Week 5

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The Disney adaptation of the fairy tale Snow White changed a lot of things. This was most likely to make the story more appropriate and enjoyable for all ages. Nonetheless, there were many changes. Both versions feature a beautiful young maiden by the name of Snow White, her skin as white as snow and lips as red as blood, and a beautiful queen who despite her efforts could not match the beauty of Snow White, much to her dismay. The queen ordered her to be taken out into the forest and killed, however, her henchman couldn't bring himself to do it and instead told Snow White to run away and never return. In the Disney version, they emphasize the inclusion of animals and how Snow White has a friendship with them. They appear very often and even help Snow White clean the dwarves' house when she finds it. However, in the original version, Snow White does not clean the house. There's not even a mention of the dwarves' house being dirty. It's even described to be "indescribably dainty and neat". Instead of cleaning, rather, Snow White eats some of the dwarves' food and sleeps in one of their beds. When Snow White awakes, she tells her story about the queen and how she had to run away. The dwarves make a deal with her and propose that if she cleans, cooks, and sews for them they'll let her stay. However, in the Disney version, it is Snow White who proposes this deal. The Disney version focuses on the dwarves a lot more than the original does. Disney makes each dwarf their own character, and there are a few scenes only featuring the dwarves for comedic purposes. When the queen disguises herself and visits the dwarves' house, she does it three times in the original, whereas in the Disney version she only visits once. At the end of the story, the queen dies by falling and being crushed by a boulder, rather than dying to red-hot slippers like in the original. As I said, these changes were most likely made to make the story more accessible to all ages and to make it feel more like a real story with real characters. But it is still something interesting to think about.