Once Upon a Movie: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Let's start at the very beginning. A very good place to start. Disney's first feature-length animated film was based on a fairy tale and would become the first in a long line of Disney animated fairy tale movies. But how does Disney's story stack up against the original Brothers Grimm fairy tale?

The movie begins with a book labeled Snow White opening to this first page.

There is no mention of the Queen forcing Snow White to wear rags in the fairy tale. This may be related to the big change Disney made in making Snow White much older for their film. The fairy tale says that Snow White is only 7 years old when she became more beautiful than the Queen. In the movie, she is 14. Keep in mind Snow White’s intended age as we go through this fairy tale. Once I read that at the beginning the rest of the tale took on a whole new feeling.

The movie begins with the Queen consulting her mirror to hear that Snow White has surpassed her own beauty. And then we meet Snow White, scrubbing stairs with a bucket of water, surrounded by white doves. Snow White isn’t the only Disney princess to have a connection with wildlife. This trait is given to Cinderella and Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) as well. I think this comes from traditional lore which would use an animal’s trust as a sign of a young woman being pure (virginal), as in unicorn lore. (Only a female virgin is said to be able to befriend a unicorn.) So, in this first scene we learn that Snow White is not only beautiful but happy, despite being forced to do manual labor, “pure”, and like any 14 year old girl, “wishing for the one I love”. Oh, and she has a very high-pitched (annoying, I say) voice and likes to sing.

And, right away the Prince is introduced. In the fairy tale, there is no mention of any prince (probably because she is only 7 years old) until after she is in her death-like slumber. I assume that Disney added this nameless prince at the beginning of the story so they could say the two of them had some sort interaction before the “true love’s first kiss” nonsense. This is another plot device we see in future Disney fairy tales, the introduction of the prince briefly in the beginning and then he isn’t seen again until he is needed to save the princess in the end.

Well, the Queen sees the Prince singing to Snow White which increases her envy and hatred, so she tells her huntsman to take Snow White into the forest, kill her, and bring back her heart as proof. This rings true to the fairy tale. The huntsman cannot bring himself to kill the beautiful Snow White and tells her to run into the forest to hide. The movie makes quite a show of all the terrors of the forest that Snow White encounters while the fairy tale says she ran through the forest unharmed.

When Snow White makes it to the dwarfs’ cottage (with the help of her new animal friends) she finds it full of cobwebs and dust whereas in the fairy tale it is said to be "neater and cleaner than you can imagine.” The movie fits in a couple more songs while Snow White cleans and the dwarfs come home from the mine to find their home has been cleaned and Snow White asleep on their beds. She quickly takes on a motherly role, offering to clean, sew, and cook for them if they let her stay. The dwarfs like the sound of that. In the fairy tale, it is the dwarfs that propose the deal of having her cook & clean in order to stay.

And now we come to the first example of original fairy tale gore being taken out of Disney’s versions of fairy tales. Originally, the Queen has Snow White’s (really a pig’s) heart cooked for her and she eats it. This is left out of the movie. In both, she asks the mirror her favorite question again, only to find out that Snow White is indeed still alive and living with the dwarfs. Upon hearing this revelation, she swoops down to her evil dungeon of evil and formulates her plan.

In the original fairy tale, the Queen tries three times to kill Snow White and succeeds on the third. The movie skips the first two, only including the poison apple. The Queen first tricks Snow White by selling her pretty laces (for her corset/dress), which she laces so tightly that Snow White cannot breath and falls down, but when the dwarfs get home, they unlace her and she comes back to life. Despite the dwarfs warnings, the little Snow White (only 7 years old, remember) is fooled the next day again with a poison comb. The dwarfs remove the comb and warn Snow White again. But when the old lady selling apples proves that the apple is not poison by eating one half (the not-poisoned half), Snow White cannot resist and bites the poison apple.

The movie only uses the poisoned apple trick, but makes it into a very long and dramatic scene with the old woman coming into the house and convincing Snow White to eat it as the woodland animals try to get the dwarfs home in time to stop her. The Queen gets what’s coming to her and falls off a cliff trying to escape.

The movie is wrapped up nice with the Prince, who has heard of the glass-coffined fair maiden, coming to kiss Snow White and they ride off into the sunset together (with no words exchanged). The fairy tale has a far less romantic ending. A prince comes across Snow White in her coffin and insists that the dwarfs give her to him because she is so beautiful and they do. As his servants carry her coffin, they stumble over a tree stump and that bumps the bit of poison apple out of Snow White’s throat and she wakes up. (She never completely ate the poison apple, so instead of dying just went into a sort of coma, I guess.) The prince explains what happened and she agrees to marry him. (She’s been “dead” for a while, but she’s still 7 years old.) They go off and get married and invite the Queen who is still seething with jealousy. When she arrives at the feast, she is forced to wear red-hot iron slippers and dance until she dies.

Compare & Contrast

Age: Disney made Snow White 14 instead of 7 which reduced the images of child-labor and pedophilia.

Gore: Disney removed the Queen eating the heart and the Queen’s torturous ending.

Exemption: Disney filled up the movie with unnecessary scenes and songs instead of including all three of the Queen’s attempts on Snow White’s life.

Love Story: Disney let Snow White meet her prince beforehand and woke up Snow White with a kiss rather than an accident.

The Moral of the Story Is...

Surprisingly, not about Snow White. It is the Queen that teaches us our lesson. She embodies several of the 7 deadly sins (greed, wrath, envy, pride) and pays for that in the end. Snow White is there as an example of purity and good Christian values. Even though she is stupid enough to fall for the Queen’s tricks three times, she is saved in the end because she is pure of heart and trusting, and took her place serving men like every little girl should.

The Disney movie added more prince, more songs, more animals, and less trickery but still managed to teach the same lesson about envy since the Queen does die. Albeit, in a much more PG way than the original tale.

Resources
Wikipedia: Snow White
IMDb: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Snow White Movies: Snow White: The Fairest of them All (2001), Snow White and the Huntsman (2012), Mirror Mirror (2012)

No Sex in My City: Bay of Married Pigs

Season 1, Episode 3: Bay of Married Pigs 
 

“Married people are the enemy."

The women discuss the idea of marrieds vs. singles after Carrie gets kicked out of her friend’s beach house because she saw her friend’s husband sans undies. Charlotte wants to stick up for married people because she so desperately wants to be one, while Miranda is in full-on anti-marrieds rant mode. Carrie just feels left out but hates the looks of pity she gets from marrieds, and Samantha thinks it’s not pity, but fear of single women stealing their husbands that creates the animosity.

Miranda gets set up with a woman because her co-worker assumed she was gay just because he’s never seen her with a man. (Has he ever seen her with a woman? I never understood the single=gay logic men impose on women.) She decides to try it out for a while to be accepted at work as a couple, further confirming her hypothesis that married people just want single people “figured out”.

Carrie gets set up with a man she dubs “the marrying guy”, she takes him for a test drive to see if she might be the marrying kind after all, but ultimately has to be honest with him that that’s not the life she’s looking for.

Samantha gets set up for a horrible night at a party full of couples, so she gets very drunk and sleeps with Charlotte’s Irish doorman.

And Charlotte gets set up with Carrie’s sloppy seconds, since they’re both the “marrying kind”. Their china pattern choices clash, however.

Favorite Outfit

You don’t see much of it, but I am loving the buttoned up suit style on Miranda. I think she’s doing it to try to look more gay, but I’m really into women in beautiful fitted suits.

Character I Most Identify With: Carrie

Carrie’s not sure she’s even “the marrying kind” and neither am I. I’m not like Charlotte, treating marriage like a sorority she’s desperate to pledge, or Samantha who would laugh at the suggestion that she ever commit to one man. I’m somewhere in between. Not actively searching for someone to partner up with, but open to the possibility of a long-term, even life-time, relationship.

“She said I couldn’t understand it- I’m single."

There is a lot of marrieds behavior in this episode that drives me nuts and that quote is one of them. Married people treating single people like they can't understand relationship dynamics, love, basic human emotions, just because they haven't permanently attached themselves to someone is absurd. One of the women in the interviews part of the episode says something about how she chose to grow up and get married while other people choose a life of stunted adolescence and sadness. I feel bad for that woman if that's what she thinks life boils down to- marriage is maturity and singledom is immaturity. Marriage is a choice, sure, but meeting the right person for you is not. It's happenstance and luck and the universe putting you in the right place at the right time. That's why I never understand people who think they have their life planned out, including marriage, because you can't plan when you're going to meet the right person. You can get married just because you decide it's time to get married and just go with whoever you're with at the moment just because he's there to marry.

I would guess that any married person who looks down on single people probably isn't very happy in their marriage. When you're not happy, you take it out on other people. It's basic bullying dynamic. Your life sucks, so you have to make someone else feel like their life sucks so you are justified in your life choices.

I'm probably being very cynical about all this (spinster cliché!) but I will never be okay with anyone making anyone else feel bad about their life choices just because they're different. I will never let anyone make me feel bad for being single or not wanting kids because I am a complete and happy person even without a relationship and the kids thing is a choice, so don't fight me on that.

2014 Round-Up: My Favorites

What a year! I may not have blogged as much as I wanted to, but I did have some good times. Here are some of my favorite things I experienced this past year. Here's to 2015!

Favorite Movies

Camp Takota - The "Holy Trinity" of YouTube (Grace Helbig, Mamrie Hart, and Hannah Hart) made a movie! It's hilarious and a touching story about friendship and nice things.

Much Ado About Nothing - Making a Shakespeare movie that I not only understood completely but also made me laugh is another reason to adore Joss Whedon.

Maleficent - It's a beautiful, magical story about the pain of betrayal, true love, and forgiveness.

Guardians of the Galaxy - Dancing baby Groot. Need I say more? Okay, how about hilarious, fun, adventure, sci-fi, friendship...

The Book of Life - It's just soooo beautiful! And a great story about love and a kickass lady standing up for herself.

Favorite TV

American Horror Story: Coven - I wasn't interested in this series until I started seeing lots of this season on Tumblr. I'm into anything to do with witches, so I had to check it out. It's crazy and weird and I love it.

Broad City - These girls are my heroes, role models, BFFs (I wish). So hilarious and relatable and nuts and I just have mad love for these courageous characters.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine - Funniest new show this year. It's brilliant. I love shows with a diverse ensemble cast. Every one of them is a weirdo and I love it.

How I Met Your Mother - I finally watched it. Wish I skipped the ending. Nevertheless, it's a funny show and I grew to love the characters. I love seeing a healthy relationship on screen for once (Lily and Marshal), and I think I love Robin the best because she's so ambitious and badass and a bro.

Parks and Recreation - I started to watch it once and wasn't feeling it, but tried again and loved it. Nearly everything April does reminds me of my best friend, so it's like watching friends on TV.

Favorite Web Series

TableTop - Solely responsible for my board game revival this year. It's strange how fun it is to just watch people play a board game. But, you get to see a new game being played so you can decide if it's something you would like to play, and everyone is so funny, it's like being at a board game party except everyone is more entertaining.

Co-Optitude - I was already into collecting old consoles & games, but this definitely inspired me to actually play them more and dub myself a "casual retro" gamer. Even if the game they're playing sucks, Felicia and Ryon make it so much fun.

Bee and Puppycat - So weird. So funny. So delightful. I'm obsessed. Peed with excitement when they announced it was becoming a series. Now I pee with excitement every other week when a new episode is posted.

Chris Hardwick’s All Star Bowling - I love bowling. I love Chris Hardwick. I love celebrities, comedians, and super cool people. It's like watching a bunch of cool people you recognize hang out and it leaves you with an urge to go bowling.

The Guild - It's a web series about gamers. I am not a gamer. But I love these characters. Jeff Lewis as Vork is definitely my favorite because he is just the funniest.

Favorite Music

BEYONCÉ by Beyoncé - I didn't jump on the Beyoncé bandwagon until early this year, but once I watched through the whole album, I was hooked. I still am. I haven't experienced this kind of album love in a long time.

The New Classic by Iggy Azalea - I've never been one for rap and/or hip-hop but I am into Iggy. I just am.

Goddess by Banks - Listened to this album a million times and I'm not sick of it. It's just gorgeous. It's just musical perfection to me. The music and the lyrics are just- Mmm. I'm just so deep into it and never want to get out.

1989 by Taylor Swift - So much fun! I really liked her last album, too, but I am into every song of this album.

Queen of the Clouds by Tove Lo - Powerful pop music with powerful lyrics. I'm dancin', I'm vibin', I'm singing along.

Favorite Games

Child of Light - This is the reason I made my brother give me a PS3. (He had more than one, that hoarder.) Felicia Day talked about it in one of her videos and I thought it was just so pretty that I had to have it. It is very pretty with very beautiful animation and game play. It's a very pretty adventure and every once in a while you have to fight bad things. I like the fight style because you take turns with your moves, so I don't get that panic that I get from other games when I am suddenly under attack.

Little Big Planet Karting - I love racing games. This racing game also focuses on weapons and defense while racing. It's got some crazy adorable and weird and awesome levels and you can make your racer and car really cute.

Scotland Yard - I got this board game from my parents' stash and my friends and I played it so often this past year that we actually got sick of it and had to officially retire it. It's a really cool team detective game, but every game goes the same so it doesn't take many plays to get sick of it. We'll play it again someday.

Say Anything - This game is super fun for a group of close friends. It's akin to Cards Against Humanity in that the funniest/best answer wins, but because you write your own answers to questions that begin "In my opinion..." it's really only possible to play with your friends who know you well enough to give good answers.

The Game of Life: My Little Pony - My last board game purchase of 2014, we had a lot of fun playing this at Girls Game Night. I don't know the original Game of Life well enough to make comparisons, but this game is based on friends, friendship points, and good times. Not to mention, your game pieces are teeny weeny My Little Ponies (I dibs Doctor Whooves!)

Favorite Cakes

Favorite Fun Times

Making The Unicorn Hunt - Kelsey and I finished up the first season of The Unicorn Hunt at the beginning of the year. I loved making The Unicorn Hunt so much. I learned so much, challenged myself, and am so proud that I did it! I'm excited to start season 2 this Spring!

Dying my Hair - In May, I made a very rash decision to bleach da shit out of my beautiful long dark hair so I could have fun with pastel colors. I've had bright red hair several times in my life, but never when my hair has been this long (it's never been this long) and never any Manic Panic color other than red. I had fun experimenting with purple and pink for 5 months and then went red in October for my Queen of Hearts costume. I'm keeping the red until May at least so I can cosplay as Ariel for Ottawa ComicCon, and then I think back to purple & pink.

Camping - My friends and I went on a little camping trip in July and it was the best! We camped near Toronto so we could go to a bridal shop and the Toronto aquarium. I can't wait to go camping again this summer!

Getting My Ears Pierced - At the age of 24, I got my very first piercings. I decided to skip the lobes and go for two helix on one ear and the tragus on the other. I hated the silver barbells I had to get pierced with but now I have black hoops and I love them.

My Birthday Party - I loved my Queen of Hearts costume, cake, tarts and Wonderland theme so much! My friends came over and we played board games and video games and drank and had fun!

 

Kim’s Birthday Party - We went to Fun Haven which is like a big arcade with bumper cars, a laser obstacle course, laser tag, rock climbing, and so much fun! And then we went out to a club (first time in years, I'm such a boring old lady) and had fun dancing the night away.

 

The Nutcracker - I've always wanted to get dressed up nice and go see The Nutcracker, so this year I finally did it! I went with two friends, we had great seats, and I loved it so much!

New Year’s Eve - I went out for NYE for the first time ever, I think. The club we went to played old and new music so it was so much fun to dance to Backstreet Boys or Spice Girls and then Rihanna, etc.

What were your favorites in 2014?