Sexism In Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs

The Snow Child is one such story by Carter, where connotations seen in fairytales such as ‘Sleeping Beauty’ and ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ are in evidence and are fused together accompanied by the emergence of feminism to the foreground

Children fairy tales are some of the first books we’re introduced to growing up. Typically, the princess is saved by the heroic prince and they lived “happily ever after”. Some may think our life should be like a fairy tales while others don’t. These tales created gender roles in which appeared to be very important. In the Grimm Brothers fairy tale, “Hansel and Gretel”, the parents leave the children in the forest to starve due to not having enough money to buy food in order to sustain life. The children later find a house deep in the woods where an old, evil witch lures them in and tried to eat Hansel and Gretel. They eventually kill the witch and find their way home to their father with no stepmother to be found as she has died while the children were away. In the fairy tale, “Hansel and Gretel” gender and feminist criticism are highlighted throughout the tale by defining characteristics, consequences from their actions, and societal roles and expectations that were both prominent in German history and modern society.

As a child, I was told fairytales such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs every night before I went to sleep. Fairytales are an adventurous way to expand a child’s imagination and open their eyes to experience a new perspective. Modernizations of fairytales typically relate to a specific audience, such as adolescence, and put a contemporary spin on the old-aged tale. Instead of using whimsical themes heavily centered in nature, the contemporary poems connect with the reader in a more realistic everyday scenario. Also, many modernizations are written in poetic form to help reconstruct a flow in the piece and to develop or sometimes completely change the meaning from that of the original fairytale. Comparing Grimm’s Fairytale Snow White

Feminism and gender roles play a huge role in our everyday lives, even if you do not quite notice right away. It can be anything from men having more power than women in, work areas, or political equality. It can be seen in stories, movies even newspaper articles to this day. One story in particular is Cinderella by the Grimm Brothers (1857). This essay will provide an in-depth look of feminism and how it is seen in the story such as; not being able to choose your own husband in certain situations, to women have to wear tight clothing, and the most obvious women not having the power men do.

Fairy tales are often said to be an enchanting way to introducing children to the inherit sorrows one experience in the world as they grow older. The classic fairy tale Snow White presents enchanting characters that are the representation of archetypical characters. In Sandra’s M. Gilbert’s and Susan Gubar’s essay “Snow White and Her Wicked Stepmother” the author’s analysis of the classic story of Snow white. The most captivating argument within this story is that it foreshadows the underline issues that come with a young girls shift to womanhood. The authors point to key moments in the story that are reminiscent of the standards placed on women in society. The rivalry that goes on between the wicked mother and the beautiful naïve daughters and shown to reflect

When a baby is born they are given a color. Not the color of their skin, but a color for their gender. Pink is for girls and blue is for boys. Women are chosen with pink colors because the advertisers want to show women as being delicate and fragile. Men can have different colors of red, blue, green, yellow, and purple, but not pink. Pink is shown as being fragile and feminine and not strong and masculine. When you look into the different sections in a store you see that the girls have unicorns, candy, princesses, dolls, and tiaras and that the boys section have trucks, cars, tools, and mud. Gender stereotypes make a border for people not to express themselves to the fullest and their emotions. As a young child seeing this type of stereotyping can put a negative impact on them. For example, in children’s books the good people are always princesses and are beautiful gets rescued by the prince who often is handsome. The bad people are portrayed as witches, evil stepmothers and daughter and trolls and unattractive. This sets up an idea that if you’re not attractive than you must be a bad person. This is a wrong idea to project on young children’s minds. Another example is that in the 30’s, Disney released a movie called Snow White. The average women in the 30’s was a size 8, but in Snow White she was a double 00.(JagJammer21, YouTube) A lot of children and adolescents in America watch television so much in their lifetime, that can mimic in their minds that what they see

“Oh, fairytales, where desperate, naïve girls sacrifice everything for their so-called prince charming”. The realities of these childhood classics are controversial, sexist, and dark, yet, it’s also adored by millions of young girls around the world. Cinderella, an often sugar-coated story, is a great example on how sexism and gender stereotypes prevail in literature. The Grimm Brothers touch on a variety of devices, from characterization to symbolism, all revealing the inequality in not only fictional literature but our real-life society as well. A feminist literary critic will interpret these controversial themes and apply their beliefs of equal rights into the study of the Grimm Brother’s Cinderella.

Three plays, five movies, and two television shows. The story of Peter Pan has lived on for over one hundred years, dating back to the original play in 1906. Filled with mythical fairies, mermaids, and pirates, J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan is a beloved story centering around the adventures of Peter Pan, and the Darling Children. Wendy Darling, along with her two brothers fly to the island of Neverland, a place that had lived in their imagination for years, but the true story is unbenounced to most everyone who has read the text or seen the movie. How could such an innocent story have such a dark background?

Trina Schart Hyman reiterates this point in her analysis of story, particularly in examining the Queen, where the ?only power was her beauty. She didn?t think about [Snow White] as a person. She hated only what Snow White symbolized, which was youth and the power and beauty of youth? (Haase, 2003).

distracted. Despite the fact that she nearly dies, Snow White just can’t resist what the old lady brings. The stereotype that women are materialistic and will do whatever it takes to receive material goods is displayed here. In spite of the fact that she is still a child, Snow White should know better than to just open doors to strangers and take whatever they give her. This is obviously due to the time Snow White was written in, when girls and their intelligence were viewed as lesser than boys.

The older mentality for the female was that their purity on the inside reflected their countenance on the outside. Thus, Snow White, being the fairest, was also the purest of them all. The plot relies heavily on the queen trying to remove Snow White. Yet, even though this is important to the queen, to the readers there is still the question of why. Why was it so important for the queen to be the fairest of them all when she had the highest status for a woman? The Grimm Brothers claim it was her envious heart at work, that her vanity filled every want and whim she had. They Portray her as Aphrodite, beautiful and fair for sure, but ready to destroy any girl who might take her place.

Once again Snow White is saved not by her actions or words, but by her looks alone.

Many children know the classic 1937 Disney movie, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, but the tale is much different from the Brothers Grimm version, “Snow White”. Before this tale was modified by Disney, it was much darker. This story, and many other stories were also much more grim before Disney changed them. In interpretations of Walt Disney’s “Snow White” and the Grimm brothers “Snow White”, there are definitive comparisons that can be made, the history behind the Grimm brothers contribute to the story as a whole, and children and society reacted in different ways to the tale. The Disney tale and the Grimm brothers tale differentiate in multiple different areas.

Snow White is a fairy-tale known by many generations; it is a beloved Disney movie, and a princess favoured by many kids. But did you know the fairy-tale was made to teach young children, especially little girls, their duties in life? It also values beauty over knowledge, portrays women to be naive and incompetent, and assumes that women cannot understand anything other than common household chores. Throughout this criticism, I will be using the feminist lens to analyze the fairy-tale, Snow White, through the perspective of a feminist.

“Through the cheerful music, funny characters, and happy ending, the character of Snow White starts the Disney trend of a domestic woman who becomes a damsel-in-distress relying on a prince to come and save her” (Barber, 2015). The original 1812 tale of Little Snow White by the Brothers Grimm portrays Snow White as a small, naive, self centered little girl who can’t seem to listen to anything she is told, and who has to rely a prince she doesn’t even know to wake her up from the dead. Two hundred years later, in the 2012 movie version Snow White and the Huntsman, the director Rupert Sanders revisits the original tale of Snow White, but decides to change it up a bit. In this version of the tale, Snow White is a strong, independent young woman who seems to be able to do anything she decides to do. In Sander’s version, Snow White not only conquers the cruel queen, but she conquers the labels society often places on women. Unlike the Grimms Brothers, Sanders develops his Snow White's character in a way that fits with women’s empowerment that the current generation now fights for everyday.