The Grimm's Snow White

I had never read the Grimm’s version of Snow White up until now and its crazy to see how Disney changes up the story, especially with this being Disney’s first successful princess movie. However, from reading the story and having watched the Disney movie when I was younger, I would probably say that this story is a lot more like the Disney movie compared to other Disney movies. I have read little summaries of the real stories to some of the other Disney princess movies and most of them are incredibly different to the actual stories they are based on. Snow White, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to be too different. 

I laughed while reading this story because some of the events and details in it are just silly or ridiculous. One thing I found rather disturbing was the fact that everything that occurred in this story occurred while she was 7 years old! It is incomprehensible to me that 7 years old could’ve ever been considered an adult. That makes absolutely no sense to me. My little sister is 9 years old and she definitely still looks like a child with a baby face. Reading that all these adults were attracted to this 7 year old is just disturbing. Also, is it not creepy that a prince just finds this dead body and wants to keep it for himself to just look at? I also wonder how much time passed while she was in the coffin. I am really hoping that she was at least a little older by the time the prince saw her and they decided to get married. I definitely laughed out loud when I read that Snow White was revived from someone tripping over a stump and the apple just flying out of her throat from this motion. The Disney true love’s kiss is definitely a more romantic ending. I also laughed when reading about the different versions of Snow White, especially the one where instead of a talking mirror, there was a talking dog named Mirror. 

Something that frustrated me is how gullible and naive Snow White is. It is honestly Snow White’s own fault that she dies. You would think that after she got “killed” the first time, she would’ve known not to trust a random old lady trying to sell her things, but apparently that logic just never came to her. I guess I can’t really blame her however. After all, she is only 7 years old. When reading the part of the story where she discovers the cottage and takes food from each of the dwarves’ plates and then tries out each of their beds, I definitely got goldilocks vibes. Although, I think goldilocks was written after Snow White so I wonder if they got some inspiration from the Snow White story. 

I never realized how much symbolism was in the story of Snow White. Almost every detail and event had some deeper meaning. For example, the colors white, black, and red, which are mentioned a lot, have to do with the triple goddess. The triple goddess has 3 different aspects: maiden, mother, and crone, however, she is named after the color white (the maiden aspect). This makes sense since her character is a young maiden who embodies all the characteristics of this aspect. Also I found it interested how they compared Snow White’s coffin to a butterfly’s cocoon. This was suppose to symbolize her transition from a child to an adult woman who men will desire.