Disney Vs Snow White Essay

Grimm wrote “Snow White” with the intention of socializing children of Germany. Grimm had specific goals with his writing, and when Disney adapted “Snow White,” certain aspects of the tale were changed. Disney sought to showcase the utopian society which he hoped his interpretation of the fairy tale would create. This utopian society which Disney wished to create showed a regression in the realm of storytelling. Instead of focusing on character development and morals, focus was placed on showcasing film techniques. Furthermore, the changes that Disney implemented from Grimm’s version showed a change in the hero of the work. This is especially seen in the comparison of Grimm’s “Snow White” and Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Grimm

In “Snow White,” the Queen visited the dwarfs house three separate times attempting to kill Snow White. In the film, the Queen only visited Snow White once, and this was when the apple was introduced. The rest of the film was devoted to scenes that did not move the plot forward. Instead of the storyline taking precedent, Disney saw the film as “a vehicle for animators to express their artistic talents” (Zipes 195). This was especially seen by the scenes including the seven dwarfs. One could argue that the development of the seven dwarfs’ personalities showed character development. However, each personality was a stereotype, and the time devoted to showcasing the seven dwarfs would have been better spent expanding on Snow White. For example, when Snow White made the seven dwarfs dinner, she saw how dirty their hands were and told them to “march straight outside and wash, or you’ll not get a bite to eat” (Disney). This then led to a five-minute scene in which the seven dwarfs were bathing and singing. The scene was an excuse for the animators to show off new techniques. Without scenes like this, which do not even have Snow White shown, the personality of Snow White could have been expanded upon, making her less of the one-dimensional character Disney