Final Film Critique : Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs

Although Snow White isn’t anything remarkable with today’s computer-generated graphics, the hand-drawn film was groundbreaking at the time. The high profit from Snow White inspired Disney to relocate and expand his studio in order to facilitate all of his animation needs (Wingert). This upcoming state-of-the-art studio would open up several new opportunities for the Disney Company.

As a matter of fact, Walt Disney had a tremendous influence on mass media! He influenced the media to expand their business deals and resources. The release of his very successful movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs led the film to become the most successful motion picture! “The film became the most successful motion picture in 1938 and earned over $8 million on its initial release.” (“Walt Disney”) Likewise, the release of the film encouraged the media to use different special effects and record better frames. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the first American film to be made in color, so it influenced the media to use the Technicolor process for their upcoming movies. “Snow White, the first animated feature in America made in Technicolor, was released in February 1938…” (“Walt Disney”) In the movie there is also sound. The sound, yet again caused the sensation to make a soundtrack.

Orenstein uses the Disney princess persona and describes it as a major turning point in the perception of fairy tales. The original fairy tales described as grim and macabre, transformed as time passes and started to appeal to many more people; the dark theme turned into a happy and pleasant princess love story that Disney is now famous for. An example, stated by Orenstein is the tale of Snow White, which originally, in short, involves rape and murder. Eventually, over

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:

As happy as this stories summary seems, it is clearly not even remotely realistic in our society. Entering adolescence teens are less concerned with imaginary stories and more worried about meeting social and family expectations while trying to shift through an awkward phase and find their own identity. Duhamel refers to the original version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

Starting its movie premiered in 1937 and introduced the first princess who is Snow White kind, sweet, and generous so that people knew the story about her escaped the witch and went to the forest, then she found a refuge in the seven dwarves’ house which so dirty everywhere. So, she cleaned all rooms and cooked a good porridge. Finally, the witch sought and got her. She ate a poisoned apple which had a

Walt Disney started out by producing short animated films in 1922 and in 1928 introduced Mickey Mouse, the world most famous cartoon character shown in Figure 4 below (Olsson 1996; Kramer 2002). Following this breakthrough, Kramer (2002) found that Disney proceeded innovatively with new film technologies of sound and colour that resulted in the first successful animated feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937.

Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs is about a princess who finds love in a prince while at the same being preyed upon by her evil

Walt Disney Films are known to be as an incredible and outstanding fantasy stories producer. It created more than a hundred of films. Majority of what has been produced rely on fictional stories. The films that were released used animation to capture children’s interest and musically performed as well. Walt Disney produced fantasy stories like The Little Mermaid 1989; Sleeping Beauty 1959; Beauty and the Beast 1991; Cinderella 1950 and more. The tales most often than not were always about the life of a princess in search of her prince charming.

Snow White and the Huntsman is an adaptation of the Grimm fairy tale Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. However the focus is not Snow White and her interaction with the seven dwarfs, much like the popular Disney portrayal of the fairytale that viewers have come to know. This version of the fairytale is dark and sinister, placing an emphasis on the evil Queen’s agenda and the Huntsman who is sent to hunt down Snow White. This new action-packed spin on the fairytale includes large battles and fight scenes, while keeping many elements from the original tale like the poison apple and “mirror, mirror on the wall”. The film is directed by Rupert Sanders and features a star-studded cast that includes, Academy

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

Despite gender, living conditions or cultural backgrounds most people grow up reading or hearing stories of heroism and damsel in distress scenarios. Anne Sexton turns stereotypes on their head in her satirical poems of classic fairy tales, including Snow White and The Seven Dwarves and Cinderella. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves tells the tale of a young princess with hair as black as coal and skin as pale as snow, whose life is thrown into turmoil at the hands of her overbearing stepmother. Cinderella tells the story of a young girl who she spends her life is yearning for the prince’s ball, and similar to Snow White, Cinderella’s stepmother is influencing her life, however she is a positive character throughout the story. This sheds light on the stepmother in Snow White’s piece as despite the fact that Snow White’s stepmother clearly does inherently evil things, a re-reading demands a re-examination of why. It is throughout these tales’ where stepmothers are only trying to protect their children from the world around them, however in Snow White an outside motive, the beauty provided by the mirror and the pride manifested by poison, creates a barrier between the queen and her stepdaughter, thus giving her the title “Evil”.

Fairy tales such as Snow White, have been rewritten and interpreted in many different stories throughout a vast amount of years. Two stories that retold the tale of Snow White were “Little Snow White”, Written by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm and Snow White and The Huntsman, directed by Rupert Sandors. The brothers Grimm wrote the “Little Snow White” in 1812 and explained the story of Snow White as a young child who was targeted to be killed by a jealous queen and hide away in a house of 7 dwarfs. In their home, Snow White was constantly tricked by the evil queen and killed then brought back to life by the 7 dwarfs. The story of Snow White and the Huntsman was directed in a much darker direction than the brother’s Grimm version where survival was sought for both the huntsman and Snow White. Similarities arose in both versions where Snow White had to survive a terrible ordeal that she is being placed in from being vulnerable to tricks from the queen in the brothers grimm version to surviving from her stepmother but also from the environment she encounters conflict in the Snow White and the Huntsman movie. The themes of both versions contrast each other since Snow White beauty is able to save her from different situations in ‘Little Snow White”, however, the queens obsession on being young and beautiful ultimately led to her downfall in Snow White and the Huntsman.

In the 1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the tale revolutionized and began a Golden Age of animation. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the very first full length animated motion picture as well as the first film to release a motion-picture soundtrack recording in 1944 by the Disney studio. (Backlots) Also, “it was the first to employ the use of Technicolor, and features the first large-scale use of the multiplane camera which became a signature at Disney for decades”. (Backlots)

Walt Disney had to make changes in the details and the plot of the original Snow White tale published by the German Grimm Brothers in Grimms’ Fairy Tales to fit American society’s interests. These interests during 1930s America that influenced Disney’s decision to change the tale included: the changing role of women in society, the people’s concept of romance, and popular political systems.