A Look Back At 'Snow White': She Was Strong Even Back Then

TV & Film

Apr 5

“With a smile and a song, life is just a bright sunny day, your cares fade away, and your heart is young,” and one film company is saved by one man taking a risk with one full-length animated film about a young princess wishing for true love.

A simple story about love and perseverance touched the hearts of many back in 1937 and continues to inspire others today. Considered to be one of the most important films in history, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves received a live-action remake that brought “changes for modern sensibilities, as well as delivering the same brand of expanded story and character development,” according to GameRant.com. The reliance on character and story expansion has the potential to stray from the principal messages of the film and what made them memorable.

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Behind The Scenes Of The 'Snow White' Debacle

Snow White herself paved the way for the other princesses to follow. Only fourteen years old, she was forced by her stepmother, the Evil Queen, into downplaying her beauty by dressing and working her as a scullery maid. When the Queen’s magic mirror eventually revealed that Snow White was now the fairest in the land, the Evil Queen’s “cruel jealousy” knew no bounds. Further embroiled in her jealousy, the Evil Queen orders a huntsman to take Snow White into the woods and kill her—an act shocking the huntsman and Snow White when he reveals this to her. Unable to follow through with it, the huntsman kneels before Snow White, begs for forgiveness, and orders her to run away from the Evil Queen. This is one of the first moments where Snow White’s spirit could have been broken. It almost was.

Going through what might be interpreted as a panic attack, Snow White feels like the forest was either keeping her from running from certain death or trying to tell her someone else is after her. This scene was a marvel in hand-drawn animation and technological advancement. Adrenaline running high and the memory of her stepmother plotting to murder her still fresh in her mind, Snow White collapses to the ground and sobs. This is understandable. She’s lost the closest thing she’s had to a home and her sense of safety, and here starts an important moment of character development.

Having calmed down and feeling remorseful for scaring the animals, she admits to overreacting out of fear. Not only this, she asks the animals, “What do you do when things go wrong?” This is where Snow White learns about being brave “with a smile and a song.” This shows a sense of being fearless, not through brute strength or cunning, but by holding onto hope, perseverance, and kindness; a soft kindness and bravery that won over the love of the animals in the forest. With the animals helping her find safety, their love for Snow White later came in handy after the Evil Queen found her, and they rallied the dwarves to save the girl who showed them kindness and resilience.

Upon entering the dwarves' cottage, Snow White believes the dwarves to be children without a mother with their small beds and their cottage being a mess. The act of cleaning the cottage and preparing a meal for the dwarves is domestic, but allows Snow White to regain a sense of normalcy and agency. Away from the forceful thumb of the Evil Queen, Snow White volunteers her time cooking and cleaning for the dwarves. The dwarves were taken by her beauty, yes, but they also enjoyed her company and cared for her as she cared for them. Snow White’s motherly love toward the dwarves gave them as much stability as they gave her. Even Grumpy, the one who protested her arrival the most, was the first to round up the others after the Evil Queen found her. The seven dwarves give her their protection and moments of joy when they sing and dance together.

Living with the dwarves strengthened Snow White’s wish for “the one [Snow White] loves to find [her].” In the beginning, her singing by the wishing well for true love is a wish to be taken away from the Evil Queen. During her song, Prince Florian hears her song and approaches her. Surprised and embarrassed, Snow White runs off into another part of the castle, only to come back out when the prince sings a love song back to her. Reciprocating his love and sharing a kiss of sorts, the two part ways reuniting at the last quarter of the film when the prince comes across Snow White in the woods after having bitten the poison apple. Grief-stricken, Prince Florian sings a reprise of his love song and gives Snow White a final kiss goodbye—a true love’s kiss that awakens Snow White.

Snow White waking up from true love’s kiss shows that their love was mutual. She had previously told the dwarves this, even going as far as to say, “It was very easy” to Sneezy when he asked if it was hard to fall in love. This might imply that the two already knew about each other, especially when Snow White’s wish at the wishing well was for “the love [she] loves” to find her, as if to say she wants someone she already loves to save her. Her famous song “Someday My Prince Will Come” explicitly states the Prince as her true love and Snow White’s dream for them to reunite. Her wish comes true; firstly when the Prince comes to mourn Snow White. He, the dwarves, and the animals believe her to be dead. They all gather to mourn the girl who showed them kindness, love, and bravery. His kiss was one of love, but one of sadness. What was meant to be a farewell became Snow White’s final wish come true; he came back, and the two can live together in his castle forever.

Snow White could have easily given up and become a villain. Given all that was thrown at her, this 14-year-old kept a kind heart. Her spirit was never broken. Yes, she wished for true love, but this wish was granted in more ways than one. Her kindness and perseverance granted her love—familial love from the dwarves, platonic love from the animals, and then romantic love from Prince Florian. While not an active fighter in her story, Snow White’s gentleness and femininity do not make her weak. The Magic Mirror relayed, “Rags could not hide her gentle grace” when describing her. It was right. “The one that started it all” is more than just a pretty face. Her resilience and hard work gave her the brighter tomorrow she deserved, a sentiment that started Walt Disney’s empire and perhaps gave people in 1937 a glimmer of hope during the Great Depression. Her heart was her sword, and her song would live on.