Snow White...Deserving of Being Iconic?

Growing up as a child I watched Disney films ranging from Pinocchio to the Lion King, including the iconic classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I didn’t realize it until a few days ago when I saw the film for the first time in probably ten years, but Snow White seems like a very plain character. There isn’t much to her. Also in the film version she is far more annoying than I remember. Don’t get me wrong I do think that Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a classic and should be seen by all, but I don’t think the character of Snow White should reign supreme on the top of any best character lists.

The film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was based of the Brothers Grimm tale of Snow White and throughout the film there are clear correlations. However, there were points in the film where there were attempts to follow the Brothers Grimm version, but were presented in a way that came off as just confusing or strange. One such point would be early on in the film when Snow White is in the forest and just barely escapes the knife of the huntsman and the evil forest. She is naïve and ignorant to what all is going on, preoccupied with picking pretty flowers. In the Brothers Grimm version it has age seven that Snow White becomes a real threat to the queen, her evil stepmother, but in the film she is definitely older than seven. However, in the film her actions and reactions are seemingly innocent that she comes across as childlike. Was everything ranging from her voice to picking flowers to talking to animals just Walt Disney’s attempt to make a young adult seem like a young child?

The character of Snow White portrayed in the film is seemingly flat, but was she just that way in the film version? No. In the Brothers Grimm version it is more about the development of the stepmother into the evil queen than the peasant princess turning into a real princess. In “Lasair Gheug, the King of Ireland’s Daughter” Lasair (Snow White) is a character with no concept of standing up for herself. She is constantly letting her stepmother and the malicious old woman place murder at her doorstep and she doesn’t even attempt to tell her father that she didn’t kill anyone or anything. Personally, I think that “The Young Slave” version is the only one that I’ve read that gives the character of Snow White some substance. Lisa, after being abused and becoming a complete stranger to her uncle is clever in her means of getting a doll, rock, and knife. She looms the threat of her uncle being engulfed if he doesn’t return with her gifts. She is the Snow White that has feeling and emotion, so much so that she almost kills herself. In different versions of Snow White there are different characters, settings, and situations, but in most it is the characters other than Snow White that propel the story and yet she remains the iconic figure. Should she really be one though?