Rachael's Disney Palace: Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

Chapter 2 of Peggy Orenstein's book, Cinderella Ate my Daughter, is titled 'What's Wrong with Cinderella?'

This chapter begins with an explanation of how Daisy, Orenstein's daughter, plays Snow White at a bat mitzvah, despite her mother purposefully never teaching her this story. Daisy was the center of attention as the older children raced around to find a suitable prince to awake her. It's no secret that Orenstein isn't swept up in Disney's magical rendition, as she describes Snow White as "passive, personality-free princess" who's sole virtue is tidiness and who's beauty is the only reason the Prince falls in love with her.

If you read my earlier post on Snow White, you can see I had some similar reactions to Orenstein. But as I don't have a daughter, I am in the 'not at all opposed to sharing the love of Disney, despite it's flaws' phase of my life. Does Disney always provide young girls with a strong role model for the modern world? No. And not that it's an excuse, but these films were made at a time when women were treated very differently. When a woman's sole purpose was to 'keep house'. Thankfully we have come a long way since then. But I don't feel like we should just shut out Disney. Instead it could be used as a learning curve and an empowering message for women. Not to ignore history, but to show that women didn't used to have the same rights and explain the differences between Disney's portrayal of women then and the 'modern' woman now. To show the signs of progression Disney is trying to make with more recent films Like Brave and Frozen, displaying strong heroins. To help girls appreciate the freedoms and opportunities they can take. With just some simple and gentle explanations, maybe this could help build strong, confident and aware girls...or maybe these are just the naive wishes of an 18-year-old 'modern' day woman, empowered by her college education and fresh faced against the cynical world. Who knows? In any case, I don't think just blocking out the stories from a child's life helps in any way - as Orenstein explains, the children only discover the stories themselves anyway, and I feel that without any real explanation to go with them, the children won't learn many good principles, besides those over beauty and dependence on men that many mother's fear!

I really do enjoy the fresh nuggets of information Orenstein provides in her book, and it shows that she thoroughly does her research. For instance, the story behind the Princess marketing franchise and the Princesses who don't make eye contact. I personally believe that the lovingly homemade princess dresses may have been far prettier than many of Disney's creations. This is one thing I'll fight them on! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE a good Princess dress. But that's just it...a GOOD one. Many od Disney's dresses I feel are just lazily designed. They print a tacky face on the front and tah-dah....or should I say ker-ching? Often, I find the prettiest Princess dresses are not Disney's brand, but other imitations. For instance, my niece, Penny, has a beautiful Elsa dress from Marks and Spencers (a British store) and it looks very similar to the dress Elsa wear's in the film. Yet the actual Disney version, has Elsa's face smacked across the chest....oh, how original.

Although I feel Orenstein has some very valid points in her book....I still can't help but feel desperately sorry for Daisy. It pains me to read comments such as "...have managed to infiltrate" as Orenstein describes the contraband that has worked it's way into her home despite her Disney ban. Despite it's faults, Disney brings such joy, and I don't believe it is as limiting as Orenstein suggests. I still believe it can encourage creative play and imagination and merely a balance is required. Penny creates her own games and invents her own stories and adventures - be them Disney or related or not. She is not trapped in a world of pink, princess, butterfly or fairy.
Now maybe I'm just being cynical and far too defensive over the princess culture....but I think we have to be careful looking at one study showing female college students different adverts and analyzing the effect on their career paths - that those who saw stereotypical ads involving acne cream and brownie mix have a lesser desire to pursue STEM than those who saw more neutral ads. I mean how definitive can studies like this be? And Orenstein even admits that, despite looking, she's "never seen a study proving that playing princess specifically damages girls' self-esteem or dampens their aspirations".

In this chapter, the idea of 'effortless perfection' is yet again touched upon (specifically pages 17-18) as girls must not only have it all, but be it all. "Cinderella and Supergirl. Aggressive and agreeable. Smart and stunning." So is this empowering or disheartening women? Are we able to have it all, or are we suffering at an unattainable and futile task chasing the illusion of perfection? Orenstein suggests that both are true.

One of my personal pet peeve's about this Chapter is how Orenstein persuades her friend's daughter to go to the expensive 'American Girl' store that she is "no longer into". But after bringing her there, she is swept up in the place and her mum end's up spending lots of money on new dolls and accessories! Orenstein wouldn't take her own daughter for this very reason, she didn't want to get her daughter hooked on an expensive fad....but it's ok to encourage her friend's daughter? Orenstein writes: "The truth is, I asked Sophie and Karen to join me on this outing because Daisy had not yet heard about American Girl, and I was not eager to hasten her discovery. It's not that I object to the dolls, exactly, and I surely understand supporting a girl's interest in the line, but I would prefer to stave it off, if not avoid it entirely: there has to be a less expensive way to encourage old-fashioned values". But don't worry, now Karen just has to fork out $500 for Orenstein's experiment as she worries that her husband will think she's "lost [her] mind".

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves is the first Disney film every created and was released in 1937.
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:

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.

"I'm so ashamed of the fuss I've made" - Snow White apologizes to the animals in the forest, when she's scared and upset after almost being murdered and banished from her home because her crazy step mother is jealous of her looks! She should have every right to make a fuss after such traumatic events - but oh no, she's just an emotional girl and she shouldn't let her emotions get the better of her like that! So instead she must feel 'ashamed' for making such a 'fuss'....pffft, it's not like it's a matter of life and death...oh wait, it was!
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.

Snow White introduces Disney's usual, magical formula involving love at first sight and the princess being saved by her one true love's kiss - naturally the Prince rides in on a white horse to save the day and sweep the damsel in distress off her feet as they ride off into their happily every after.

...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