Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs:
the first animated movie ever, a trailblazer for generations of great cinema.
Obviously there’s no problems with it whatsoever. Ehhhh…
You
know what, to be honest, Snow White
generally holds up really well. It demonstrates a skillful timelessness that a
lot of effort went in to create. And it’s so basic and pure a fairy tale that
it’s pretty immediately endearing even if there are some things to it that
don’t hold up today.
For
the few of you who don’t know the story, there’s a prologue at the beginning,
but I’ll still reiterate. Snow White is princess of an apparently isolated
kingdom. Her wicked stepmother who is Queen keeps her at work as a scullery
maid fearful of the threat to her power. Once her Magic Mirror tells her Snow
White has usurped her as fairest in the land the Queen plots to murder her. The
Huntsman she hires is unable to do so and urges Snow White to flee. Eventually
she winds up at a little old house, the home of seven dwarfs who work in the
mines. Compelled by her beauty they let her stay. In return she cooks and
cleans and is an all-round mother to them. But the Queen soon finds out Snow
White is still alive and concocts a more cunning plan to kill her.
There
is a definite nostalgic factor for me when watching this film as it was one of
the half-dozen Disney movies my household kept as a kid and it’s the first
Disney movie I ever remember watching. The characters, the animation, the
action, the songs all take me back to childhood. But even though it is very kid
friendly, this film is a lot more mature than I remember, with a lot of darker
themes and imagery. Snow White’s struggle through the woods is really intense,
with horrifying faces in the trees, branches coming alive forming thin and
creepy hands; it’s all pretty scary. There are plenty of dark ideas too
including murder (bet you forgot the dwarfs were about to kill Snow White), and
keeping a human heart in a box. That’s disturbing stuff. Speaking of which, the
transformation scene of the Queen is pretty terrifying too and the end result
is a still creepy design. The Queen is not a very developed villain but
something about her just always unsettled me as a kid. Maybe it was her rouge,
or purple cloak, or the fact she always was shrouded by darkness, but I found
her disturbing long before her transformation. I also noticed a maturity in
certain macabre themes particularly in the latter half. When the Queen
transforms into the decrepit hag the whole tone around the character also
alters. She goes from being royal and majestic to deadly and grim. Skeletons
start appearing and her castle seems much more gothic. She also takes to rowing
herself across a river much in a similar fashion to Charon crossing the Styx,
and is accompanied by foreshadowing vultures in her final hours.
But
while the plot has its surprisingly mature moments the characters are as
immature as ever. The focus is rightly on the dwarfs who are the most memorable
part of the film. While their personalities are fairly one note in relation to
their names, their interactions, distinctive designs, and Three Stooges-esque
comedy is engaging and memorable. Disney wanted you to make sure you knew who
these characters were taking the time to introduce them and feature them one by
one (unlike say the dwarves in The Hobbit
movies). Doc’s the generic leader with a Porky Pig befuddlement, Dopey’s the
hapless doofus that was a popular character of the time, most of the rest are
little more than their namesake personality but distinct in their appearance,
and then there’s Grumpy. As the contrarian and comic foil to the rest of the
dwarfs, Grumpy’s the one who sticks out having a kind of arc in his
relationship with Snow White. And an arc that pays off pretty well for such a
basic kids’ movie.
Really
the only big problem with Snow White
is Snow White herself. Apart from being just a bland character, her personality
is very dated and a little bit awkward. She’s kind and friendly but far too
content with putting herself in a position of domestic servitude. This is
probably attributed to the environment of 1930s America. Her quiet and calming
little voice is the perfect example of the gentle and soothing ideal for
beautiful women of the time. She also represents the ideal for mother and
housewife figures right from the get go. She is the archetype for the princess
hatred movement and is by no means a good role model for young girls coming off
at times as either very dumb or overconfident; particularly when she convinces
the dwarfs to house her due to the Queen not knowing where she is, when within
ten minutes the Queen finds out by simply asking her Mirror (and is it just me
or is the Mirror an asshole?). Snow White would’ve benefitted by being
portrayed as closer to her Grimm counterpart. In the story, rather than impose
herself upon the Dwarves’ house and do all their cleaning and cooking by her
own free will with the help of all the forest animals, it is actually the
dwarves who suggest she do these things in exchange for them keeping her safe.
The film Snow White seems obligated to live up to a typical domestic ideal and
thus you don’t care about her status as a princess as she seems perfectly
content doing chores. That is when she’s not fantasizing about her Prince who she’s
exchanged no dialogue with, and who himself is nothing more than a pretty face.
But
if that’s the worst part of the movie, what’s the best? Well it’s what the
filmmakers put the most effort into: the animation. This film is beautiful! Yeah
the character animation is definitely the 1930s style but with the exception of
Snow White, who is drawn too flawlessly for her own good, they aren’t
distracting. The animation really lends itself to the artwork, the atmosphere,
and tone. It’s what allows you to feel the terror as Snow White runs through
the woods, the sorrow at her wake (a gorgeous sequence that looks like a
Rembrandt painting and which is Disney’s first of many tear-wrenching
sequences), and the joy of her riding off into her happily ever after. The
music also contributes heavily with Disney knowing already the acute
relationship animation can have with music. And the songs are pretty memorable
as you all know. Sure you have some that are too whimsical like “Whistle While
You Work”, “With a Smile and a Song”, and “Someday My Prince Will Come”, but I
thought “One Song” which is also the films’ theme is pretty good, and who among
us doesn’t know “Heigh-Ho” and won’t get that stuck in our heads.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
has a simplistic story and characters, but it’s able to resonate through its
animation and tone which at times can be surprisingly dark and mature while at
other times mystical and enchanting. This WAS a groundbreaking movie and a
pretty damn good one to start with, setting the template for a lot of Disney
movies to come. Yeah there are aspects that are a little dated, I couldn’t honestly
call it an interesting movie, and the Snow White character herself reflects
obsolete notions making her awkward and a little irritating today. But I think
this film still stands the test of time, hell it HAS been for generations -it
was nearing sixty years old when I saw it for the first time! It has an honesty
for what it is and what it’s giving to the world. That final shot with Snow
White and the prince poised against a castle in the distance shrouded in
sunlight is magical and as I said before, pure fairy tale.
Next Week: Pinocchio (1940)
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