase her in glass and take turns guarding her remains. One day a handsome prince happens to come across the beautiful dead princess and begs the dwarves to let him purchase her. Reluctantly, the dwarves give the prince Snow White and a bump on the transport home causes the poisonous apple to fall out of her mouth and the princess magically comes back to life. The prince marries Snow White, and the evil step mother is forced to dance in hot-iron boots until she dies.
Snow White is the head in charge who runs a town called Fabletown. She still needs to run things by the Mayor but overall, she is the face of Fabletown. Others come to her with their problems in hopes of a solution. Contrary to the Snow White we know from the original fairytales where Snow White is not in charge of anything and no one comes to her for solutions. Instead, she has the seven dwarfs looking out for her. For example, when the queen tried to kill her they said, "It must have been the queen who tried to kill you, take care, and do not let anyone in again” (Germany, Jacob, and Wilhelm Grimm). This shows pity on the dwarf’s behalf because they knew she was unable to care for herself. However, in Fables, Snow White is now the one looking out for others. For example, Beauty and the Beast come to Snow White for help with their marriage. Although, Snow White was not able to give them a solution, she was now on the opposite end of the table unlike the young and naïve Snow from the fairytale who sought others for her problems.
Everyone knows that when the queen discovers that Snow White’s beauty is greater than hers, she asks the huntsman to kill her. Finally, we all know that the dwarves take care of her until her death, at which point the prince comes to the rescue and awakens her with a kiss. These are all elements of the story that we come to expect when we hear the name Snow White.
Starting its movie premiered in 1937 and introduced the first princess who is Snow White kind, sweet, kind and generous so that people know the story about her escaped the witch and went to the forest, then she found a refuge in the seven
The story of “Snow White” depicts what a beautiful girl has to endure from her evil stepmother, whose vanity and cruelty know no boundaries, is there more to the story though? The Brothers Grimm give us clues here and there, about how they both have similarities. Little by little, Snow White’s character can be seen changing from the pure character at the beginning of the story, to someone that if you look close resembles the evil Queen by the end of the story. Snow White’s and the evil stepmother both share some common traits such as vanity, envy, and at times no remorse among others; in which Snow White can be compared to the Queen.
Clarification of her beauty is there to aid the reader in understanding that she is good and valuable. Furthermore, her hair not only symbolizes beauty but fertility and sexuality; proving that she is an object. Once she loses her hair, it is evident that she also loses what makes her of value to men, which in this case is the innocence of her untouched beauty or her virginity (pg. 35). In addition, the story “Little Snow-White,” presents an initial description about Snow-white centered around her beauty: “as white as snow, and as red as blood, and her hair was as black as ebony” (pg. 124). Because of this description, the reader defines Snow-white’s importance with the base of her pure white skin, passionate red lips, and seductive black hair. These three characteristics show the value of Snow-White to the prince, who begs the dwarfs for her coffin. While persuading the dwarfs to give over Snow-white, he attempts to trade objects to compensate the dwarfs (pg. 130). To young women, values defined in fairy tales depict a horrid, demeaning view of
Over the years, Snow White’s story has been told in numerous different versions then its original version in 1812 by the Grimm Brothers. The main basis of the story has remained the same. Only a few minor tweaks to the story have changed. The three versions of the story that are going to be analyzed are the original story “Little Snow White” by the Brothers Grimm, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” by Disney, and “Mirror, Mirror” by Disney also. They each were created in very different times and the original story has changed over the years to appeal to the audience of that time. No matter how many versions there are Snow White is considered, one of the most cherished fairy tales of all time. They each use different methods to get their
Written in the stories of Snow White, Snow runs away from her stepmother to avoid being killed from her stepmother's hatred of snow's beauty. The brother grimm version focuses mostly on Snow White's survival from her stepmother's tricks to kill her. The brothers grimm makes it seem that the only problem that snow white is facing is her stepmother. This is seen when the version is translated to “So she kept house for them. Every morning they went into the mountains looking for ore and gold, and in the evening when they came back home their meal had to be ready.” This shows how her life isn’t in danger when she isn’t in a situation brought by the queen. ( D. L. Ashliman) Similarly, Snow White and Huntsman also includes Snow white eluding her capture by the queen but brings Snow White in different situations presented to her that arises many other conflicts
If the mirror is interpreted as the symbol of a husband, it might explain the literal absence of the King in the story (Barzilai, 1990). It is possible that the Queen is fighting for the attention of her husband. The growth of Snow White to become a more beautiful female than her mother means the end of an era for the Queen. She is no longer a youthful lady, but a mother of a grown up daughter. It is very common in patriarchal societies to view woman as ‘mothers’ after a certain age. Giving birth resonates with a distorted body image. Mothers carry the marks of birth giving and breastfeeding on their bodies. They transform from a state of seductiveness to a mother. Their role is reduced to a domestic caretaker for the children. It represents