By Mariia Bublykova, Year 12
Ever since the long-anticipated release of the live-action remake of Snow White by Disney, which provoked a substantial social discourse, once again the public’s attention was brought back to the classic fairytale. One of the primary sources of criticism for the newly released movie was the changes brought to the plot, as the new movie didn’t exactly follow the 1937 version step by step. Though many may consider the 1937 Snow White to be the untouchable “original”, or maybe recall the version of Snow White collected by Brothers Grimm as the earliest version. In reality both of them are simply the most popular adaptations of a story very different and much older than the one we usually think of when we hear of “Snow white”.
But first, we need to clarify what we consider to be tales about “Snow White”. By the Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index (ATU Index) (a catalogue of folktale types used in folklore studies Originally published in German by Finnish folklorist Antti Aarne (1910), later translated to english and expanded by numerous other folklorists), Snow White can be found under the index of “AT 709 Snow White” grouped among the “Tales of Magic” – featuring motifs such as D1323.1. Magic clairvoyant mirror; Z65.1. Red as blood, white as snow; D1364.4.1. Apple causes magic sleep.; S111.4. Murder with poisoned apple; F852.1. Glass coffin; and many more, depending on the specific tale’s origin. That implies that any tale from wherever in the world can be classified as a version of “Snow white” if it has at least one, or multiple themes matching the ones cited above.
Tales following a similar plot or based on the mentioned themes, both folk and author ones, were indeed found all over the world, from the continent of Eurasia to Africa and even the continent of South America. And while most of the stories were collected during the 18th and 19th centuries, largely inspired by the romanticism movement, many of the folk tales are believed to have originated during the Middle Ages or even earlier. Some of the most well-known being the British play adaptation by William Shakespeare “Cymbeline” produced as early as 1611, German “Little Snow-white” published by Jacob Grimm in 1812, Celtic “Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree” collected by Joseph Jacobs, Greek “Myrsina”; Chilean “Blanka Rosa and the Forty thieves” or the Italian “The young slave”, written down by Giambattista Basile in 1634 as part of his fairytale collection titled the “Pentamerone”. Those are believed by some to be one of the first Snow White stories to exist and had been a large inspiration and help for the later works by Charles Perrault (1697 book “Histoires ou contes du temps passé”) and the Brothers Grimm (“Children’s and Household Tales” first published in 1812).
While most of the versions in one way or another tell a story of how a stepmother, obsessed with the idea of being the fairest of them all, attempts to kill her stepdaughter who at some point of the story becomes prettier than the her, but fails and in the end meets her death as a prince comes to save Snow White. The earlier versions of the fairytale, that was created for adults and not children whom the modern versions target, the fairytales were often a lot darker than the ones we know today. Some featuring motif Q414.4. “Punishment: dancing to death in red-hot shoes” as the end awaiting the evil stepmother as she arrives at Snow White’s wedding. The fairy tales featured numerous symbols and hidden meanings, a large part of which are mostly lost in the modern day. This results in the older versions of the fairy tale seeming comedic and incoherent to a modern reader, having mostly lost the depth and nuances of their original meaning.
In conclusion, when speaking of “Snow White” or any other collected and modified over time folk fairy tale, It is important to remember that the version we all know and love, no matter how good it might be, is in most cases a countless times edited and modified version. Which is far from the first folk version both the on the surface level – plot wise but also on the much more profound level of the numerous implications lost to time and context. The story carries the same name, but were you to ask a person from the 1700s, late 1800s, or early 2000s, to describe “Snow White”, even if geographically they all lived in about the same area, you would get 3 very different responses, with slightly or entirely different implications and lessons taught by the story. In judging the new live-action Snow White, we should look beyond nostalgia and ask tougher questions: Are its ideas truly relevant today? Does the film choose the correct forms to compellingly communicate them? Or does it rely on surface-level changes without offering anything meaningful in return? And as for the 1937 classic—why was it loved so dearly for nearly a century? What made it relevant and so important for a generation after a generation? And finally, what lasting emotional or narrative power did it hold that the remake seems to overlook or deliberately discard?
Bibliography:
- https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/type0709.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_White
- https://fairy-folk-tale.fandom.com/wiki/ATU_709:_Snow-White
- https://libraryguides.missouri.edu/c.php?g=1039894&p=7619154
- https://libraryguides.missouri.edu/c.php?g=1083510&p=7901911
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