Starting with snow white

Snow 
White
foregrounded as a foundational “text” to either substantiate the critical claims that 
follow or serve as a point of critical departure. Similarly, the popular public imagination 
can scarcely recall 
Snow White 
without Disney’s amiable band of seven dwarfs, each 
with his own individuated personality and name to match, as well as a cheerful “Heigh-
ho!” guiding his step. I confess, this use of Disney’s “classic” as a foundational text 
centrally informed this dissertation project, as well. However, instead of relying on 
Disney,
 
my project began by questioning: how did Disney’s 
Snow White 
gain its 
preeminent status and authority in the American fairy tale tradition? Was Disney’s, in 
fact, the 
first
American deployment of the 
Snow White
tale? 
I soon found that while Disney’s was not 
the 
first 
Snow White
, it was 
a 
first, in the 

---

2
ways in which its pioneering technological innovation expanded its influence over 
audiences, making such an impression as to profoundly impact the folkloric transmission 
of the tale. It is for this reason, and not merely because it was Disney’s first full-length 
animated feature, that 
Snow White 
was critical to the initiation of Disney’s fairy tale 
legacy in the United States. By questioning the beginnings of this legacy via 
Snow White 
then, one also gains insight into this historical lineage of the American fairy tale tradition.
If Disney had 
not 
created the first American version, how had earlier American 
precursors reconceived or adapted versions from their European precursors? Why were 
these initial versions so frequently overlooked in favor of Disney’s? And, relatedly, what 
informs or contributes understandings of a “classic” version of a fairy tale? Is it purely 
innovation and timely modeling through adaptation? 
Securing a Critical Space to Examine Disney’s Folklore 
In both the European and American traditions of the 
Snow White 
tale, I found that 
there exists a complex range of attributes that have informed scholarly and popular 
understandings of a 
Snow White
“classic.” I also found that these elements change over 
time, based on cultural evolution and possibilities for recreation through alternate forms 
of media—primarily literature and film. Because this history of transformation from the 
European into (and primarily emphasizing) an American 
Snow White 
tradition involved 
multiple strands of media at various points historically, my study, beginning with a base 
in folklore, subsequently called for an address of multiple disciplines—folklore, 
literature, theatre, film, and popular culture. While the overt purpose and guiding 

---

3
questions for this dissertation remain genealogical, layered within is an analysis of 
discourse between multiple media concerning the 
Snow White 
tale, a conversation which 
I feel generates a productive blurring of disciplinary boundaries. Throughout, folkloric 
production is evaluated in its adaptive usages first across literature; then through stage, 
silent film, and animated film; and still later in television, cartoon, comics, and the 
graphic novel. Utilizing these various media representations, I have endeavored to 
generate a more balanced critical perspective which weighs the influence of Disney’s 
“classic” in light of these 
multiple
disciplines. It is this integration of (primarily) 
literature, stage, and film (including animation) which allows for my project’s 
reinterpretation of Disney’s storytelling prowess, positioning the animator’s