Blog #3

[madison.m.miller]

Blog no. 3: How do you explain the success of Disney's Snow Whiteafter its release in 1937 and up to this day? How is this success indicative of American culture?

In their criticism, Gilbert and Gunbar site Freud and Jung and their assertion that fairy tales capture the essence of a culture more poignantly than the greatest novels. The success of Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves" is largely due to this very idea. The movie manages to encapsulate the very ideals of America at the time and include ones that hold true to today. I would argue that the evil queen and her motives in this version has nothing to do with the "sexual" desires of the absent king or the Oepedial jealousies that are more prominent in the other written fairy tale versions. The evil queen here is crafty, untruthful, and conniving while Snow White is pure, honest, and hard working. Snow White is so popular because she mirrors the "American Dream." 

Like most Americans at the time of the film's release had fallen on hard time, unjustly, just like the heroine. She had been forced from their rightful high place to one of poverty. When she is about to be killed by the evil queen's huntsman, he stops and cannot complete the task because he recognizes the value of her honest, upright nature. She then flees into the woods and is temporarily mourns her loss and becomes terrified of the forrest. However, the sun comes out and she gathers herself and makes the comment that she made such a fuss "all because I was afraid." She is only able to move on successfully after she embodies fearlessness, a value American's highly regard. When she meets the dwarves, she "earns her keep" by helping them cook and clean. She is honest, hard working, and fearless. These values enable her to survive the evil queens curse and regain her rightful spot "on top" next to a prince. 

I also believe that this tale's popularity has endured to this day not only because of the aforementioned similarity to the "American Dream" but also because of the nature of the relationship Snow White has with the dwarves. Their relationship is co-dependent, one where they both add meaning and value to the others. Snow White cooks and cleans for the dwarves and in return they give her companionship and a safe place to live. She is able to take care of them and them, her. Both parties are also seen as having equal importance, which is a very progressive idea for the time, even though Snow White herself is embodying a very stereotypical housewife. 

Disney's changing of various aspects of the story created a true "American fairy tale." A story that in its simplicity manages to capture the essence of the American spirit and ideals, that even when unjustly fallen on hard times, the fearless, honest, hard working American will once again rise to success. 

[lucas.s.kunsman]

I agree with Madison on the story elements of Disney's Snow White contributing to its overall success.  It was released in the midst of the Great Depression, and showed the hard-working dwarves and Snow White co-existing, mutually benefitting from each other's hard work, and eventually coming out on top and rising from rags-to-riches.  This was a remarkably upbeat, inspiring message in the midst of the depression, and has lived on because it can be considered a fictional incarnation of the "American Dream" ideal that was shown in the real stories of Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Vanderbilt, and others leading up to the stock market crash.  While a strictly fictional story, the film could remind audiences of this true possibility of upward mobility and inspire them.  It has in-part persisted in popularity to this day because it still conveys that same idea and that same idea is still thought of as part of the American identity.

But I think that the film's medium is the reason that it is indicative of American culture moreso than just the story itself.  Disney's Snow White was the first full-length fully animated feature film.  Its medium is just as important in viewing its creative impact, and it stands as a monument of American ingenuity that it was the first of its kind, and not only the first, but executed extremely well at that.  Combining the medium and the story, it is seen that Disney's Snow White is the story of the American Dream encapsulated in the medium of American ingenuity.  With just one or the other, it would be a footnote; with both, it is the prominent movie that we view it as today.

[shoaib.a.rashid]

I think that both Madison and Lucas have very valid points. Rather than write something that pretty much says the same thing that the previous blog posts say, I will write about a different perspective. One interesting take on the reason that Snow White and stories of its type have had exceptional longevity is that they show one of the foremost struggles common to humanity, that of new generations trying to take control and older generations trying to maintain their position.

This struggle of passing the torch is always hard. As children we are in awe of our parents, seeing them as invincible. As we come of age, we begin to discover our own ability and we begin the process of overtaking our parents. It may start with something as simple as beating our fathers at basketball, or when a young girl becomes prettier than her mother and grows to replacing our parents in the workforce and as the main breadwinners in the family. But just as our parents gave way for us, so we must pass the torch to the next generation. Some people grow to accept this but others, such as the Queen in Snow White, fight this tooth and nail. The Queen chooses to fight this by attempting to stay young and beautiful. The Queen repeatedly asks the magic mirror “who is the fairest of all?” At first, the mirror replies that the Queen is. Later, after Snow White has met the Prince, the mirror says that Snow White is now the fairest in the land. She is unable to cope with Snow White taking her place as most beautiful person in the land. This may be her primary concern if she is simply extremely vain and selfish but this struggle for beauty also could symbolize the Queens struggle with the realization that sooner or later she will have to step down and allow Snow White to rule the land.  Despite the Queen’s wishes, Snow White leaves the castle and gains independence from the Queen ironically by moving in with 7 dwarves. The Queen, helpless to prevent Snow White from escaping hatches a plot to poison Snow White. This succeeds at first. However when trying to escape the Queen is unable to outrun the much quicker dwarves (another sign of her aging and that her time has come) and becomes trapped atop a cliff. She tries to use her magic to crush the dwarves but she is helpless to prevent a bolt that makes her fall to her death. The bolt is perhaps a symbol for the unstoppable hand of time, forcing the Queen to give up her resistance to the oncoming era of Snow White. Snow White is awoken by the young Prince, and they ride off into the sunset. Perhaps a dawn would have been more fitting as a metaphor of the dawn of their time.

Bettelheim and Gilbert argue that sexual competition is the root cause of the strife between Snow White and the Queen (who notably was changed from a biological mother to a step mother in the Grimm’s version). This is certainly true to some degree and adds another piece of evidence to the Queen being unable to deal with Snow White coming of age and overtaking her position. This central and universal struggle between Snow White and the Queen, between parent and child, is one of the root causes of the popularity of the story and the film. This is even more so the case in the United States as we are particularly obsessed with staying young forever. From the ubiquity of age defying makeup, dieting to look younger, surgeries to get rid of our wrinkles,  or wearing the most modern clothes in order to be like the youth of today, we as a society are extremely focused on maintaining our youth.  Many if not most our television programs and movies deal with the lives and problems of teenagers. So it is no wonder that the struggle for youth that is central to Snow White would propel the film to a prominent position in our American society.