Snow White Reflection- by Annie Michelotti

When I look back on  the Disney version of Snow White, I think of a lost young woman who finds safety in a little home with seven dwarfs. She is eventually saved by the prince and they do that whole “happily ever after” thing, like most endings to Disney movies. The Brothers Grimm version of the tale was very enlightening and added more to the story than just a cookie-cutter rendition of Snow White. Naturally, I would only show the Disney version to younger children, but I think that the Brothers Grimm version is suitable for older students who want to further investigate the tale. From what I remember in the Disney version of Snow White, I do not think that the story starts out mentioning Snow White’s mother. In the Disney movie, it is just briefly mentioned or assumed that Snow White’s mother is dead and is replaced by an evil stepmother figure. The outline of the story is generally the same between the Brothers Grimm tale and the Disney story, but there are some details that are less than child appropriate in the Brothers Grimm version. For example, in the Brothers Grimm story, the evil queen eats (what she thinks is) Snow White’s lungs and liver. I found that to be a surprising, and gruesome addition to the story. Also, in the Disney story, I only remember the queen’s single attempt at killing Snow White. The apple is the only poisonous object that is mentioned in the Disney tale. However, in Brothers Grimm, the queen attempts to kill Snow White three times: once by tying a lace too tight, another by combing her hair with a poisonous comb, and the last time by eating the infamous poisonous apple. I found it surprising that Disney would chose to leave out the other attempts by the evil queen, but I assume that maybe they did it to shorten the story and to make it more easily understood by a younger audience. In the Disney tale, I remember the prince just happened to stumble upon the glass casket. But in the Brothers Grimm version, the prince tries to make a deal with the dwarfs and instead is given Snow White as a gift. Honestly, I don’t blame Disney for changing that part of the story because giving away a girl like a piece of property is less than romantic. Disney’s Snow White awakens (in classic Disney style I might add) by “true love’s kiss.” I was surprised by the Brother’s Grimm version where Snow White is released from her spell because the piece of poisonous apple was dislodged from her throat when the prince’s men are carrying her to the castle. The Brother’s Grimm variation is not nearly as romantic as being brought back to life by “true love’s kiss.” The ending of Snow White also varies in both stories. In the Disney version, Snow White is awakened by the prince’s kiss and they run off “happily ever after” and do the whole royal wedding (or at least that is what is assumed.) In the Brother’s Grimm version, the evil queen is invited to the wedding and once there, is forced to wear hot iron shoes to dance in until she drops dead. I can only imagine how terrifying that would sound to children, but for an older audience, I think that it gives us sort of a piece of mind to know that the queen got what she deserves.

I think the theme of Snow White is that envy is a dangerous thing to have. The queen was overtaken by her envy over Snow White’s beauty and it made her go to deadly measures to make sure that she was better than everyone else. This obsession over beauty and her intense envy over another person eventually cost the queen her life. In the story, Snow White did not show any envy and she ended up getting everything that she always wanted.