Starting with snow white

particularly in the context of filmic representation. 
Moreover, I apply a range of perspectives on Disney’s work from film scholars, 
not only Eric Smoodin and Karen Merritt, but other frequently referenced studies from 
M. Thomas Inge and Terri Martin Wright. These not only offer insight into Disney’s 
progressive use of modern technology, but also signal those spaces not yet explored when 
combining disciplines (literary, theatrical, and filmic) to examine the films and earlier 
influential plays, as texts. 
Coming from the discipline of English and Literature, I am able to examine and 
understand each representation of 
Snow White 
as a text or narrative, undergirded by a 
series of folkloric attributes, both of which have been continually transformed. It is this 

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understanding which produces the folkloric and cultural lineage which, in turn, speaks to 
a deeper knowledge of the American cultural formation of the tale and positionality of the 
creator. By negotiating this literary and folkloric form as it winds its way through a 
range of representations in media, this study presents a host of central moments in the 
American 
Snow White 
tradition that have been overlooked in favor of Walt Disney’s 
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Disney’s “Folkloric Impact” 
Throughout the study that follows, a few terms which I have already introduced 
will become useful guideposts on the journey toward understanding Disney’s profound 
influence on the 
Snow White 
tradition in the United States. First, in discussing the 
“folkloric impact” of Walt Disney’s 
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
(an idea to which 
I will return), I found that I needed to qualify how/why American audiences (scholarly 
and popular) had begun to look toward Disney’s version as a “classic,” or “model,” or 
“authentic” text. In other words, why is it that impressions of American audiences and or 
their retellings tend to follow a similarly Disney-centered patterning of 
Snow White
?

A 
short summary of Disney’s 
Snow White
will bring clarity to the idea behind this 
“folkloric impact.”
Disney’s 
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 
initially offers up a young female 
heroine positioned as a kind of a Cinderella, dressed in rags, scrubbing the steps of her 
castle, humming to her animal friends. Opposite this innocent and hopeful young woman 
is a villainous stepmother, an evil queen solely concerned with her own appearance. As 

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she gazes into a mirror filled with fire, then smoke, then a mask-like face, she asks that 
fateful question, “Magic mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?” She must be a 
witch to “summon” that face with its eerie voice, dooming Snow White with its 
declaration, “Famed is thy beauty, Majesty, but oh, a lovely maid I see. Rags cannot hide 
her gentle grace. Alas, she is more fair than thee. […] Lips red as the rose, hair black as 
ebony, skin white as snow…” (Disney). With that acknowledgment of beauty, the 
innocent, singing Snow White (recently visited by her Prince, professing his love) is 
doomed.
On the Queen’s order, into the forest goes Snow White, happily, willingly, with 
the huntsman. Although he aims to murder her, finding that he cannot, the huntsman 
urges her to run into the forest, a place full of seemingly nightmarish horrors. There, 
trees and swampy bogs appear to reach out for the young heroine, and eyes all around are 
watching when she finally falls to the ground in tears. Those eyes, of course, belong to a 
host of cuddly animals (birds, bunnies, deer, and even a turtle) that will befriend Snow 
White, helpfully guiding her to the home of the seven dwarfs. These animal helpers will 
further assist her as she cleans up the messy space, cheerily singing “Whistle while you 
work,” and endeavoring to secure a haven for herself.
The dwarfs (and owners of that space) are next introduced in comedic fashion 
working the mines with their “Dig, dig, dig” song, which ends in that memorable “Heigh-
ho, heigh-ho…” Their slap-stick routine continues as they discover Snow White sleeping 
in their home. She soon wakes to introduce herself and joins in the fun, identifying each 
according to a prominent characteristic or personality trait. The rhyming of most of their 

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names (Happy Sneezy, Dopey, Sleepy, Grumpy, Bashful, and Doc) adds to the fun. And 
still after it has been decided that Snow White will stay, the dwarfs’ playful positioning 
continues. When the group must wash for dinner, another silly song ensues.
Only after considerable time spent with the dwarfs in sing-song fashion is the 
viewer returned to the castle, with the evil Queen’s recognition that Snow White yet 
lives. She seemingly flies down to her dungeon and performs spells to transform her 
appearance and produce that lovely poisonous apple, cursed with the spell of the 
“Sleeping Death.” Into the night the witch-like hag will go, cloaked in black with white 
hair, a horrific face, claw-like hands, and a red apple in her clutch. Through the woods 
she skulks toward the home of the dwarfs, where she will make her way in (once they 
leave in their morning routine).
Once inside, the Queen/witch/hag entreats Snow White to eat the apple, lest her 
“wish grow cold,” and on that first bite, Snow White falls to the ground. The dwarfs will 
chase the evil Queen, now witch-like figure, to the top of cliff where she will, at her own 
misstep, fall to her death. A raining scene follows, mirroring the tears of the dwarfs and 
animals, before they place Snow White inside a glass coffin in the forest.
While she sleeps, the dwarfs and forest animals knowingly prepare Snow White 
with still more flowers just in time for her prince to arrive. With the charm of a kiss, he 
wakes his true love and carries her off into the sunset toward “happily ever after.” 
Now, one might contend that the details used to describe Disney’s film above may 
have been more conveniently pared down to a series of bullet point moments that 
resonate. 

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•
Snow White singing, scrubbing the steps in rags, meets her Prince 
•
Evil Queen’s magic mirror reveals “fairest one of all” 
•
Snow White runs from huntsman into terrifying forest of haunts 
•
Snow White meets animal helpers 
•
Snow White cleans the dwarfs’ home 
•
Snow White meets dwarfs 
•
Villainous Queen discovers that Snow White lives 
•
Queen transforms herself into a witch-like crone with poison apple 
•
Queen tempts and poisons Snow White 
•
Queen is chased by dwarfs and falls from a cliff at her own mishap 
•
Snow White is placed in a glass coffin 
•
Prince finds Snow White, surrounded by animals and dwarfs 
•
Prince kisses and wakes Snow White 
•
Happily ever after 
Both the more detailed description and the bulleted list above, summarizing the 
narrative action of Disney’s film are significant for the purposes of framing my study, 
though I will address them reverse order. A quick glance down the bulleted list provides 
the love triangle typical to the American tale, but more overtly displays the narrative 
action between the Queen and Snow White that forwards the traditional tale’s movement 
and plot. Significantly, the dwarfs are ancillary, as are the animals. In fact, these 
simplified, bulleted terms almost exactly mirror the episodic structure that Steven Swann 
Jones uses to classify the