Category: Snow White

When examining Snow White from a Post-colonial perspective it becomes clear that the 7 dwarves are like European settlers and Snow White is a native. This becomes clearer each time Snow white gets tricked by her stepmother. Each time they come home and find her laying there almost dead they saver her but at the same time they also just tell her the same thing every time. They tell her to not let anyone in and not to trust anyone. They are totally fine with leaving her alone the next day and really have no concern for her. Even after each time, her mom tricks her and she keeps falling for it and isn’t learning they have the same response and don’t do anything about it. They fail to care for her and they expect her to do everything for them. This would imply that the dwarves are settlers and are just using her and doing the minimal that they can. She has to do all the work while they go explore.

Another good example of this is when Snow White actually dies from the poisoned apple the 7 dwarves put her in a glass coffin which is quite disrespectful and they are almost showing her off in away. This would imply that she really didn’t have much meaning to them and that they did not care all that much for her. They had a sense of she was just their housekeeper and was by chance the most fiar.

Near the end of the fairy tale, it is almost as the dwarves suddenly start to care for Snow White. This change of attitude seems to happen quite quickly as all of a sudden they refuse to sell her coffin for all the gold in the world to the prince. This is very odd because the prince sees her and within a few seconds claims that she is the love of his life and can not live without seeing her and promises to take care of her. It is not made clear if the dwarves gave her away because they had no use for her anymore or if it was just because they felt pity. After they went through so much effort to keep her is seems that just pity wouldn’t be a good enough reason to give her away.

When looking at this great tale from a Post-colonial perspective it could be seen that snow white is just a pretty, attractive object that is taken advantage of and passed around. It could also be warning girls about vanity and to be careful to not be taken advantage of.

Walt Disney’s first animated princess classic, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is one of the most recognizable and adored Disney films. Initially, the film appears to be merely the tale of a young woman who is ordered to be killed due to her extreme beauty. Once the huntsman attempts to complete his task, he is overcome by her appearance and is unable to terminate the life of such a beautiful young woman. Alone, Snow White runs off into the forest where she makes friends, lives with dwarfs and then is eventually saved by a prince. On the surface, the basic plot line seems to reinforce negative messages regarding the role of women; yet focusing on her relationship with the animals reveals more depth to the piece. In looking at her interactions with the creatures, Snow White clearly exemplifies many characteristics of an influential woman of the late 1930s.

In the film, the princess is closest to the friendly and approachable animals. These critters aid and follow Snow White all around the film and are the only lively characters that do their job and are also the ones always stay by her side. The deer, birds, turtles, and other forest friends consistently advocate for the princess while working for betterment of her situation. They are soft, fluffy, approachable, and hardworking, sharing many of Snow White’s characteristics. These animals are very timid and shy and initially untrusting when meeting strangers; however, once they warm up to an individual they are playful, sweet, and loyal. This is clearly seen with the seven dwarfs. When the animals first come in contact with them they are fearful and very protective of their princess. However, over time, they warm up to the little men and all live harmoniously. Snow White is similar to these creatures in that she too is initially wary of strangers but her pitfall is her trusting and kind hearted nature. This is clearly seen in the opening scenes of the work when she is singing and exuding joy while she completes her outdoor tasks. When she hears or sees the strange man (the prince) nearing, she initially hides and then cautiously warms up to the idea of interacting with him.

While Snow White may come across as a passive, quiet woman who allows men to run her life, she also possesses many qualities that make her a strong individual who is capable of self-determination. Snow White is abandoned in the woods and forced to fight for her survival. Unable to return to civilization for fear of losing her life, the princess knows she must be resourceful and instantly begins to advocate for herself. She finds the dwarfs’ cottage and uses her domestic skills to help the men and establish a refuge site. Immediately, she concludes that her skills are needed and would be helpful in their home and acts. The princess explores the home, organizes their belongings, and contributes her all. She is a fighter who knows she must act to achieve success. These attributes are further demonstrated through the presence of the animals in the piece.

The deer in the work have soft, warm eyes that are similar in shape to the princess’s. They move gracefully through the forest and walk with almost a bounce in their steps. The same characteristics are seen in Snow White as she elegantly floats across the land while walking, has beautiful, welcoming facial features, and is seen as a friendly creature. The birds have a high pitched chip that mirrors the tone of Snow White’s voice, and the miscellaneous other animals share her naivety in many situations, especially in regard to uncomfortable or foreign circumstances. This is clearly seen in the way the animals initially approach the cottage. Like Snow White, they are timid and slightly hesitant to enter the building. Once inside, the group shares confusion as they attempt to discover the inhabitants of the small, dirty home.

Snow White is kind, compassionate, and works to protect and take care of the dwarfs. She serves as an efficacious embodiment who relishes her moments in spite of any situation. This is seen in one of the most memorable and popular scenes from the film when Snow White is seen cleaning the cottage with the assistance of the animals. In this moment, she is doing undesirable and frustrating work in the eyes of many viewers, yet makes light of the situation by finding the silver lining in her situation. She understands her complete rejection from the kingdom and betters her position by establishing a role within the cottage. With the animals’ assistance, she keeps the mood light and quickly yet efficiently finishes all the household chores. This is important as it signifies that Snow White refuses to become a victim to her situation. Yes, she was almost murdered and forced to leave her life behind, but she refuses to let her traumatic experiences define her and instead monopolizes the situation to build relationships and improve her situation. She instantly decides to take matters into her own hands and create a future for herself.

The certainty that Snow White accomplishes housekeeping to begin with seems difficult as she is operating predominantly in a personal space. Although, with all things considered doing chores was awfully usual for women of that time, she clearly is perceived and intertwined with her occupation. Yes, she primarily takes care of traditional tasks but she has a self-starting attitude and work ethic that is admirable and progressive in nature. The animals also share her enthusiasm for household work and share her work ethic. Their eyes impersonate those of the princess and one can simply extract a connection between the two groups. The animals share in her love and compassion for the dwarfs and also advocate for the betterment of the princess’ situation when the evil queen attempts to kill the young woman. The princess is immensely competent and her household capacities are overall astounding; Snow White will profitably lead and generate a positive world.

Due to the era in which the film was made, many of the ideas in this piece may be seen as repressive or in support of a male-dominated society (Leuke, 2014). However, one must also consider that the evil queen is a woman and that she is in a position of ultimate power. Women typically did not hold positions of power in the public sphere and this presence is remarkable, despite the negative connotations associated, and makes a statement about how women in fact can hold positions of power. Also, in the 1930s, Snow White’s positive, hardworking spirit would have been seen as extremely inspirational and even somewhat progressive for this period of time. She picks herself up when times get tough and makes the best of her personal situation. Her perseverance and willingness to work to find a place for survival make her admirable and strong. Snow White, the tale of a beautiful and kind hearted princess may at first appear to be a dated and passive representation of women. Though, upon closer observation, gradual inclinations may simply be originated from the princess’s portrayal. Rebecca-Anne C. Do Rozario constructs this examination stating, “Behind the poor costume, Snow White is a 1920’s/30’s celebrity with a generic woman haircut, posy mouth, and a loud whistle She matures in the Depression and is happy to pitch in with the working class dwarves in a time of high unemployment and poverty until she is found once again by her prince,” (38) (Do Rozario, 2004). The flapper was the new breed of young Western women in their roaring 20’s who was on the innovative fashion that seized a heretic youth, and provoked to propel gender role stereotypes through fearless outfit choices and common communal manners. The certainty that the visible attributes of Snow White bear a resemblance to the modern women of this time gives the feeling of development and continuous change. Yes, she still fills many of the stereotypical attributes of repressed women, but she also is a clear and important representation of strength and independence. Her hardworking attitude, self-starting drive, and willingness to see the best in any situation resemble that of a woman attempting to navigate and survive the Great Depression. Because Snow White possesses all of these characteristics it easily may be concluded that she in fact advocates for gender equality and freedom as she is a cutting edge representation of a woman of her time.

In both the film and the novel, the famous words are said “skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, hair as black as ebony” this line has a lot more to it than just explaining what snow-white looks like. Although, there are little difference between the meaning in the novel and the film. In the novel the white represents purity, the red represents life and adventure and the black represents death. However, in the film the white represents snow white being a young woman, the red represents her growth of maturity all throughout the film and the black is when she had experienced death.

Many people think that the seven dwarfs represent the seven deadly sins however, each dwarf’s name represents the personality of mankind. However, when watching the Disney film of snow white there have been moments in the film that show the seven deadly sins most of which either evolve the evil queen or it is the evil queen herself. The first deadly sin that is shown in the film is the magic mirror, the mirror directs pride or vanity towards the queen. The second sin is lust/extravagance this is also towards the queen as she is royalty and is well presented in the film. The next two sins are very much aimed towards the queen these are heavily shown not just in the film but in the novel as well. These are greed and envy. The queen very much shown the amount of power that she wants all throughout the film and the novel. At the start of both the film and novel it starlight away shows the audience the amount of envy she has towards snow white and how much she wishes to be like her. The last three sins are represented by the dwarfs, the first one reparented in sloth or sadness. In both the film the audience sees the dwarfs mourn over snow white and in the novel, it says “they wept for three whole days”. This very much represents the sloth.

The next is wrath, this is where the film and the novel have the same ending but the plot is different. As in the novel the queen is invited to snow white’s wedding and she attends they end up putting iron slippers on the evil queen feet and she ends up dancing to death, however, in the film all the dwarfs and the wild animals end up chasing the queen up a mountain the queen then ends up falling to her death.

Recreated by Disney in 1938, the original novel by Jacob Grimm was written in 1812 titled ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’. Both the novel and the film are quite similar. Snow White looks the same in the novel as the film, however the way in which the seven deadly sins are portrayed is quite different, in that the novel it says that the Seven Dwarfs represent each sin, but most of the dwarfs actually represent different personality traits. Whereas In the movie the sins revolve more around the Evil Queen. Another key event that changes is how the prince meets Snow White. Throughout the film, there were many references to the original novel. There are three key events which happen in the novel that were changed in the film. The most well-known scene in Snow White is the magic mirror scene however, this one of the scenes that is different in both novel and film. The second scene which changed is the number of times the queen tries to kill Snow White, in the novel, the queen attempts to kill Snow white more than once however in the film, it shows the queen killing Snow White once.

One interpretation of these texts is that the seven dwarfs represent the seven deadly sins, however each dwarf’s name actually represents different personality traits of mankind, with only Happy and Grumpy representing two of the deadly sins. This is different to the Disney film as there are moments where the seven deadly sins revolve mostly around the Evil Queen or are portrayed by the Evil Queen herself. The first deadly sin shown in the film is the magic mirror. The mirror symbolises the pride or vanity of the queen. The second sin is lust/extravagance this is also symbolised by the queen as she is royalty. “framed is thy beauty, Majesty.” The next two sins are very much represented by queen these are greed and envy which are heavily shown, not just in the film, but in the novel as well. The queen very much demonstrates the amount of power that she wants all throughout the film and the novel. At the start of both the text the audience is immediately shown audience the envy she feels towards Snow White and how much she wishes to look like her. The last three sins are represented by the dwarfs, the first one represented through sadness. In the film the audience sees the dwarfs mourn over Snow White and in the novel, it says “they wept for three whole days”. This very much represents the sadness. Wrath, this is where the film and the novel have the same ending but the plot is different. As in the novel the queen is invited to Snow White’s wedding and she attends they end up putting iron slippers on the evil queens’ feet and she ends up dancing to death, however, in the film all the dwarfs and the wild animals end up chasing the queen up a mountain the queen then ends up falling to her death. The last sin is Gluttony however, these are completely different to each other. As in the original tale of Snow White, the queen wants to eat Snow White’s heart. This is the closest thing to gluttony within the novel, however the closest example of Gluttony within the film is when the seven dwarfs are sitting at the table eating.

In the film Snow White sees the prince at the very start of the film. The prince also sees Snow White but they don’t talk to each other as White runs away. At the end of the film when Snow White is laying in the coffin the prince appears this is the second time the audience sees him. In the novel it only tells the audience about seeing the prince once and this is at the end, as he isn’t important until the end of the novel. When the prince sees White for the first time in the novel he says to the dwarfs “let me have the coffin, and I’ll pay you whatever you want.” But the dwarfs decline, the prince then replies with “then give it to me as a gift. For I can’t go on living without being able to see Snow White. I’ll honour her and cherish her as my dearly beloved.” However, in the film the prince gives Snow White a kiss which is the most well-known cure in the land of fairy tales as a kiss from true love will always awaken or bring back the dead.

There are three main symbols that are well-known in Snow White is the description of White, the mirror and the poisoned apple.

In both texts, the famous words that describe Snow White say “skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, hair as black as ebony” this line has a lot more to it than just explaining what Snow White looks like. There are little differences between the meaning of the novel and the film. In the novel the white represents Snow White’s purity, the red represents the life and adventure that she is about to face and the black represents death that she is going to experience. However, in the film the white represents Snow White being a young woman, the red represents her growth of maturity not just at the start of the film but also all throughout the film and the black is when she experienced death.

However, in the novel they continue to use quote. “white and snow, red as blood, black as ebony wood! This time the dwarfs cannot wake you up!” this was used when the evil queen had disguised herself has an “ugly hag” and gave Snow White a poisoned apple.

There are many different symbols when it comes to the magic mirror however, the mirror is always meant to tell the truth. One of the biggest situations in both the texts was when the evil queen would ask the mirror “who in this realm is the fairest of all?” the mirror would always reply with “you my queen, may have a beauty quite rare, but Snow White is a thousand times more fair.” This caused the queen to get quite jealous. However, the role of the magic mirror was to represent what the person standing in front of the mirror sees in themselves and also how others see them. Even though in the novel it doesn’t give a clear description of what the mirror looks like. The film dose it shows a floating mask and is quite dark, it also shows smoke around it. This would be how they reascents the queen as a dark and dangers person

The plot point where the evil queen offers Snow White an apple is the scene that is shown in both the novel and the film. There are a few differences such as the script is slightly written different however, the symbolism behind the poisoned apple is the same. It shows more of a religious symbol as the apple refers to a story of Adam and Eve. Snow White is Eve and she is tempted by the “forbidden fruit” or the apple in Snow White. Eve was told not to accept the fruit and in a similar way Snow White was told not to accept anything from strangers. For both of them it didn’t end well as Eve ended up taking the fruit and it had resulted in death and the same happened when Snow White took the apple.

All throughout the novel and the film the evil queen tries to kill Snow White because Snow White is the fairest of the land. In the novel the evil queen attempts to kill Snow White three times. In novels and films, they normally will have three events that will happen this is to affect the audience and emphasize on the idea.

The first attempt that queen does is by getting a huntsman to kill Snow White however, the huntsman ends up letting Snow White go. This attempt happens in both the novel and the film, without this part of the story Snow White would never find the seven dwarfs and it would be a very short story

The year that the Grimm brothers Snow White was created and released kids weren’t as ‘protected’ this is why the novel has more scenes where the queen is trying to kill snow white. Even when it comes to the death of the evil queen it is quite harsh. The film only has two scenes where the queen attempts to kill Snow White and both of these have been sensed for the younger audience so that it doesn’t show too much violence. Even the death of the evil queen has been sensed. All that the audience sees is the queen just fall off the cliff and a boulder follow, it then shows the dwarfs and two vultures, the audience never actually sees the queen.

The movie made by Disney, Snow white and the Seven Dwarfs, the representation of the characters change lots over the time to suit the full audience being shown to.

Visual codes have been used differently to depict the dwarfs over each of the movies, snow white and the seven dwarfs and snow white mirror, mirror. Firstly, in both of the movies the costumes are used to show the audience what type of Character the dwarfs are. Although one of the versions shows the dwarfs wearing colourful clothing, in ‘Mirror, Mirror’, the dwarfs are introduced wearing ragged type clothing. The dwarfs don’t change much untill the end when they still have the same clothing but cleaner and have gold and coins etc. Secondly, the Props used to depict the dwarfs of each version are different according to the fold law of time, in Snow white and the seven dwarfs, the dwarfs are seen with dimonds, rubys and some deer to help push the cart with pickaxe’s. these icons are associated with dwarfs and miners in the 1930’s and 1940’s further enhancing the stereotype of mining dwarfs. In Mirror, Mirror Snow white, the dwarfs are shows with different clothing showing what they did in the past. The dwarfs also have shoes that can extend during the start of the movie to show them taller and bigger during the movie, encouraging viwers to associate the dwarfs as bandit robbers as they they managed to attack and beat up the prince with out a problem. Lastly, lighting effects used are dissimilar in each of the films. In the seven dwarfs the ‘dwarfs’ are usually shown with loads of light to show that they are good and that they mean something and they would all be in the middle of the shot as it is animated film. The animators needed to ensure that the audience could see all the things that was happening on the screen and did many lighting effects and had not ‘yet’ been invented. Mirror, Mirror uses changes in lighting not so effectively bringing it so everyone could see what is going on and not really increase tension to the further plot. The Dwarfs in Mirror, Mirror are shown ether in a black dark area or light area with it lit up or not so lit up. Overall, I much prefer the way visual codes are used to encourage viewers to see the dwarfs as small people that have a good fight like a bandit in the modern version of that tale.

Sound codes have been used in Distinct ways to enhance the viewer’s experience. Snow white and the seven dwarfs used sound to underscore the entire movie though it was a technique for that time, however snow white ‘Mirror, Mirror’ uses silence for most of it. Firstly, Snow white and the seven dwarfs uses a dull symphonic orchestra to provide the music and sound effects for the movie with musical playment for the dwarfs. The scoring is typical of music for film in the 1930’s and is very ‘Classical’ in its sound. Music is played under the script for the entire movie giving it happyness and relief to match the plot however it is very obivous at all times in the movie. But in Mirror, Mirror the music is digital, using scoring with electronic instruments and silences are used lots of times to create suspense in the movie. The music in Mirror, Mirror is far more understated and unobtrusive, which more keeping with music from modern movies. Sound effects are produced by a traditional instrumental foley artist. In the movie Mirror, Mirror the sound effects are not frequently but are more Subtle and includes the sounds of the door being bashed down even though they had 2 key’s. I Enjoy the Symphonic music, I much prefer the way how sound was used with Mirror, Mirror to make the movie Enhanced and provide restrained detail to the dwarfs characters.

The language features used in both fillms contain’s some similarities but not much however in general language codes are far more sophisticated in the modern tale of the movie Mirror, Mirror. Firstly, in both movies, the character of the dwarfs are described by the the prince as ‘‘these’s Children!’’, however the dialogue for the Dwarfs characters is not limited in SWatD. In the SWD the dwarfs have many scenes and is perhaps important as Snow white who has the same or not more screen time to develop her character like the dwarfs. The dwarfs in MM talk differently moving away from the old technique first used in the original story. In this latest version, the prince furthers our understanding of the 7 dwarfs by stating that he has to ‘show theis little children a lession’. The use of the word ‘Children underscores the idea that the dwarfs look like small children and thinking that they are not good at fighting or anything. The Tone of voice is used differently in both versions of the story, however in both don’t really make use of the language as the dwarfs are shown differently. 7 Actress’s with an different talking style in the MM and was changed in both films. In MM, Jordan Prentice, Mark Povinelli, Joe Gnoffo, Danny Woodburn, Sebastian Saraceno, Martin Klebba, and Ronald Lee Clark., as the seven dwarfs, Consistently uses avarage, and non deliberate enunciated speech. Generally I prefer the way that Language features are used to enhance the audiences understanding of the dwarfs motives in MM. I believe that we are strongly lead to believe theis characters is truly rebilionish and heroic and will help snow white into getting her the ways of being a trained bandit.

It should now be clear that representations of the dwarfs from the children’s story, SWatSD, have change significantly over the time to suit the audience’s like’s. Despite being antagonist to the queen in not all but most versions of the story, the portrayal of the dwarfs in MM is by far the most convincing little men in all of the story’s. visual, sound and language codes have been used extremely effectively enough to a point in this version to create a character for the audiences to sincerely loathe.