With a Smile and a Song

Snow White

Who expected a little German fairytale to be so “controversial” in 2023.

Unfortunately Snow White bashing goes back several years. Some feminists have whined that she (and the other two early Disney princesses) are too passive, not strong enough, have no agency, and are all around dull, stupid, and naïve because they don’t wield swords, but do find love. Gasp! Shock and horror! I know; how dare she? How could a woman want to find love? How could an abused and neglected young girl want safety and a real home? How could a young woman with no money, no known extended family, no papers of recommendation even not just go out and find a job and “make her own money” in presumably a fantasy kingdom prior to 1850 (give or take)? For years people have torn the early Disney princesses like Snow White up one side and down the other. And why–because there are no princesses who are warriors and workers and fighters? (I guess just ignore Mulan, Moana, Tiana, Kida, and Merida then). No? Hmm then it must be because there are only warrior women who know advanced martial arts and want to fight and don’t have time for love in the world? There couldn’t possibly be women who are soft, enjoy homemaking, and — horror of pearl grasping horrors — want to fall in love and marry!

I’ll drop the sarcasm now. I think you get my point.

Yes, heroines that fight and are physically strong are awesome; however, that doesn’t make softer, gentler heroines stupid, impossibilities, or dated. There are many types of women and we can have a plethora of stories with all different kinds without throwing out or completely rewriting the more traditionally feminine and softer ones.

Snow White is not a fighter. That’s not what her story is about or who she is as a character. She’s a gentle, kind, and hardworking young woman. She is thrown into a nightmare situation. Her worst fears of her stepmother, her only known, living relative, are true: not only does the Queen hate her, but she wants her dead. This mentally and possibly physically abused girl is forced to not only flee her only family and home, but also do so at a moments notice with nothing, but the dress and cape she is in. Running terrified through the forest, she encounters shapes and faces that scare her already perturbed mind, so much so that she eventually collapses onto the forest floor, sobbing from her panic and anxiety. Is that why she’s weak? Because she was very reasonably frightened? Because in the very next scene, she not only acknowledges her fear, but apologizes for disturbing the animals around her and does what so many have difficulty with: she cheers herself up, makes a plan of the next things she’ll need to survive, and sets that plan into motion, humbling allowing the guidance of the animals who know the forest better than she does. When she comes to the dwarves cottage, she doesn’t expect to be treated as a princess and waited on. She wants to earn her keep by tending the house and cooking for them. She has skills she’s acquired and she wants to serve others with it. Snow White will make the little cottage a home with delicious food and clean rooms, and in return she gets protection and shelter. But more than just a deal, Snow White befriends and respects each of the dwarves and has their friendship and love in return.

In her new life we see her dreaming of a prince she loves and hopes to marry. Here’s another moment that her critics seem to hate. They just met! That’s stupid and creepy! Okay, okay, but a) its a fairytale; it isn’t meant to be a blue print for real life and b) even applauded authors such as Victor Hugo have included love at first sight in their novels. Just because you’ve never experienced it or don’t believe it often (or ever happens) doesn’t mean it can’t be used in a fairytale. I don’t run into many transfiguring witches with magically poisoned apples either, but I digress. In my opinion fairly little time is spent on developing their relationship for a few, pretty valid reasons: it isn’t really necessary to (we also don’t need to see much to know the queen is evil), the movie is fairly short in general, and it isn’t the main driving plot point of the story (the danger of her jealous stepmother and her friendship with the dwarves is the main focus with love being a beauty chord throughout that brings the story to its happy conclusion).

And finally one of the biggest whines against Snow White is the kiss. From the movie as far as we know, the Prince did not know about the poison apple, let alone that the kiss would work. He was paying his respects to his true love whom he thought had died–which actually used to be pretty common. Many cultures, the American South included have traditions (not as common nowadays) of kissing the dead before the coffin is closed. It is a way of showing love and respect one last time before the coffin is closed and put in the ground. (And personally if I was in a coma with no way to wake myself up, I’d welcome my true love’s kiss or doctors intervention to help me. Food for thought). Sometimes we cannot save ourselves, and that’s okay! It doesn’t make us weak; it makes us human.

Snow White is a story of a young girl in horrible circumstances who does not allow the evil and maliciousness of others to define her or darken her own heart. She is kind, hardworking, and most importantly, hopeful. She doesn’t allow the Queen’s anger and neglect to destroy her hope for the future. While most of us don’t have royalty who know magic for relatives, many of us can understand being hated even though we try to please, of feeling powerless in a situation, or of coming from an unloving household and making sure our homes are never like that. Snow White’s courage, kindness, hope, and love are all sweet and admirable and still relevant even in 2023.