Essay Snow White
Research Essay
Fairytales
Since the beginnings of the abridged and ‘sanitized’ versions of classic fairytales were publically circulated, the design and principle intentions of the fairytale have steadily morphed and changed as society similarly paralleled. Over time fairy tales have been transformed radically as they naturally will continue to do according to the age they are rewritten and reproduced. Traditional fairy tales retold today have been too recurrently rewritten and revised that it has become almost impossible to grade the single most accepted moral understandings. In a critical analysis of the classic tale of Snow White, the various transformations from the retelling of the original Brothers Grimm story to the modernised Disney version will be examined. Further analysis of the modern remakes; ‘Sydney White’ and ‘Snow White and The Huntsman’ will be investigated to see just how far the numerous changing themes, intended lessons and implied gender roles and how they are made to relate to and influence children are evolved. The concerns of childhood and discipline are spread widely, yet variously throughout the transformation of classic to modern retellings.
The basic storyline of Snow White mainly portrays the themes of femininity and how a woman should act, the patriarchal themes of women and their role in the world in regards to men and stereotypical ideals of beauty and their consequences. In the original telling of the story, Snow White although only a young teenager and a princess, is taught and affirmed that in turn for being obedient for being told what to do, she is a ‘good girl’, rewarded with a place to stay and love in a home like environment. In order to be accepted and allowed to live with the dwarves, she must do the cooking, cleaning and housework in return for a place to live and their protection.
By assenting to their proposition, she is essentially placed in the status of a servant to the dwarves, or the representation of the
Fairytales
Since the beginnings of the abridged and ‘sanitized’ versions of classic fairytales were publically circulated, the design and principle intentions of the fairytale have steadily morphed and changed as society similarly paralleled. Over time fairy tales have been transformed radically as they naturally will continue to do according to the age they are rewritten and reproduced. Traditional fairy tales retold today have been too recurrently rewritten and revised that it has become almost impossible to grade the single most accepted moral understandings. In a critical analysis of the classic tale of Snow White, the various transformations from the retelling of the original Brothers Grimm story to the modernised Disney version will be examined. Further analysis of the modern remakes; ‘Sydney White’ and ‘Snow White and The Huntsman’ will be investigated to see just how far the numerous changing themes, intended lessons and implied gender roles and how they are made to relate to and influence children are evolved. The concerns of childhood and discipline are spread widely, yet variously throughout the transformation of classic to modern retellings.
The basic storyline of Snow White mainly portrays the themes of femininity and how a woman should act, the patriarchal themes of women and their role in the world in regards to men and stereotypical ideals of beauty and their consequences. In the original telling of the story, Snow White although only a young teenager and a princess, is taught and affirmed that in turn for being obedient for being told what to do, she is a ‘good girl’, rewarded with a place to stay and love in a home like environment. In order to be accepted and allowed to live with the dwarves, she must do the cooking, cleaning and housework in return for a place to live and their protection.
By assenting to their proposition, she is essentially placed in the status of a servant to the dwarves, or the representation of the
References: Sale, R (1979). Fairy Tales and After: From Snow White to E.B. White. London: Harvard University Press. 117-119. ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’ 2012, directed by R Sanders, Universal Pictures. ‘Sydney White’ 2007, directed by J Nussbaum, Universal Pictures.