Decoding Disney 101-11 -- Spring 2019

It is interesting that the Queen thinks that Snow White will be prettier than she will be at such a young age and makes her wear rags and do chores. I like how the Prince is introduced early in the movie, so it establishes a less weird and abrupt love connection. I think it’s a little weird that Snow White is in a nice dress and heels when she goes off into the woods when she thinks that she is going to be picking flowers and doesn’t stay in her raggedy dress. I like how in this version the huntsman doesn’t kill Snow White because he can’t bring himself to do it and its not just because of her beauty. I also like in this version that Snow White is friends with the animals, and I like that they help her with all the household chores. I think that this makes it a little more kid friendly, humorous, and cute. I also think that a teenaged girl should know better than to trespass into a random house in the woods when no one is there. I like how all the seven dwarfs have names and play a larger part in the movie. It’s interesting that the dwarfs all have grey beards, so I guess they are old, but they still work hard everyday in the mines. If the dwarfs know that the Queen has black magic, then the King probably knew that before he remarried, and I feel like the King probably wouldn’t have married someone who could do black magic. However, the King is not shown or even mentioned in this version, so there isn’t much we really know about him. I like how in this version the Queen doesn’t eat what she thinks is Snow White’s heart. It is interesting that in this version the Queen uses her black magic to temporarily change herself into an old beggar lady and makes herself ugly, which is what she dreads the most instead of just disguising herself. Since in this version the Queen only attempts once to kill Snow White it doesn’t give Snow White the opportunity to make a better decision the second and third time and to grow. However, since Snow White is twice as old in the Disney version maybe there was only one attempt because she probably would listen after two failed murder attempts from the Queen. It’s kind of funny that Snow White is a child and she is telling the dwarfs that it is their bed time, when they are much older than she is since they have beards. This version has more religious aspects since Snow White prays before she goes to bed and is enforcing Christian ideals to those who watch Snow White. It is interesting that the Queen chooses a spell on the apple that can be reversed and not choose another spell that is not irreversible. I feel like Snow White should be a little more skeptical of a random old lady in the woods that is trying to give away apples for free. I like how in this version Snow White “dies” by eating an apple that would supposedly make her wishes come true rather than for beauty reasons. In this version the Queen dies due to falling and a boulder falling on top of her. I like her death better in this version because Snow White seems nicer since she doesn’t sentence the Queen to death. Again, I think that it is weird that they made a glass coffin for her so they could continue to admire her beauty and not so that they could see her and be reminded of all her good qualities. It is gross that a Prince would kiss a dead princess on the lips because no one knew that a true love’s kiss would wake her up from the sleeping death. However, I do like how Snow White doesn’t get married as a child in the end and they just walk into the sunset, and it says that they live happily ever after.