Movie #1: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

Remember, you're the one/who can fill the world with sunshine.

Watched: June 13, 2012

All right, blog, let me just kick things off here by saying that I am a Snow White apologist. I LOVE Snow White, and have done since I was about three years old. My love of this movie/character is probably largely to blame for my longstanding dream of living in a cottage with animal friends helping me cook and clean, while I sing and wear pretty dresses and become a master chef.

This dream has yet to come true, but I remain hopeful.

Anyway, as I've gotten older, my love has not diminished. As a result, I have MUCH more to say about this than I will about most of the other movies I watch. Probably. I make no promises; I do like the sound of my own voice (or whatever the text-equivalent is).

First: Snow White herself. Gentle, trusting, pure, industrious, in tune with all the goodness of nature, and not a bad dancer... yes, she is a total Mary Sue. She is goodness incarnate, wrapped in an adorable package and sealed with a bow. Yet she doesn't irritate the shit out of me. Why? Partly nostalgia. Partly the fact that I can understand what her behavior and attitude must have meant to Americans in 1937 ("optimism + hard work = happy ending" seems to have been a REALLY appealing formula in the middle of the Depression for some, strange reason). Partly because she's so young. John Grant pegs her at somewhere between 12 and 14 years old, and, well... I find her goodness a more or less believable (if remarkable) product of being a very sheltered, young princess who was made to wear rags and work as a scullery maid her whole life, but otherwise seems reasonably well taken care of. She certainly doesn't seem to suspect that her stepmother (the one who made her work as a maid to begin with) might hate her enough to want to murder her as soon as she hits puberty, at any rate, in spite of the fact that the Queen regularly checks in with an enchanted mirror to make sure she's still the prettiest, and is plainly evil.

I'm certainly not saying anyone in her position would have turned out the same way, but in a movie with magic spells and animals who do laundry, I don't find her personality wildly implausible.

Also, I just want to take this time to give Disney credit for making Our Heroine slightly less gullible than she is in the Grimms' fairy tale. In their version, the Queen provides Snow with poisoned goods three times, and Snow takes them every time. In the Disney version, she only makes the mistake once. Then again, in the Grimm version, the prince decides to put the corpse of his beloved on display in his home so he can always gaze at her beauty. Sometimes, the changes Disney makes from the source material are for the better- that's all I'm saying.

At any rate, as at least one scholar has noted: Snow White is essentially a story about Shirley Temple triumphing over Greta Garbo. It's the "good woman" of the 1930s triumphing over the sex symbol of the 1920s.

 

I mean, I think it's safe to say the Queen has way more sex appeal than Snow. She's supposed to: she's an adult woman; Snow is a child. But in 1937, highly-arched and sculpted eyebrows, heavy eyeshadow, and high cheekbones do NOT "fairest of them all" make! No, no, in 1937, it's all about wholesome, all-American, girl-next-door prettiness.

There are probably arguments to be made for the Queen embodying a "dangerous" female sexuality, whereas Snow White is... pretty entirely asexual, in terms of the way she's presented (and likely the way she thinks). This being 1937, and views on female sexuality being what they were (/are), being sexual and a woman gets you thrown over a cliff in a lightning storm, while being wholesome and innocent and Good (and rather motherly, as it happens) gets you a shiny castle and a handsome prince.

That said, I would never argue that Snow White gets her happy ending because she's a chaste doormat. Well, chaste, maybe, but doormat, no. I don't think that she does just sit around serving men and waiting for her prince to come save her. Let's recap:

Within the first, like, fifteen minutes of the movie, the girl has a guy pull a knife on her, finds out her stepmother wants her dead, and is forced to flee civilization and live in the forest for an indeterminate amount of time. And right when she'd just met this really cute, romantic guy, who seemed to like her back! That's a pretty tall order for a 12-to-14-year-old. And what happens?

Well, she runs into the forest as advised by the huntsman and has a little bit of a freakout. (Side note: I'm not sure if the reveal that the scary monster eyes in the woods actually belong to an adorable bunny wunny is supposed to get a laugh, but it sure did when I watched it.) Understandable. After having a good cry, she almost instantly regrets losing her head, and sings what might be THE most "American" and the most Disneyish song in the Disney canon, "With a Smile and a Song." She then uses her available resources (friendly woodland creatures) to find shelter, and immediately sets to work about said shelter because she hopes to be able to barter her work for room and board (she explicitly says that if she cleans the place up, maybe the owners will let her stay, and later negotiates her own arrangements with the dwarfs). 

Okay, yes, she's breaking and entering, which is deeply weird even if you do wash the residents' dishes and everything, but the point is: she is doing things. I'm not sure what the critics want her to have done in that situation. GPSes didn't exist, she had no idea where the prince was likely to be, and had no other (human) contacts outside her castle. And while plotting regicide would have been badass, it's probably more than I would have been capable of at any age, let alone hers. As it is, she fled into the forest, did her best to make a life for herself there (and make herself useful to others at the same time), and did it all without complaining. No, she's not beating up bad guys, or leading a revolution, or wearing thongs, or whatever it is "strong female characters" are supposed to do, but I think her actions indicate a certain strength of character that people seem prone to undervalue just because she also hoped she'd be reunited with the guy she fell in love with one day. She never seems to be counting on that, she'd just be very happy if it happened.

I mean, I'm not saying it's a feminist parable for the ages. The sensibilities concerning gender are quite dated, and heck, maybe she IS supposed to be counting on the prince to come save her, and I'm reading things in a way the creators didn't intend. I'm just saying: I don't agree with those who think she is the Worst Role Model Ever for a little girl. (Not least of all because I don't think most little girls regard animated movies as a rigid guide for how to live their lives. This one grew up to be a left-wing, pro-choice, patriarchy-questioning, Joan Scott-reading, aspiring gender historian. Who just happens to want to live in a cottage in the forest with sentient woodland creatures. I contain multitudes.)

Anyway. Now that I've ranted at some length, I will also say that the movie itself continues to be as magical as it was when I was three. The artwork is beautiful, and it is almost unbelievable that every single frame was hand-drawn.

I love all of the water animation in this movie, but this small part with the deer in the forest is probably my favorite.

Random things I found particularly charming...

 When Snow runs into the castle while the prince is singing "One Song" and she sort of primps before she appears on the balcony. She's so clearly playacting the role of the young miss being wooed. She settles into it by the end of the song, but you can see her assuming the "role" and trying to look all mature and haughty at the beginning. It's kind of subtle, but I got a kick out of it.

"Aloof, unavailable, rag-wearing princess. Aloof, unavailable, rag-wearing princess..."

Having now visited the living quarters inhabited by six college-aged men, I have a whole new appreciation for Snow's discovery of the dwarfs' cottage. Everything's dark and eerie, there's trash all over the place, and something doesn't smell totally right. "There must be seven little children who live here... Seven untidy little children!" Indeed. Just don't go into the outhouse, Snow. You won't be happy with what you find there.

I love how the dwarfs don't even question that if one of them is going to get eaten by a witch/goblin/dragon, it's going to be Dopey, their poor, mentally challenged, little brother. Real nice move, guys. Ya dicks.

Our Heroine is pretty hilariously patronizing to Grumpy, even when he starts being somewhat open about being fond of her. Snow White: pure, good, industrious, graceful... and kind of a bitchy sense of humor. Good for her.

"He was so romantic, I could not resist!" "Awww, yeah, get it, girl."

If anyone has an alternative explanation for what the hell THAT was about, I'd be glad to hear it. (Actually, no, I wouldn't. I like mine.)

I cried when... Grumpy gets choked up and cries during her funeral. YOU BIG SOFTIE. ;___; Their princess is dead, you guys. MY CREYZ.

I wanted to pull my hair out when... The dwarfs are trying to solve the mystery of who cleaned up their cottage and is IN THE HOUSE OH MY GOD. Seriously, the entire beginning of the movie (which includes Snow White falling in love, almost being stabbed, fleeing into the forest, and finding [and cleaning] a house) happens in about 20 minutes, and then this scene just seems interminable. Maybe if you've never seen the movie before it doesn't seem that way, since it establishes all seven dwarfs' personalities, but once you take it for granted that, y'know, Doc makes with the Spoonerisms, Sneezey has allergies, Bashful is shy, Grumpy is a dick, etc., it really drags (I thought).

Best song/sequence... "Whistle While You Work." It was my favorite when I was five, and by gum, it's my favorite now. And I always sing it when I vacuum.

In short... I will never stop loving this movie. NO ONE CAN MAKE ME. <333


All images taken from disneyscreencaps.com, a wonderful and overwhelmingly precise website.