The blog portion of this site has been a bit bare lately. I have a growing list of article ideas, but I haven't put them into action. In an attempt to write more, I thought I would come up with a fun movie watching activity. I landed on watching all (within reason) of the Disney animation movies starting with the first: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
For a while, Snow White was my absolute favorite Disney movie. My sister and I probably wore out our VHS copy. It was later replaced by the likes of The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, but I continue to have fond feelings of watching it as a child. However, unlike many other Disney animated movies, I haven't rewatched it as an adult. This was my first time, and I had some questions that needed answering.
How Did Mirror Mirror Come About?
This answer was probably the least interesting. While I thought there was this whole Mandela Effect happening, it was actually much easier to explain. Apparently, the Grimm story, which I somehow have not read but have read Snow White and Red Rose, says "Mirror Mirror" as do pretty much every language itieration besides the English U.S. version. Since everyone else in the world knew it as "Mirror Mirror" and not "Magic Mirror", it only makes sense that us plebians started saying it too.
What Is the Style of Singing Used in Snow White & Other Early Disney Movies?
This one was a little more interesting and common sensical if you understand music history.
Adriana Caelotti, the voice actor for Snow White, was a classically-trained soprano (the highest vocal range of all voice types, approximately from middle C to high A). In Snow White she sings in a semi-classical mode with a high degree of vibrato (a rapid, slight variation in pitch that produces a stronger or richer tone). This was largely due to Walt Disney, who was one of the individuals at the time who wanted to maintain classical music in popular play to better educate the masses (Fantasia being a good example of this.) This is why his heroine sings in an operatic classical style instead of one of the growing popular styles of the time, such as blues. However, the music throughout the film does shift from the operatta ideal to more contemporary practices of the time, including adding percussion and muted brass more associated with jazz styles and more modern numbers.
How Old Is Snow?
As the Prince climbed over the castle walls to duet with Snow White, it occurred to me that all Dinsey Princesses are typically under the age of 16. The idea of this creeper marrying her at the end of the movie thus took on a whole new emotion than the one I had as a four to six year old when this movie lived on repeat.
Ever living up to the Disney Princess archetype, Snow White is stated to be 14. So at this very young age, she became the ire of the Evil Queen, who tried to have her heart cut out, and the true love of this wandering Prince.
Of course, this isn’t all Disney’s fault. The Grimm brothers jotted down this fairy tale over 100 years earlier, and it was a folk tale long before then. Women, unfortunately, became ripe for wedding right around this age. It’s icky, but it was realistic. The real problem arises later on when the princesses remain the same age and are still being wedded off.
What Was the Evil Queen’s Goal with the Apple?
The opening of Snow White is incredibly dark. Immediately after the opening number, the Evil Queen sends the Huntsman to murder Snow and bring back the girl’s heart. This woman was not pulling any punches. I even applaud her do it yourself approach when the Huntsman failed. However, what confuses me is what she hoped to gain. The Sleeping Death spell clearly states it will not kill Snow, but put her into a permanent sleep similar to Sleeping Beauty.
While the Evil Queen does not get to see the fruits of her labor as she falls to her death right after poisoning Snow, I don’t believe she would have been happy with the results. Since Snow was technically still alive and remained so beautifully frozen that the Dwarfs couldn’t bring themselves to bury her, I have to imagine she would have remained the fairest of them all.
I don’t understand why the Queen took this route. She had already proven she wasn’t above murdering a child in a gruesome fashion. Why did she settle for putting her to sleep on the second attempt? Also, did her hag shapeshifter spell have a reversal or in her attempt to poison Snow did she really ruin any chance she had at winning the “fairest” title.
Why Is He Called Prince Charming?
As far as I’m aware, the prince in Disney’s Snow White has always been referred to as “Charming”. The name is so prevalent that it was actually poked fun at in the TV show Once Upon a Time. However, when watching this iteration, it occurred to me that he’s never actually called that. His name also doesn’t read as Charming in the subtitles or credits, which is sometimes how these things come about.
Florian, as he was later named, is not actually Prince Charming but the first Prince Charming. The moniker became a trope for describing fairy tale characters who engaged in a quest to rescue a damsel in distress from an evil person, spell, or general bad situation.
Prince Charming is often “handsome and romantic” and the “reward the heroine achieves for her decisions.” I’m not exactly sure what decisions Snow made to give her a whole person as a reward besides being pretty, a good singer, nice, and an all around caretaker. Ok, she's pretty awesome.
All that being said it allows me to tangent into my obeservation that the Wishing Well was behind it all. As demonstrated early on, the Well was a sentient being. When Snow sings, "I'm wishing for the one I love to find me," the Well grants her wish with the echo being its acknowledgement. The reprise of "Someday My Prince Will Come" at the end of the film solidified this theory with what I believe to be the Well singing, "away to his castle you'll go" as Snow's very own Prince Charming awoke her with True Love's Kiss and carried her off ot live happily ever after.