I personally find it very interesting to see how Disney has evolved over the years, from Snow White all the way up to Frozen - the first animated Disney film to be directed by a female. So from Cinderella and her glass slipper to Jennifer Lee 'melting the glass ceiling', hopefully we're entering an exciting new era for Disney.
Check out these articles outlining Jennifer Lee's success in an otherwise seemingly all boys club:
http://variety.com/2014/film/awards/frozens-jennifer-lee-melts-ceilings-1201216961/
http://www.themarysue.com/frozen-billion-dollar-jennifer-lee/
While the animations surely have come a long way since their beginnings, so have the messages these films contain and although Disney's successes are mixed with controversial views, I'm excited to explore these changes as I work my way through some Disney classics, focusing particularly on the Princess Culture, and even comparing with modern versions - e.g. A Cinderella Story, Ever After: A Cinderella Story, and Enchanted. Take a look at all the Cinderella film versions here: http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/402597-list-of-cinderella-movies
A modern rendition of Snow White is the 2007 film "Sydney White", which tells the story of a freshman girl's experience with the Greek system at college. Watching this film was among one of my first exposures to 'sorority life' in the USA. And now I'm going through rush myself, although at Duke, it's nothing like in this film!
Now while Disney Princess waistlines probably deserve a whole post of their own, I'll touch on them here. Disney is infamous for displaying unrealistic body images for their Princesses, and this most likely stems from the male controlled animation studies designing figures they seem more attractive, with tiny waists, slender frames and larger breasts. I believe this trend started in the 60's and hasn't improved much from then onwards, with Ariel (The Little Mermaid, 1989) and Jasmine (Aladdin, 1992) possible being the most notorious. Comparatively, Snow White does not have an unreasonable body figure, though her looks are her most defining feature in the story, and the sole reason her (step)mother has for wanting to kill her - "Lips red as the rose. Hair black as ebony. Skin white as snow."
Here we can see that Snow White's waist is not stick thin, she has round cheeks and a more normal figure overall. This is more reflective of women at the time, and when curves were generally seen as being healthy and attractive. Yet more modern depictions alter this, by thinning the waist line, lengthening her lashes, accentuating her cheek bones and enhancing her bust, making innocent Snow White seem more alluring.
The internet is full of comparisons between actual Disney waistlines and more humanly possible shapes, but here are a few I found particularly interesting:
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/30/disney-princess-real-waistline_n_6076634.html
- http://www.buzzfeed.com/caitlincowie/women-react-to-realistic-disney-princess-waistlines#.ftBABbMnX
- http://www.eonline.com/news/670125/disney-princesses-have-eyes-literally-bigger-than-their-stomachs-and-here-are-the-photos-to-prove-it
Now onto Snow White's actual storyline. I mean I personally LOVE Disney, I grew up with it, and at surface level I still think it's all great now! But....you can't help but notice the inequalities. Outright, Disney's Snow White was published at a time when women were not seen as equal to men, when their role was to cook and clean and care for their families, in essence, 'to keep house'. And this is just what Snow White does.
The message that follows this is at least a positive one, that she does pick herself back up, makes the best of the situation and carries on despite hard times. This trait can be admired and shows strength of character.
Throughout the film there is a strong connection between Snow White and the animals - in Disney films animals often help the princess - in Cinderella mice help make her first gown and unlock her from her room, they even form the horses to take her to her ball. In snow white the animals sing with her, help her clean, comfort her and take her to the Dwarves in the woods. They also fetch the Dwarves to try to rescue Snow White from her fate.
The animals provide light-hearted and friendly support to the princesses and often have a comical factor. For instance, I love how the deer starts licking the plates clean until Snow White tells the deer to put them in the sink! And the squirrels try to sweep dirt under the rug.
When the Dwarves meet Snow White, most are amazed by her beauty, but grumpy says "she's a female, and females are trouble, they're full of wicked wiles", "let her wake up, she don't belong here no how" - This sort of misogynistic hierarchy/supremacy only shows that Snow White does not have a real place in a man's world.
Grumpy: Angel, ha! She's a female! And all females is poison! They're full of wicked wiles!
Bashful: What are wicked wiles?
Grumpy: I don't know, but I'm agin' 'em.
So here Grump doesn't even rationally understand why he hates females, he just does.
Snow goes on to promise to keep house if they let her stay: "I'll wash, sew, sweep, cook"
And she's allowed to stay because she can cook - "gooseberry pies, Hurray, she stays!"
But still, a woman isn't so readily accepted in this male environment as Grumpy incessantly makes clear: "Huh Women!" he remarks as Snow White makes him wash before dinner, and then later goes on to say, "Her wiles are about getting to work, but I'm warning you, you give them an inch and they'll walk all over you."
Although Doc does tell the other Dwarves not to listen to Grumpy, the fact remains that Grumpy still voices these opinions, forming negative generalizations about the female sex as a whole.
"Next thing you know, she'll be tyin' your beards up in pink ribbons and smellin' ya up with that stuff called, uh perfume." ...not to mention stereotyping like this.
As Snow sings about true love Grumpy mutters "mush"
and at bed time "huh women, a fine kettle of fish"
As a young child I would say I didn't really notice these slants against women. I always understood that Grumpy was, well...grumpy! But the whole unjustified persecution of a gender was quite subliminal to a young girl.
Although this is often the case with many Disney films. I remember when Toy Story 3 came out in the cinemas, and my older brother went to see it with his friends. He was the generation this film was made for, and he would be heading off to college just as Andy was in the third film. But when he came back, he told mum that my younger brother shouldn't be able to watch this one as it has far more grown up content than the others. And my mum explained that he should re-watch the other Toy Stories and now he'd see the 'grown up' content that was always there, but simply passes over a child's head.
Now, the fact that the Queen transforms herself into an uglier, old woman to commit her evil deeds hardly seems a coincidence either. Disney often victimizes the old and ugly, whereas the younger, prettier characters remain the damsels and heroes of the story.
Disney even uses some good old pathetic fallacy as a storm occurs when Snow White is put to sleep and her stepmother is killed.
I love the old music in this film! I think Disney have always had great film scores.
...so beautiful even in death, that the dwarves could not find it in their hearts to bury her...
The Prince riding in on his white horse reminds me of Taylor Swift's song - 'White Horse'
"I'm not a princess,
this ain't a fairytale,
I'm not the one you sweep of her feet,
leader of the stairwell...
...now it's too late for you and your whitehorse,
to come around"
This song is still about a young girl who fell madly in love with her 'prince', only she realizes now she was naive and understands she isn't a princess caught in a fairytale as she doesn't let him just ride in again and sweep her away and the song ends with "it's too late to catch me now".
Now if we compare Disney's rendition of Snow White to Grimms' Fairytale, we see that, despite Disney allowing the wicked stepmother to be chased off a cliff by the Dwarves, Disney really toned back the sinister essence to this tale. For instance, in Grimm's version, it was not a stepmother, but actual Snow White's mother who plotted to kill her. And when the Huntsman failed, the Queen attempted to use an overly tight corset, a poisoned comb and finally a poisoned apple to kill her daughter, who incidentally was not awoken by true love's kiss, rather shaken awake as the Prince made off with her coffin! Possibly worst of all is that the wicked Queen was forced to dance herself to death in red hot iron shoes. More such examples of the more gruesome Grimms' Fairytales can be found here. Now while some may say such stories are inappropriate for young children, Peggy Orenstein, author of Cinderella Ate My Daughter, may beg to differ. In her book, she describes research that suggests exposing children to these original fairytales can have great value in their development, for instance how they process death and engage with morals with the pink and princess distractions removed from the equation. Orenstein read some of these stories to her own daughter, Daisy, without inflection in her voice, so as to allow Daisy to process and interpret the stories herself. Often, Daisy would stop her mother to ask questions and clarify the meanings of words and scenarios. Orenstein describes her personal experiment as having a positive effect, and although her young daughter did not want to hear some of the stories again, she learnt from many of them. As I blog about later chapters in the book, I will write in more depth about this.
Songs in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves:
I'm Wishing
Bluddle-Uddle-Um-Dum (The Washing Song)
Heigh-Ho
One Song
The Silly Song
With a Smile and a Song
Some Day my Prince will Come
Whistle While You Work
http://www.cornel1801.com/disney/Snow-White-Seven-Dwarfs-1937/movie-film.html
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