Stereotypes In Snow White Women

Few people can grow up within today's society without knowing the tale of Snow White. From the Grimm Brothers to Disney, it has been told and retold to children throughout the ages. However, what is often overlooked are the true meanings within the story. Fairytales typically have underlying messages that can be found written between the lines, generally in terms of the key themes. Snow White discusses the themes of envy and beauty, and shows how humans' obsessions can lead to their own downfall as well as the harm of others. When focusing on the relationship between Snow White and her step-mother the Queen, it is evident that the combination of these two themes results in a power struggle in which beauty

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.

The character Snow White herself became the idealistic women type for the society to look at. Women wanted to look bright and beautiful not just in men’s, but in other woman's eyes as well. They desired the admiration from other women as well as their significant other. For instance, Snow White was so gorgeous that the huntsman “took pity on her” ( Grimm 84) and spared her life. Similarly, the dwarfs, “was delighted” to see Snow White sleeping on their bed, that they “decided not to wake her up and let her continue sleeping in her little bed” (Grimm 85), and forgave her for eating and drinking their dinner. What if the girl that the seven dwarfs encountered wasn’t Snow White but another girl that did not look as gorgeous as Snow White? Their reaction was probably different than letting a stranger sleep in their bed with no doubt. Being beautiful was beneficial: eating other people’s food without a shame, sleeping on someone’s bed without being doubted at. Possessing such beauty becomes the goal that every woman was striving for, resulting in jealousy for each

Snow White’s predominant attributes are her dark hair, big brown eyes, red lips and slim body. Her signature dress with blue top and yellow skirt underlines her graceful movements while walking and dancing. The bright red hair ribbon and the puffed sleeves match her wide-eyed look and point out her innocence. Moreover, this innocent look, gentleness and immaturity become apparent in every scene of the film. The timbre of her voice is fairly high-pitched and stressing and inflection are those of a young child. This stands in contrast to her romantic longings for the prince when they first meet. Allan finds that Snow White’s sexuality can be seen as “ambiguous because although she is seen as a child … she also has sexually longings for the prince” (39). Evidence can be found in the queen’s envious and jealous reaction when she learns of the first meeting between the prince and Snow White.

The early films followed the traditional standards of the early twentieth-century, where the female heroine needed rescuing by her true love (Yerby, Baron, Lee). Snow White being the first animated film produced by Disney helped create the template that would be used for later movies but more importantly the role that the females would play. Snow White as described by Maio is "young, virginal, and pretty, sweet natured and obedient" qualities that all Disney princess seem to posses, but are more evident among the early princesses. Domestic work is also one of the many virtues exhibited by the early heroines, in the first three movies. All three princesses are often shown cleaning in various scenes with a smile on their faces, often sing along while they perform the task at hand, depicting an image of the happy homemaker. Neither one of them ever complains or questions their status in the world, always being very compliant, depicting the proper gender roles of the time. Even though this early heroines are more assertive when compared to their prince, they only assert their authority

The movie White Chicks showcases two African American FBI agents, Kevin and Marcus Copeland, trying to protect the white heiresses Brittany and Tiffany Wilson from a possible kidnapping condition. As they accompany the girls to the Hamptons, they undertake a tough situation, where Brittany and Tiffany end up with cuts on their faces. They end up refusing to be seen at the Hamptons with the cuts on their faces, leaving two FBI agents with only one choice. Trying not to fail again, Kevin and Marcus ended up experiencing an extraordinary makeover to become Brittany and Tiffany and lead themselves to the Hamptons for a week. There are primary themes of racism and racial stereotypes throughout the film.

“Little Snow-White”, written by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm is about an old Queen, whose jealousy of beauty surpasses many morals when she discovers she is not the fairest of them all, which evidently leads the story into portraying many stereotypes and prejudices of feminism.

When the dwarfs found her later on, they untied her lace and Snow White began to breathe again. The queen found out from her "Magical mirror" that Snow White recovered and thought of another plan to rid of her. She got a combed and made it poisonous. She went out to the house once more and set out to comb Snow White's hair. Snow White fell unconscious. When the dwarfs came back and saw her they removed the comb from her hair and Snow White lived. Once again the queen asked her mirror and once again Snow White was the fairest. Finally, leading to the famous poisonous apple. Leading to Snow White's death and her Magical Mirror finally said "You, my queen are the fairest of them all." The dwarfs set up a grave above the ground. Clear so, that everyone could see and her name in gold with "princess" written on it, the placed it at the top of the mountain.

“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.

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

Society’s Influences: Gender Roles The way a woman is supposed to act all depends upon the culture in which she is raised. Depending on that culture, the women maybe a worker, or like a stereotypical women in the U.S., a homemaker. Margaret Mead did much research on this topic and came to conclusions that femininity is a cultural idea. Based on how person is brought up through a certain society, they perceive what femininity is differently. One classic movie I am going to discuss is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This movie displayed many stereotypes women have in our society, which influences the children that watch it. Let’s start with Margaret Mead. Mead was an American and was born in 1901. She graduated from Columbia University in 1929,

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

The current analysis is focused on “Snow White” by Brothers Grimm. The plot of the fairy tale revolves around the topic of envy of a stepmother to the young and beautiful Snow White. While the later version of the story popularized by the Disney’s production is bright and positive, as this version lacks the gruesome parts of the story. The later cinematic implementation of the fairy tale adds new details to the narrative by changing the illustration of the main character. Snow White in the Grimm’s fairy tale is a weak and obedient stepdaughter, while in the movie, it was decided to make her an empowered female that defends herself

After World War I, the feminist movement began to rise in popularity as more women sought after independence as they experienced previously men-held jobs during the war. They now felt that they were equal to men in ability in many areas of society so they should be treated that way in the form of civil rights. This newfound equality influenced entertainment in that heroines found their way into popular films by 1933. Heroines were able to survive on their own and thrive in difficult situations- an unexpected feat in a patriarchal society. However, these ladies were still valued for their romantic charm and beauty which led to changes in Snow White’s characteristics. Originally, Snow White was described “as red as blood”, but Disney made the change to “red as a rose”. The blood suggests a deathly feel while the rose suggests a beautiful flower (Wright 104).

Snow white is an orthodox animation in its narrative that follows the conceptions of realism. Paul Wells that “the kind of film which seems to be the most accurately represent reality is the kind of film that attempts to rid itself of obvious cinematic conventions in the prioritization of recording the people, objects, environments and events which characterise the common understating of lived experience.” The film follow this conception accordingly. The film follows the traditional 3 Act Structure with a beginning, middle, climax and resolution. In the beginning, snow white is introduced as the powerless princess who is oppressed by her evil step