By Erin Tracey
A visit to the cinema granted moviegoers the ability to escape reality for a brief period before returning to the intricacies of the Great Depression in the 1930s. At that point, Hollywood was in its Golden Age as major film studios cast bigwig stars in stories glamorizing high society life to entertain those scuffling to stay afloat in the United States. Yet, Walt Disney sought an alternative approach as is evident in his first feature-length animation Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Its fantastical elements make the fairy tale appear whimsical and mask its underlying capitalist themes that reflect the political context of the decade rather than avoid it. As an appropriation of the written fable associated with the Brothers Grimm, the 1937 film adaptation utilizes an array of cinematic techniques that promote, to a distressed population of viewers, notions of collectivism, diligence, and the new American Way.
If not for its theatrical release during a rise in animation, the story of Snow White would lose its mark as an emblem of Americana. At the time of its distribution, few held high hopes for the work’s success as “it was prophesied that nobody would sit through a cartoon an hour and a half long” (Plunkett). Yet, that did not dwindle the spark lit in Walt Disney. He “had decided there was only one way [he] could successfully do Snow White—and that was to go for broke—shoot the works… [with] no compromise on money, talent, or time” (Plunkett). A $1,499,000 budget proved worthy of every penny for the opening premiere brought in $66,596,803 and an additional three re-releases brought the lifetime gross up to $184,925,486 (IMDb Pro). Its positive commercial outcome could be attributed to both technical innovations (i.e. the synchronization of music and the use of Technicolor) and engaging characters (i.e. the Evil Queen).
Disney’s choice to translate the story into the media of film places his version of the tale in the forefront while grisly literary and oral forms, ill-suited for children, disappear in casual discussions of the general public in the United States. As an institutionalization of the genre, cinema poses a great threat to the success of traditional print storytelling because these visual works give characters a voice, an appearance, and characteristics that may contradict those of past narrations. A film’s message and content hinges upon the beliefs of the director who integrates personal bias into these works via the pen of their artist. As a known supporter of Franklin D. Rosevelt, Walt Disney saw “work” as “the real adventure of life” (Batkin) and reflected these ideals through character’s behaviors and mindsets to make a product of nationalist propaganda in favor of the New Deal. In addition, his signature rags-to-riches pipeline reflects the upbringing of the creator himself who “came from a relatively poor family and suffered from the exploitative and stern treatment of an unaffectionate father” (Zipes 343) before rising to fame with the creation of Walt Disney Studios.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs condemns the antagonistic Evil Queen meant to represent the greedy, individualist ideology of the 1920s. After the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the U.S. needed a scapegoat to blame for the “immeasurable depth of economic, social, and cultural turmoil” (Mollet 112). It was nearly impossible to pinpoint a direct cause, though bankers held accountable unrestrained speculation; analysts, the failure to raise interest rates; and financial writers, the Federal Reserve System (Klein 328). All could, in a general sense, point fingers at superficiality and material wealth as pitfalls of the Great Depression: definitive qualities of the ‘Wicked Queen.’ At the conceptualization stage of character development, she was set to be “a mixture of Lady MacBeth and the Big Bad Wolf” (Mollet 116). Her selfish demand to the magic mirror, “‘[w]ho is the fairest one of all?’” (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), becomes a recurring motif as she obsesses over maintaining her reign as enchantress of the land. As soon as she hears the words “she is more fair than thee” about a maiden with “lips red as the rose, hair black as ebony, skin white as snow,” the queen wraps her hand in fist, narrows her eyes, and, in an aggravated tone, exclaims “Snow White!” (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs). A green tint covers the mirror, symbolic of the queen’s envy. Atop her throne, decorative set design in the background and a fanciful wardrobe emulate her villainous aristocratic demeanor with a purple gown, the color of royalty, and a gold ceremonial chair in the shape of a peacock. As a means of accentuating the lifestyle difference between the two main characters, Disney depicts Snow White as a scullery maid of the Evil Queen. In ordering a huntsman to kill her step daughter, the queen knows she will reclaim her grand title, “fairest of all,” and covet the princess’s wealth. As opposed to an absent father, a story beat of the Grimm Brothers, the film begins with the death of the protagonist’s parents, eliminating any “betrayal of a parental figure” (Mollet 116) and chance to deflect blame onto supporting characters for failing to protect Snow White; thus, the sole person to condemn remains the Evil Queen. A personification of past generations, her character warns audiences about the dangers of reverting to past egocentric principles that’ll never lift a weakened society out of the Great Depression.
A sharp contrast to the heartlessly ambitious Evil Queen, the compassionate and hopeful Snow White exhibits a middle class heroine of the 1930s. Accepting her subordinate position in the castle, the princess executes her daily duties with a graceful hum: fetching water and scrubbing a staircase on hands and knees, “rags” unable to “hide her gentle face” (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs). Her mentality of patience and ability to reconcile her subpar living conditions echoes the spirit of Americans who stayed quiet during the Great Depression. At the same time, she remains hopeful and inspiring through her ability to dream. As doves coo around the wishing well, the princess sings, harmonizing with her own echoing voice, which summons a prince who overhears her melodious tune: “I’m wishing for the one I love to find me, today. I’m hoping and I’m dreaming of the nice things he’ll say” (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs). Another song with lyrics about reuniting with the prince chimes in later on while she sings in front of the dwarfs, reiterating her persistent optimism. Her self-reliant and sincere character reaffirms the notion that “if [you] remain positive and hardworking, good will triumph over evil and [you] will be released from the suffering of everyday life” (Mollet 116) which was motivating for Americans nostalgic of the economic growth of the ‘Roaring Twenties.’
Snow White, on top of her charismatic nature, embodies the collective fear of most Americans in the late 1920s. As the nation’s economy went in a downward spiral, people began to take personal responsibility for financial failure and became weary of the unforeseen future. After she’s spared her life and told to flee faraway, the protagonist enters the dark, deep forests alone and unprotected with nervous feelings akin to those of the general population at the time of the film’s release in 1937. An intense instrumental soundtrack complements action sequences of her tangling herself up in thorn bushes, falling through a hidden sinkhole, and plummeting into murky waters below while the sound of her screams interject. It clearly being her first instance in the woods heightens her anxiety for she’s both unfamiliar with her surroundings and unaware of her final destination without any home awaiting her return. As she sprint through the terrain, the protagonist lets her overwhelming emotions get the best of her and she hallucinates “frightening trees as monsters” as well as “vicious river logs” as “crocodiles” (Mollet 115) until friendly woodland creatures reveal themselves under spots of sunlight and she admits to her delirious visions: “You don’t know what I’ve been through. And all because I was afraid. I’m so ashamed of the fuss I made. What do you do when things go wrong?” (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs). Acknowledging her weak reaction to terror exemplifies the message of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s First Inaugural Address in 1933 which reads, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself–nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance” (Roosevelt). After overcoming the fear highlighted in FDR’s speech, the protagonist picks herself up, finds a place to stay, coexists with the dwarfs, and ends up living ‘happily ever after.’
Brothers Grimm’s Snow White excludes any notation of Snow White becoming a subordinate to the Evil Queen. Instead, the fairy tale emphasizes themes of familial drama without depictions of stark class differences. It’s evident that “Disney transformed [Snow White] into the leading role in the rags to riches story of the American Dream” (Mollet 114), Americanizing a tale traditionally known to be European. Additionally, the distinct resolutions in each version vary based on which subject receives greater attention. In the Brothers Grimm, emphasis lies on the death of the Evil Queen. At the royal wedding, “she had to put on red hot iron shoes and dance in them until she dropped to the ground dead” (Tatar 196), a painful suffering for her bitter jealousy. Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs concludes on a lighter note with a glowing golden castle in the clouds, a vibrant pink sunset, a gleeful chorus, and the silhouettes of the lovely Snow White and the Prince. A decision to end with a romantic final scene as opposed to the queen’s death, which in the film occurs after she’s run off a cliff trying to crush the seven dwarfs under a tumbling boulder, accentuates the idea that an idealistic attitude will lead to a joyful and prosperous life. If the queen, disguised in her old hag garments, were the last character on screen, the motion picture would leave old values of individual greed in the spotlight and invoke fear in an audience already hopelessly suffering.
Alas, the seven dwarfs, perhaps the characters who vary most between the two tellings, gain an enthusiastic essense in the feature film as the bunch travel to work with a smile and a song, exemplifying the community spirit that grew as a result of FDR’s New Deal and the Works Progress Administration (WPA). After hundreds of thousands were left unemployed and impoverished due to the economy’s collapse, people set about teaming up to bring prosperity back to America. All types of employees came together, reverting “to a simple way of life” with the “repetition of manual labor tasks,” (Batkin) whether it be the Grumpys, the Sleepys, the Happys, or the Dopeys. Although the miners dig up a surplus of diamonds a day, the persistent blue-collar workmen never indulge in the financial benefits that come with cashing in these precious gems. Instead, the diligent dwarves mine just to mine without any material motivation: “We dig up diamonds by the score / A thousand rubies, sometimes more / But we don’t know what we dig ’em for / We dig dig dig a-dig dig” (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs). As ideal members of society’s working class, the dwarfs are “rigid in their routine of going to work in the mines, despite the distraction of the princess hiding in their home” (Batkin) and take pleasure in the process, apparent in the jolly tune ‘Heigh-Ho.’ An accidental trip dislodging the “poisonous piece of apple lodged in” the unconscious princess’s “throat” (Tatar 198) becomes lost once the written text converts into an animation. Adopting a separate approach to awakening the protagonist, the movie puts these run-of-the-mill diggers in a new light as heroic saviors of Snow White. Disney’s choice to make the dwarfs active characters in the rescue of the protagonist demonstrates that “the ordinary man could still become extraordinary through his acts, as opposed to through his wealth” (Mollet 119). Audience members viewing the film exit the theater typifying the meticulous and driven attitudes of these ideal working class miners hoping to become heroes someday as well.
Walt Disney cast a hypnotic spell on every film made through Walt Disney Studios, especially Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Its content aligns with that of the film’s original decade, the 1930s, though an embellished score and intriguing characters shroud its strong political message. An abundance of story elements are based on the Brothers Grimm’s Snow White, yet the animation has a completely contrasting undertone reminiscent of the American Dream.
Work Cited:
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Zipes, Jack. “Breaking the Disney Spell,” From Mouse to Mermaid: The Politics of Film, Gender, and Culture, ed. Elizabeth Bell, Lynda Haas, and Laura Sells (Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1995), pp. 21–42. © 1995 by Indiana University Press. Reprinted with permission of Indiana University Press.
