Snow White and the seven dwarfs

Snow White (1937)

APPENDIX

The researchers first viewed Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first animated film produced by Disney. It’s about a young princess who’s maltreated by her stepmother the Queen because of her incomparable beauty. She was described as beautiful because she replaced the Queen as the “fairest in the land”, which caused the conflict in the story.

It seems that the queen won't even be satisfied with just being beautiful, she needs to be the MOST beautiful one in the land, or she loses it and becomes murderous. 

The protagonist of the movie, Snow White, is vividly described in the film not only through images but also through words – written in the beginning of the film and narrated throughout the whole story. The words, which were written in the story book that was shown in the beginning of the film, suggest that Snow White is beautiful, as they go:
“Once upon a time there lived a lovely little Princess named Snow White. Her vain and wicked stepmother the Queen feared that someday Snow White’s beauty would surpass her own. 

This is the biggest issue in the movie, the one that sparks all the problems. 

So she dressed the little Princess in rags and forced her to work as a Scullery Maid.”
The protagonist’s good looks were also painted in the conversation between the Queen and the magic mirror, the object that could identify the fairest lady in the land.
Queen: Magic mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?
Mirror: Famed is thy beauty, Majesty. But hold, a lovely maid I see, rags cannot hide that gentle grace. Alas, she is more fair than thee.
Queen: Alas for her! Reveal her name!
Mirror: Lips red as the rose, hair black as ebony, skin white as snow...

At the start all Disney princesses had quite pale skin. Maybe because this was made back in 1937 but princesses were often of western ethnicities and had pale white skin. 

Her exceptional beauty was once again highlighted in the scene wherein the dwarfs was about to kill the trespasser who dared to sleep in their beds. They were ready to hit the “thing” in their bed, but when they removed the blanket and saw Snow White’s face, they were so moved by her beauty that they resolved not kill her.
Snow White’s incomparable beauty was further described even in her death. After she had eaten the poisoned apple and died, Snow White’s body was not buried, as told in

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this narration: “so beautiful, even in her death, that the dwarfs could not find it in their hearts to bury her...”
Standard of beauty
The words, scenes, and conversation mentioned above show Snow White’s great beauty. Physically, Snow White is portrayed in the animated film as having flawless, white skin parallel to snow. Her hair, which floated at the back of her neck, is wavy, adorned with a red ribbon, and is described as “black as ebony wood”. She’s a “little princess”, drawn as a girl with small stature, short small arms, flat chest, small abdomen, and little curve for the hips. She looks young, and is portrayed as someone around 14 years old. 

She was actually the youngest Disney Princess but also the oldest.

On the other hand, the Queen, the antagonist in the film, is shown as a woman whose black hair is hidden under her crown to highlight her perfectly-arched eyebrows and angular face. Though her skin is not shown, 

Her skin is shown on her face and yes it is white reinforcing that white skin was the ideal of beauty back then. 

 her face is white, giving the researchers the impression that her skin is also white. Though not noticeable, her body figure is neither slender nor fat: it is voluptuous, with gentle curves in the right places. Although her age is not revealed, the researchers concur that she’s old given her voice.

Im pretty sure she isn't that old considering she makes a potion/spell to make her old, I think she is quite young and its just the voice of the actress. 

The conflict of the story revolves around beauty. Given this fact and the definitions of beauty as depicted by Snow White and the Queen, the researchers agreed that Disney had set a standard for beauty through this film. Both the Queen and Snow White are said to be beautiful. Both have black hair, white skin, and fit bodies. The Queen is “famed” for her beauty, as what the mirror had said; however, her beauty was beaten by Snow White’s as she becomes old. The picture painted in this film suggests that beauty comes with young age, and that old people’s beauty is subordinate to that of the young. It further suggests that older people should make more efforts to look young forever so that they’ll be hailed as beautiful.

I don't think it really says this to be honest. This is taking it a step too far. Do you see one wrinkle on the queens face? no. Therefore she is not old, she is young. Snow White is just more beautiful and she has serious issues with that. 

Another definition of beauty was set through the hairstyle of the characters in the film. Snow White let her hair loose, while the Queen keeps it tied under her crown. Both of 64

these hairstyles go with the formula Disney has made to define the antagonists from the protagonists. Most of the protagonists in Disney animated films leave their hair unfastened to give them a more charming appearance. On the other hand, most of the antagonists’ hairstyles are kept to give them an authoritative and overwhelming aura.

I don't think having your hair tied back gives you an aura of either authority or overwhelmingness, I think it is just a personal choice about the villains. Perhaps it makes them look more proper, older, less young and dreamy, but certainly not overwhelming or authoritative. 

Characteristics of Protagonists and Antagonists
Snow White is presented as a weak and submissive woman, as suggested when she does not defend herself from the bad treatment of her stepmother. Although she is mistreated by her stepmother the Queen, she does not talk back to defend herself;

She is a major doormat

rather, she chose to accept all the tasks given to her. This portrayal shows that good women do not talk back nor speak their mind, but rather obey and accept the tasks given to them.
Snow White loves to sing 

it seems like every disney princess has a high angelic soprano voice

as shown when she’s cleaning, fetching water, picking up flowers, and comforting herself. This portrays a woman’s love for music, even in challenging times.

What is this article even on about. I don't think its meant to portay anything for women as a whole i think it is just a typical disney princess choice portraying a princess as someone who loves to sing. 

Snow White’s passion to sing is shown in the lyrics of one of her songs:
With a smile and a song
Life is just like a bright, sunny day Your cares fade away
And your heart is young
With a smile and a song.
Snow White is also shown as a graceful lady by the way she walks and talks. Her voice is so calm and her actions are so feminine.

Thats very true her movements are very flitty and flirtatious 

 Even in hurry or waking up, she still is very feminine and gentle. An additional character of Snow White’s is her timidity, as shown when the prince approached her and serenaded her and she ran away inside the castle. 

Its funny how she is so shy and hides away from the prince while he serenades her and then goes on about how much she loves him and how much she wants to run away with him... Its like umm you had your opportunity when he serenaded you why did you hide?

Further, she is compassionate to animals as she comforts the lost bird (while she was picking up flowers) and plays and sings with the animals in the forest. Her gentleness had saved her as the huntsman who was ordered to kill her can’t do the task upon witnessing what she did to the bird. These portrayals of Snow White’s character entail that a woman is expected to be gentle, timid, kind, and compassionate most of the time.
Snow White is furthermore depicted as an innocent woman; thus, explains why she easily gives her trust to anyone. Her naivety was first shown when she trusted the animals and followed them to a house in the woods and stayed there; cleaned it; and cooked for the residents she does not even know. It’s shown the second time when she trusted the peddler

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(which is actually the Queen in disguise). It was last shown when she allowed the Prince, whom she barely even know, to take her “to happily ever after”. Aside from being naïve, she also gets frightened easily. This is shown when she ran like a madman upon being told by the huntsman to run. As she ran deep into the woods, she sees the trees, the logs, the animals, and the leaves as creatures that will devour her. When she can’t take it anymore, she fell down and cried, as if doing it can help her get out of the terrifying situation. These scenes depict that a woman easily gives her trust to just anyone. They further show a woman’s tendency to cry when faced with unbearable problems, giving viewers the thought that women always cry when faced with heavy yolk.
The protagonist is also characterized as inflexible to the situation she’s in as shown in the scene where she asks the animals if they have known a place for her to stay.
Snow White: I really felt quite happy now. I’m sure I’ll get along somehow. Everything’s going to be alright. But I do need a place to stay at night. (Laughs) I can’t sleep on the ground like you (referring to the rabbits), or in a tree the way you do (referring to the squirrels), and I’m sure no nest could possibly be big enough for me. Maybe you know where I can stay. In the woods somewhere? You do? Will you take me there?
This scene suggests that a woman is not resilient. It portrays a woman’s disability to adapt to the situation she faced. For the researchers, this scene put women in the light where they may be viewed as weak and dependent. This underestimates a woman’s ability to build a make-shift house or sleep outdoors or adjust to any difficult situation.
Moreover, Snow White is portrayed as a believer of dreams and wishes. This characteristic is shown in the scene where she fetched water from the well and talked to the doves:
Snow White: Want to know a secret? Promise not to tell? We are standing by a wishing well.
(Then sings)
Make a wish into the well
That's all you have to do
And if you hear it echoing Your wish will soon come true

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Throughout the movie, Snow White is presented as a woman who waits for her true love. She is a dreamer as shown a lot of times in the movie. It was first shown through the song she sang while getting water from the well. The lyrics of the song tell how idealistic Snow White is. The following is the lyrics of the song:
I'm wishing, I'm wishing
For the one I love to find me
To find me, today, today
I'm hoping, I'm hoping
And I'm dreaming of the nice things The nice things he'll say, he'll say.
Another scene that shows Snow White’s romantic fantasies is when the dwarfs ask her for a story. She told them her ideal love story, which goes like this:
Once there was a princess... And she fell in love... Anyone could see that the prince was charming... The only one for me... There’s nobody like him, anywhere at all... He was so romantic, I could not resist.
Then she sings a song that further depict her dream that someday, a Prince will come and get her out of her misery. The following is the lyrics of the song:
Someday my Prince will come Someday we'll meet again And away to his castle we'll go To be happy forever...
Some day when spring is here We'll find our love anew
And the birds will sing
And wedding bells will ring Some day when my dreams Come true
This characteristic of hers caused her demise. Because she believes in wishes, she trusted the old peddler’s story that the apple could grant her every wish. Before taking a bite, she chanted this wish: “...and that he will carry me away to his castle...and we’ll live happily ever after”. These scenes forward the stereotypes that women have nothing in their mind but the thoughts of their ideal man; that even if women are cleaning or doing other

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things, they’re still constantly thinking about their dream guy. Moreover, it shows that women are hopeless romantics and would go to further length to achieve their dream love, their happy endings. 

This is true it seems in Disney all women are concerned with is finding a man that will take them to happily ever after

Again, these scenes marginalized women by creating stereotypes that put women in a prejudiced light.
The Queen has been portrayed as the vain, jealous, and wicked stepmother of Snow White. It was told that each day, she would consult the Magic Mirror, asking him “who is the fairest of them all”, and as long as the mirror answered that it’s her, “Snow White is safe from the Queen’s jealousy.” She’s so jealous of Snow White’s beauty that she has forced Snow White to work as a maid in the castle so that the latter’s beauty would be left unnoticed. However, Snow White’s beauty is so extraordinary that a day has come when the mirror answered that the fairest is Snow, not the Queen. Needless to say, the Queen got so angry. Due to jealousy and her wickedness, she ordered her huntsman to kill Snow White. These scenes added a point to the common stereotype that women are vain and are often jealous with fellow women’s physical beauty and would go to great lengths just to be hailed the most beautiful.
The Queen is also tricky. When she sent the huntsman to kill Snow White, she gave him a box “to make doubly sure” that the huntsman does not fail. The Queen was also described as bad, mighty mean, an old witch, and powerful as shown by the dwarfs’ descriptions of her in the following conversation:
Snow White: Please, don't send me away. If you do, she'll kill me. Doc: Kill you?
Happy: Who will?
Sleepy: Yes, who?
Snow White: My stepmother, the Queen. All dwarfs: The Queen!
Doc: She's wicked.
Happy: She's bad.
Sleepy: She's mighty mean.
Grumpy: She's an old witch! I'm warnin' ya! If the Queen finds her here, she’ll swoop down...and wreak her vengeance on us!
Snow White: But she doesn't know where I am.

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Grumpy: She don't, huh? She knows everything. She's full of black magic. She can even make herself invisible. Pfft! Might be in this room right now.
The conversation above shows how wicked and bad the Queen is, and it’s true. She has the power to make Snow White’s life miserable. When she knew that the huntsman haven’t killed Snow White and instead placed a pig’s heart inside the box, she sets out to kill Snow herself. She used magic to create “a disguise so complete no one will ever suspect”. 

Its funny that the disguise she chooses "so that no one will ever suspect" seems to be the opposite of what she is e.g old, ugly etc. This also proves that the queen can't be that old. 

She further used magic to put poison in the apple, which could deliver the Sleeping Death to the one who eats it.
Upon reaching the village, the Queen (disguised as a peddler) had first started to sell the apple to Snow White. But the animals attacked her, knowing that Snow White’s in great danger. Sensing that her plan is about to fail, the Queen acted like she was hurt and asked Snow to bring her inside the house. After some time, she offered the apple to Snow as a token of gratitude and used Snow’s Achilles’ heel to kill her. She said to Snow that the apple is a wishing magic apple that could grant anyone’s wishes. Snow White, dreamer and gullible, believed the peddler’s story and ate the apple, leading to her death. This scene shows the Queen’s wiliness and determination to eliminate Snow so that again, she’ll be the fairest in the land. 

Gender Role/ Career Path
Generally, the film Snow White has described women as “full of wicked wiles”, as stated by Grumpy, one of the seven dwarfs, in this scene:
Doc: Why, i-it's a girl!
Happy: She's mighty pretty.
Bashful: She's beautiful. Just like a angel.
Grumpy: Angel, hah! She's a female! And all females is poison! They're full of wicked wiles!
During the researcher’s data gathering, they had observed that the female protagonist and antagonist in Snow White have been marginalized. Their roles are constrained by a certain standard Disney had set.
Because of her loveliness, the Queen dressed Snow White in rags and forced her to work as a scullery maid. Thus, Snow White cleans the castle: she scrubs the floor and fetches water from the well. Even in the dwarfs’ house, she manages the cleaning and the cooking – two of the tasks a woman has been confined to do because of her gender. 

I did notice while watching this how quickly they let the character of snow white settle into her gender role of cooking and cleaning the dwarfs house and offering her cooking and cleaning services in order to hide at their house. 

It is notable that upon entering the dwarfs’ house for the first time, she quickly took notice of the smallness of the chair and how dirty the house is, as shown in the scene with the following conversation:
Snow White: What a cute little chair. Why, there's seven little chairs.
Must be seven little children. And from the look of this table, seven untidy little children... And just look at that fireplace, it’s covered with dust. (Blows dust) And look, cob webs everywhere! My, my my! Look at the pile of dirty dishes. (Shocked) And just look at that broom! They’ve never swept this room.

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The conversation tells how meticulous Snow White is when it comes to cleanliness. These scenes portray the stereotyped role of women as having works restricted only to housekeeping. Upon entering another place, a woman’s eyes would look at how organized or dirty a place is. It is also important to note Snow White’s line when she realized that the “children” have no mother:
Snow White: And just look at that broom! They’ve never swept this room. You think their mother was... (shocked) Maybe they have no mother. Then they’re orphans! ...
Given the conversation above, the researchers conclude that Snow have realized that the occupants of the house have no mother because of the clutter and dirtiness in the house. This goes to show that if a mother is present, such mess would not meet Snow White because a mother, as a woman, would clean the house.

Ooh thats so true, so just because the house is dirty means that they don't have a mother? could a father not cook and clean? apparently not. 

Another gender role portrayed by Snow White is women’s femininity. Snow White loves to sing, pick up flowers, and care for the animals – roles that are very feminine. These show the stereotypes that women are expected to be gentle and compassionate. They don’t pull up the flowers or kill the animals because they are bound to be kind. Also, before facing the Prince who serenaded her and before knocking at the door of the dwarfs’ house, she fixes herself. This shows that women are greatly concerned with their looks. To charm anyone (in Snow White’s case, the Prince) and befriend strangers and gain their trust (in the Snow’s case, the dwarfs), a woman must fix herself to look pleasant.
Another gender role portrayed by Snow White is her need for security. When she was trapped in the forest, Snow White is unsure of what would happen to her. When she befriended the animals, she told them that she needs a place to stay. In dire times like that one, she could have built her own house in the forest, like a man would do; but instead, she looks for a house to stay with the help of the animals. This scene underestimates a woman’s ability to survive. It shows that women, because of their weakness, can’t sleep and survive

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outdoors. They need security from any kind of wickedness from a well-built place, which in Snow White’s case, is the house of the seven dwarfs. A woman’s need for security was further shown when she asks the dwarfs to let her stay in the house to keep away from the Queen. Other people might have stayed far from the kingdom to hide from the Queen, but she took solace in the dwarfs’ kindness and never bothered to look for another place farther than the dwarfs’. Her dependence depicts a woman’s need for someone to protect her, which again underestimates a woman’s ability to survive.
The last gender role the researchers had identified in Snow White’s character is her powerlessness to save herself from the curse. Snow White needs her first love’s kiss to be back to life, which entails that she needs a man to bring her back to life. After receiving her first kiss, she woke up, went away with the prince, and was said to “live happily ever after”. This part of the story suggests that a woman needs a man to rescue her from life’s misfortunes. She needs a man to sweep her off her feet and to get her happily ever after. Again, this scene undermines a woman’s ability to take care of herself. It undervalues a woman’s ability to be happy without a man, and it further push the notion that every woman needs a knight in a shining armor.
The Queen, on the other hand, is portrayed as a wicked stepmother. Jealous of her stepdaughters’ beauty, she’ll stop at nothing to be hailed the “fairest in the land” again. She ordered her most trusted huntsman to kill Snow White. When the huntsman failed, she went to do the task. She disguised herself as an old peddler selling a magic apple and sets out to the “seven jeweled hills” to kill Snow. This role of the Queen’s has put stepmothers into a bad light. It goes with the stereotype that stepmothers are austere and unreasonable towards their stepchildren; that stepmothers don’t feel any compassion to their stepchildren, which is not always the case.

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Although powerful, the Queen still died at the end, when the rock where she stood got hit by a lightning. This ending gives viewers the hope that all evil has its end and goodness always prevail.
The gender roles of the main female characters in the film Snow White has been very limited. The protagonist is portrayed as feminine and very submissive. The antagonist, though strong and independent, is evil. This proves that Disney has made a standard for women gender roles: women should be submissive to be good. Those that are dominant and strong are evil, cunning, and undesirable.
The matrix that follows contains the data gathered for the gender role and career paths of the film’s main character.