Snow White and the Seven Little People

Walt Disney Pictures

Released: 1937

Directors: A lot of people

Starring: Adriana Caselottie, Lucille La Verne, and a bunch of other people no one knows

Based on the Grimm Brother's fariytale, Snow White

Rated: Unknown (because the MPAA didn't exist back then)

GRADE: .5/5

We're going old school this week. Real old school. Snow White is pretty much the first movie primarily made for kids back when movies were still talkies and Walt Disney was just another white dude. It's been a long time since I've watched this one and upon reviewing...I've got some thoughts (surprise surprise).

The original Grimm Bros fairytale is not all that different. The biggest indiscretions are that the evil stepmother actually enacts three ruses to kill Snow White. First tying SW's shoe laces so tight (a bit of a stretch, I know) that it cuts off her circulation and she faints, next by poisonous comb, and finally by the infamous poison apple. The next difference is when she first finds the dwarves' house. In the Grimm's version, she eats their food, drinks their wine, and sleeps in the seventh dwarf's bed. A bit like Goldilocks. Actually, a lot like Goldilocks. And finally, the prince doesn't wake her up from "true love's kiss" he pretty much just picks her up and that does it.

I want to have a quick chat about Snow White before we kick off our queer reading. SHE’S SO ANNOYING. She has absolutely no agency in her life/story. The only thing she contributes to the plot is that she’s too pretty. When she does contribute to the story all she does is clean…And half the time she’s just being a crazy person who talks to animals. SHE CAN’T DO ANYTHING WITHOUT HELP FROM TINY WOODLAND CREATURES! She’s one of the least feminist characters I’ve ever encountered, and that’s saying something.

On to the queerness. I want to start with the visible queer characters and then get into speculation because there really isn’t much to go on with this movie.  

The Seven Little People (the PC term, btw):

There’s queerness here on a few different levels.

11. Depiction of a marginalized population that is outside of the able norm

Steps onto soapbox. Visibility is a catch-22. On the one hand, early depictions of marginalized populations, much like the “Seven Dwarves” in this movie can lay foundation for damaging stereotypes that take a long loooooong time to overcome. But on the other hand, visibility is an important step toward nuanced and thoughtful portrayals of marginalized peoples. Whatcha gonna do? Be smart about depictions of marginalized populations. It’s that simple. Steps off soapbox.

22. Seven little men living in a house together and spending all their time with each other…sounds like some queer shenanigans went down in that little house in the woods. Hi-ho hi-ho, am I right?

33.  Dopey. Probably my favorite character in the movie. I’ll tell you why. He’s non-verbal. Not only is this characteristic incredibly endearing, I think it’s really telling. I’m going to make a bold statement: I think Dopey is somewhere on the Autism Spectrum. He’s probably high-functioning non-verbal. Now, this interpretation of the character has some problems. First, his name. “Dopey,” and the insinuation that he’s stupid/dumb is emblematic of terrible societal perspectives of people on the Spectrum. That sucks. He’s also a used as a comic relief at his own expense for most of the film and doesn’t have much agency. But there are some cool things too! In my experience, kids on the Spectrum love Disney and animated movies (read this awesome article about a boy on the Spectrum who understands the world through his love of Disney sidekicks). Now this is obviously a generalization, but I think it’s super important for a non-verbal kid on the Spectrum to see a character like him/her in a Disney movie, particularly a character who is well loved and cared for by those around him. And how could you say no to that face?

Ok, on to queer speculation. Interesting that the following two characters have most of the agency in the movies. Hmmmmmm…

The Evil Stepmother. Dat makeup doe. The sculpted eyebrows? The obsession with Snow White’s feminine beauty? That weird hood thing? I think she’s a fabulous drag queen.

I don’t think it’s so farfetched. Ursula’s animation in The Little Mermaid was actually based on the famous drag queen Divine (more on that in a future post). So why not the Evil Stepmother? She’s also technically a witch since she has magical powers. She also turns into a hag at the end of the movie when she gives Snow White the infamous poison apple. The connections between witches/hags and queer/lesbian culture go way wayyyy back. For a modern example just look at Willow and Tara in Buffy The Vampire Slayer. If you haven’t watched it, shame on you. Give it a quick Google. I’ll wait…

Basically the Evil Stepmother is a drag queen with a bad case of green-eyed monster syndrome for Snow White.

Finally, The Prince. He represents the norm: male patriarchy, royal privilege, white, etc. But, something’s a little different about his animation. He looks a little…feminine.

BuzzFeed thinks he looks like Liza Minnelli. I think he looks like a butch lesbian.

So, if we take these two ideas (Evil Stepmomma as drag queen and The Prince as a butch lesbian) we get an interesting, nuanced look at gender struggles in the queer world. Both characters’ motives center around Snow White and her feminine beauty, the Evil Stepmomma is jealous of it and wants it for herself, and The Prince objectifies it. The Evil Stepmomma dies in her pursuit and The Prince succeeds in swooping in and saving the day with true love’s kiss. The drag queen who goes from the masculine to the hyper feminine is doomed, while The Prince goes from feminine to hyper masculine and wins the heart of the damsel in distress. Basically, the patriarchy wins. Ugh. Bleh. Not a very progressive queer message.

MVQ: 

DOPEY! I think I've sufficiently explained my love for Dopey.

OTP: 

All Seven Little People. They've gotta come out as poly. I'd read that fanfic.

Favorite Moment: 

I really enjoy the song "Someday My Prince Will Come," but I hate the lyrics (and Snow White's singing voice). I like to change the lyrics to "Someday My Butch Will Come."

WATCH THE VIDEO VERSION!