Snow White (Disney character)

Snow White first appears in the film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). In "another land, far away,"[4] "many, many years ago," about the time of fairy tales of castles, knights, fair maidens, romance, magic and witches,"[5] a mysterious and icily beautiful woman with magical powers (a 1938 promotional brochure suggests that she is able to work her witchcraft having sold "herself body and soul to the bad spirits" of Germany's Harz mountains[6]) has gained her royal position by marrying the widowed King, giving her rule over his kingdom before he died. "From that time on the cruel Queen ruled all alone, her every word was law, and all trembled in mortal fear of her anger."[7] The vain Queen owned a magical mirror with which she could look upon whatever she wished. The Magic Mirror shows a haunted, smokey face of her familiar demon[6] which replies to the Queen's requests. She regularly asks the mirror who is the fairest in the realm ("Magic mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?" which is often misquoted as "Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all"[8]), and the mirror would always reply that she is. The Queen has magical power only over her own domain, which is the castle.[9]

In the film, Snow White is initially depicted as living under her wicked, vain stepmother, the Evil Queen, who forces Snow White to engage in menial labor, fearing that one day Snow White's beauty might become greater than her own. After many years, the Queen's Magic Mirror confirms Snow White as being the "fairest of them all", which causes the Queen to cast Snow White out and send a huntsman to kill her. But when he is unable to bring himself to do so, the huntsman helps Snow White escape into the forest. Snow White stumbles upon the home of the Seven Dwarfs, who happily aid her.

The Queen discovers that Snow White has survived, so she uses magic to disguise herself as an old hag and creates a poisoned apple that will put anyone who eats it into a “Sleeping Death" from which only the kiss of true love will revive. When the dwarfs are away the hag arrives at the dwarfs’ cottage and offers Snow White the poisoned apple, unbeknownst to her that it is the Queen in disguise. Snow White bites into the apple and falls into a deep sleep. Upon discovering what had happened, the dwarfs track down the Queen; a short fight ensues and the Queen is killed. Believing her dead, too, the dwarfs build an open grave for Snow White to rest on. Time passes and the Prince comes across Snow White. Saddened by her apparent death, he kisses her, causing her to awaken. As the Seven Dwarfs dance with joy, Snow White and the Prince go off to live together happily ever after.[10]

Snow White at Disneyland in 2012

Actress and dancer JoAnn Dean Killingsworth became the first person to portray Snow White at Disneyland in 1955.[11][12][13][14] She was hired to play Snow White for Disneyland's opening on July 17, 1955.[13] Killingsworth's Snow White was the only Disney Princess to have own float during Disneyland's first parade down Main Street, U.S.A. on opening day.[13] Since Killingsworth's 1955 debut as Snow White, more than 100 actresses have played the character at Disneyland.[11]

Snow White's Scary Adventures is a dark ride dedicated to the princess and her story at the Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris theme parks. Located in Fantasyland, it is one of the few remaining attractions operational on Disneyland's opening day in 1955. The ride was closed in Disney World in May 2012 as part of the New Fantasyland expansion.[15]

She also makes appearances at Cinderella's Royal Table in Magic Kingdom and at the Akershus Restaurant in Epcot. In California, Snow White can be found at the Princess Meet-and-Greet in Fantasyland at Disneyland Park, on Main Street U.S.A., by the Wishing Well next to the Castle or at Ariel's Grotto in California Adventure. In Disneyland Paris, Snow White can often be at the Princess Pavilion in Fantasyland or at Auberge de Cendrillon in Disneyland Park. In Hong Kong, she is often up by the Wishing Well. In Tokyo, Snow White appears often in Fantasyland or World Bazaar. On Disney Cruise Line, Snow White sometimes appears, depending on a sailing.[16]

Snow White is an official member of the Disney Princess line, a prominent franchise directed at young girls. The franchise covers a wide variety of merchandise, including but not limited to magazines, music albums, toys, clothes, and stationery.[17]

Aside from appearing in video games related to the Disney Princess franchise media as well as appearances on the television series House of Mouse, Snow White also appears in the popular Kingdom Hearts series as one of the Seven Princesses of Heart.[18] She first appears in the first Kingdom Hearts as a Princess of Heart captured by Maleficent.[19] She reprises her role from the film in the video game Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep.[20] Snow White also appears in the video game Disney Magical World which includes multiple furniture and costume items related to the character, and is also a playable character in Disney Magic Kingdoms.[21]

Mary Jo Salerno originated the role of Snow White in the 1970s musical adaptation. Video recordings were shown on television in early 1980s.

In a season six episode of the sitcom series Full House known as The House Meets The Mouse Parts 1 & 2, Snow White appeared in Part 2. Snow White also had cameos in the films Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) where she appears in the Toontown scene and at the end of the film with the toons and The Lion King 1½ (2004) where she, Seven Dwarfs, and other Disney characters came to rewatch the film with Timon and Pumbaa. In 2014, Snow White made a guest appearance on Sofia the First, in "The Enchanted Feast". She tells Sofia about how her stepmother tricked her by assuming a disguise, helping Sofia to determine that a visiting sorceress is actually an old foe, Miss Nettle. Snow White, alongside other Disney Princesses, appeared in the film Ralph Breaks the Internet.[22] She, along with the other Princesses, are portrayed in what The Washington Post described as a parody of the "Disney Princess Industrial Complex", and are later seen wearing modern outfits inspired by their respective backstories.[23]

In the ABC television series Once Upon a Time, an alternative version of Snow White is the daughter of King Leopold and Queen Eva and later stepdaughter of the Evil Queen (Regina Mills).[24][25] She is the true love of Prince Charming, mother of Emma Swan and Prince Neal, and grandmother of Emma's son Henry. In Storybrooke, she appears as Mary Margaret Blanchard, Henry Mills' teacher at Storybrooke Elementary School.[24]

In the Disney Channel Original Movie Descendants, Snow White appears as a news reporter who reports activities in Auradon.

Snow White appears as one of the main characters in Lego's animated special Lego Disney Princess: The Castle Quest, released on Disney+ on August 18, 2023.[26]

She is set to be played by Rachel Zegler in Disney's upcoming live-action adaptation of the animated film.[27]

Snow White is present in the first book of the Disney Villains series by Serena Valentino. In Fairest of All, Snow White plays a minor role, as the story is more focused on her stepmother. In the story, Snow and the Queen have a very good relationship before the Odd Sisters enchant the Magic Mirror to cause the Queen's jealousy and hatred of Snow. At the end of the novel Snow obtains the mirror and her stepmother becomes the spirit inside.

Snow White reappears as an older Queen in the fourth book of the Villains series. In the story, she is a queen, is still happily married to her Prince whom she has had children with. She also meets Circe for the first time and helps her uncover secrets about her past. It is revealed as well that Maleficent was assigned Snow White as a charge during her wish granting fairy test, and in order to help Snow White destroyed the mirror that contained Grimhilde's father's wicked spirit to free Grimhilde from her misery and allow her to return to the loving stepmother Snow White knew.

Queen Snow White appears alongside Circe. She alongside Circe follows Gothel's journey in the storybook kept by the Odd Sisters.

Snow White features prominently in the sixth book in the Villains series. Alongside Circe the two of them set out to discover the truth about the Odd Sisters' origins as well as set to rights the trouble and chaos they caused. Along the way they encounter several previous characters in the novels. It isn't until they go to the Dead Woods and encounter Primrose and Hazel that they discover the truth of the Odd Sisters, that they were split into three individual witches by Manea's mother, Nestis, a powerful witch. The babies were taken by Jacob, Manea's former lover and now undead servant, to be given to the White family, where they were raised. A one on one encounter with the Odd Sisters results in the pulling of Grimhilde's spirit from the mirror, where she shatters and dies in front of Snow White. A shaken Snow White then watches as Circe kills herself in front of the Odd Sisters, dying in Snow White's arms despite her pleas.

In the fifth novel of the series, the question is asked What if the Evil Queen poisoned the Prince? In this retelling, Snow White becomes a warrior princess determined to overthrow her tyrannical stepmother, who poisons Prince Charming to lure her out of hiding.[28]

In the original film, Snow White is depicted with black bobbed hair, brown eyes and skin as white as snow. She wears subtle make-up and rouge. The red color of her lips and cheeks resembles the red color of the apple which sends her into a deep sleep.[34] She is not yet an adult woman, but a girl in her puberty years. Her plump face is a characteristic typically associated with good health and kindness.[34]

Snow White's clothing is traditionally feminine, and rather prudish in covering as much skin as possible. Her main costume is a long dress, with a white collar, blue and puffy sleeves with red slashing, a yellow skirt, and a laced petticoat. She also wears a brown cape with a red interior, high-heeled shoes with a bow-like ribbon on each of them, and a red ribbon on her hair.[34]

While the film never states the location of its story, "the dwarfs’ home is decorated with carved wooden furniture and instruments". This home is surrounded by mountains and an extensive forest. These details suggest a location within the Black Forest of Germany, where there is a tradition of wood carving.[48]

BuzzFeed views Snow White as a German woman, and suggests that a "historically accurate" Snow White would have been raised within the "austere and religious" culture of the Holy Roman Empire in the 16th century.[48]

Critical reception towards the character of Snow White has been polarized. TV Guide described Snow White as iconic, unique and incomparable, writing, "never again would Walt's heroine have such a fantasy singing voice, and for that reason, she's the favorite heroine of many animation auteurs."[49] Calling Snow White a "fairy-tale princess," Otis Ferguson of The New Republic simply described the character as "just what you would have her."[50] Variety's John C. Flinn deemed Snow White "the embodiment of girlish sweetness and kindness, exemplified in her love for the birds and the small animals of the woods that are her friends and, as it subsequently develops, her rescuers."[51]

Contemporary critics felt that Snow White "lack[s] nerve, unlike many later Disney heroines,"[52] while her relationship with the Prince is void of chemistry.[53] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times felt that had "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ... been primarily about Snow White, it might have been forgotten soon after its 1937 premiere, and treasured today only for historical reasons." Ebert continued, "Snow White is, truth to tell, a bit of a bore, not a character who acts but one whose mere existence inspires others to act," describing Disney's tendency to "confuse the titles of his movies with their subjects" as a "mistake" as the film is more about the dwarfs and the Evil Queen than Snow White.[54] The Washington Post's Desson Howe wrote, "the spirit in the mirror is dead wrong: The Wicked Queen ... is the fairest in the land" while Snow White lacks "real estate."[55] Time Out opined, "Snow White herself might be felt to be almost unbearably winsome."[56]

Snow White's big role is in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs where she plays a young princess who tries and escape her evil stepmother. The character won many awards for her role like the Grand Biennale Art Trophy from the Venice Film Festival, the New York Film Critics Circle, and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. There was also an honorary custom-made Academy Award with the standard Oscar statuette and seven small statuettes that represented the seven dwarfs.[57] Snow White is one of the few fictional characters with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[3]

On June 18, 2013, the United States Patent and Trademark Office granted the trademark application of Disney Enterprises, Inc. (filed November 19, 2008), for the name "Snow White" that covers all live and recorded movie, television, radio, stage, computer, Internet, news, and photographic entertainment uses, except literature works of fiction and nonfiction.[58]

Art historian Carmenita Higginbotham explains how Walt Disney's Snow White became a reflection of American women during the Great Depression saying: “Snow White is the perfect embodiment of 1930s culture.”[68] National News also discussed how cartoon characters like Snow White influenced fashion.[69] A Cartier charm bracelet, originally created in 1937 to commemorate Disney's first animated film, earned more than five times the high-end of its pre-sale estimate.[70]

In 2014, Valentino released an entire Snow White-inspired collection “Red Valentino”, a diffusion line aimed to attract youth culture.[69] In 2018, Coach released their third collaboration with Disney called “A Dark Fairytale Collection”, which features iconography from both "Sleeping Beauty" and "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."[71] Stylist included Snow White's dark bob and pale skin as an “ideal” on their list of Best Beauty Looks in Disney.[72] Sennet Frères released a bridalwear collection in collaboration with Disney, inspired by Snow White, Cinderella and Belle.[73]