Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is the movie that started Disney’s reign in the field of animation, but there are some harsh realities when rewatching this animated classic. Back in 1937, Disney changed the film industry and made history with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first animated feature film produced in the United States and the first cel-animated feature film, as well as the studio’s first animated feature-length film. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was a big critical and commercial success and marked the beginning of Disney’s path in the world of animation.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs tells the story of Snow White (voiced by Adriana Caselotti), a princess who lost both of her parents at a young age and lives with her evil stepmother, who is simply referred to as the Queen (Lucille La Verne). When the Queen orders Snow White to be killed, the princess runs into the forest and finds safety with seven kind-hearted dwarfs, but the Queen finds a way to get to her. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs has been named the greatest American animated movie of all time, but there are some harsh realities when rewatching it.

10

The Evil Queen Is Very Cruel With Snow White

Snow White Is A Princess But Isn’t Treated As Such

As mentioned above, Snow White is an orphaned princess living with her evil stepmother. The Queen is obsessed with her physical image and with looking young and beautiful, asking her Magic Mirror every day “Who is the fairest one of all.” In an effort to divert attention from Snow White and her natural beauty, and because she is an evil person, the Queen forces Snow White to dress in rags and to work as a scullery maid.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs tries to soften this by showing how Snow White hasn’t become a bitter person and, instead, she’s kindhearted, soft-spoken, and an overall good person. Still, that doesn’t change the fact that the Queen is cruel to Snow White, especially when realizing that she has forced her to be a servant at her own castle and dress in drags for many years. Even worse is that no one inside or outside the castle did anything to save her, though that could be justified, to an extent, through the fear the Queen instilled in everyone.

9

The Evil Queen’s Plan To Kill Snow White Is Pretty Gory

The Evil Queen Has A Gory Request

When, for the first time, the Magic Mirror tells the Queen that she isn’t the fairest in all the land and, instead, that тιтle belongs to Snow White, the Queen comes up with a plan. She orders her Huntsman to lure Snow White into the forest and kill her, and as proof of her death, the Huntsman must bring Snow White’s heart in a box. However, the Huntsman is unable to kill Snow White and, instead, urges her to flee into the woods and not look back, and so she does.

The fact that the Huntsman does nothing to Snow White and ends up saving her life diverts the attention from how horrific the Queen’s plan was. The Huntsman would have had to open Snow White’s chest, take her heart out, and keep it in the box to take it back to the castle, either leaving her body in the forest or burying her there. It’s a plan and scene that fits more with the horror genre than a Disney animated movie.

8

Snow White’s Forest Scene Is Too Nightmarish For Children

The Forest Scene Is Nightmare Fuel

Right after the Huntsman tells Snow White to run into the woods and get as far from the castle as possible, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs features what is, perhaps, its most nightmarish scene. Snow White runs into the dark and scary forest, where she’s scared by every noise and movement in the shadows. The animators made sure to show how scary this was to Snow White by turning the dry branches into hands with creepy, long fingers, trees into scary faces, and logs into alligators.

The whole forest scene is very impressive in terms of animation, and it’s effective in its goal of showing the audience how scared and helpless Snow White is. However, when remembering this is a movie aimed at a very young audience, the truth is that it’s pure nightmare material for children.

7

The Characters’ Faces Get Comically Distorted Throughout Snow White

Parts Of The Animation Haven’t Aged Well

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a classic in animation and cinema in general, and its animation is truly impressive when taking into account the limitations the artists had in the 1930s. While it’s definitely deserving of the тιтle of the greatest American animated movie, rewatching it shows some of its animation flaws. The most notable ones are how the faces of the characters (not the dwarfs, who are meant to be more on the comical side) become distorted at different moments, giving them some funny looks.

6

Snow White Sets Some Bad Examples For Children

Snow White Isn’t A Role Model

As much as Disney wants the audience to focus on Snow White’s kindness, softness, and how much of a hopeless romantic she is, the truth is that she sets some terrible examples for children. After fleeing into the forest, the animals lead Snow White to the house of the dwarfs, and she simply breaks in – well, the door is open, but still. Snow White also immediately trusts strangers, which doesn’t go badly with the dwarfs but it definitely does later.

Despite Doc’s warnings about the Queen being sneaky and a witch, thus knowing many tricks to disguise herself and more, and explicitly telling her not to trust strangers, that’s exactly what Snow White does. When the Queen as the hag arrives at the dwarfs’ house, Snow White lets her in and falls into her trap by eating the poisoned apple. Snow White lacks a lot of awareness, disguised as her being “too pure of heart.”

5

The Dwarfs Take Advantage Of Snow White

Snow White Only Needs A Safe Place To Stay

The dwarfs are understandably scared when they find out that someone has sneaked into their house, but are relieved when they see it’s a young and harmless woman. Snow White confides in them that the Queen wants to kill her and will surely find her, so she needs a safe place to stay. The dwarfs are reluctant to let her stay due to the Queen’s immense power and authority, but when Snow White starts listing the house chores she knows how to do, the dwarfs are sold when she says she can cook.

The dwarfs are quite possibly not the best cooks and have been wanting a nice meal for a long time, but it’s very obvious their interest in Snow White’s cooking skills. This is what convinces them to let her stay, so it isn’t exactly a decision they make out of the kindness and pureness of their hearts.

4

Snow White Falls In Love With A Prince She Didn’t Even Speak To

Snow White & The Prince’s First Encounter Is Strange

After having dinner and an improvised party with the dwarfs at their home, they ask her to tell them a tale. Snow White tells them the love-at-first-sight story of a prince and a princess, with one of the dwarfs asking if it’s her own story, which she confirms. However, Snow White had just met the Prince not long ago, and they didn’t even have a proper interaction. In fact, that scene can barely count as a “meeting.”

The Prince arrives at the castle after hearing Snow White sing and sings with her, but Snow White, either too shy or scared, runs into the castle. She eventually comes out to the balcony and sends the prince a kiss through a pigeon, and that’s it. That is enough for Snow White to claim to be in love, which isn’t something believable at all when rewatching the movie all these years later.

3

The Evil Queen Wants The Dwarves To Bury Snow White Alive

Another Disturbing Plan By The Evil Queen

After the Queen turns herself into a hag so she can attack Snow White without suspicion, she also prepares a poisoned apple. The Queen double-checks her spellbook to see if there’s an antidote or something that could mess with her plan. The Queen learns that the only way to bring Snow White out of the Sleeping Death is with love’s first kiss. However, she quickly realizes that the dwarfs don’t know this and thus will bury Snow White alive… which is a very disturbing thought.

2

The Dwarfs Keeping Snow White In A Glᴀss Coffin Was Kinda Morbid

The Dwarfs Make A Questionable Decision

Snow White falls into the trap of the Queen’s poisoned apple and the dwarfs arrive too late. However, the narrator of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs explains that the dwarfs find Snow White to be so beautiful even in death that they can’t bring themselves to bury her. Instead, they build a glᴀss coffin for her as her resting place, leaving her in the forest for everyone to see her.

While this is less bad than burying her alive as the Queen wanted the dwarfs to do, it’s still morbid and disturbing to leave her in a glᴀss coffin where everyone could see her. Sure, this is what made it possible for the prince to find her and save her, but it doesn’t make it any less questionable.

1

Snow White Starts The Most Controversial Disney Princess Trope

Snow White Is The Beginning Of Many Things

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is the movie that kicked off Disney’s successful and long-lasting path in the world of animation, but it was also the beginning of some details and tropes that would go on to be used in other Disney animated movies. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the blueprint for Disney Princesses for good and bad, and falling into the latter is these characters’ most controversial trope.

Snow White wants love and to be loved by a prince, and though her goal should be to survive as the Queen wants her ᴅᴇᴀᴅ, the movie puts a lot of emphasis on her wish for romantic love. Ultimately, Snow White has to be saved by a prince, who gives her a “happily ever after” ending. This is a trope that continued in most Disney Princess movies, with the characters needing to be saved by a male character. This has changed with more modern princesses, but it took a lot of time to shake this trope off.