Excitement is high as folks enter the Carthay Circle Theater in Los Angeles, the smell of popcorn wafting through the air. Both adults and children are eager to watch the premiere of the first-ever Disney movie, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” It is Dec. 21, 1937, the Golden Age of Hollywood.
The film follows the story of 14-year-old Snow White, the cookie-cutter fairy tale princess voiced by Adriana Caselotti, who is almost murdered by an envious queen. With the help of seven little friends and a true love’s kiss, Snow White lives happily ever after.
The movie was the first feature-length animated film in the U.S., becoming one of the highest-grossing films in history, altering the Walt Disney Company and animation itself forever. $1.5 million, 24 frames per second, and three years of hard work and dedication were put into an hour and 23 minutes of joy, thrill, and adventure.
However, the reality is much darker. With over 750 artists, “Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs,” was meant to be a fun-hearted and joyful movie, enjoyable for all ages. That is until one knows the original story.
We can trace Snow White’s roots back to 1806, to the most famous folklorist in Germany: Clemens Brentano. Brentano already had an extensive collection of German folk songs but was looking to dip his toes into the wide world of folk tales.
He called upon the help of two young brothers, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, to collect stories from the people of Germany to publish.
In 1810, the brothers sent Brentano 49 fairy tales, one of them being the infamous Snow White. However, in 1812, it appeared that Brentano was no longer interested in the deal, so the brothers took matters into their own hands, and published Snow White and many other tales by themselves.
Now, these were not originally called fairy tales. They used to be called, “Kinder- und Hausmärchen,” which translates to “Children and Household Tales.” However, they were anything but that.
In the original story, the Queen orders the huntsman to kill Snow White, who is only 7 years old in this version, and bring back her organs as proof of her death. The huntsman brings the Queen back the organs of a bear and the Queen, like any normal monarchist, eats them.
Once the Queen discovers what has happened, she sends Snow White a poisonous apple to eat which she does immediately and is presumably found dead. So the dwarves, who have no names in this story, put her in a glass coffin and send her into the woods. They do not bury her and just layed her smack dab in the middle of the forest. The prince stumbles along, finds her, and kisses her. Yes, he kissed a dead body he found lying in the middle of the woods. With that, Snow White wakes up and is not shocked or startled, she just starts kissing back.
To a surprise, this is not the end of the story. After Snow White and the Prince, who is 31 years old, declare their love for each other, they decide to get married.
Now wait, that is not all. Guess who is invited to the wedding? Good old power-hungry, jealous of a 14-year-old, Queen Victoria wannabe. But she gets to wear the most fashionable shoes there, made specifically for punishment. Iron shoes burning with hot coals! She dances around for a little and just drops dead. The End.
No, I am serious, that is the actual end. It has been 211 years, and there is still no explanation of how they dragged this woman to the wedding in the first place, (my guess is the seven tiny kidnappers), but I guess if you are going to die in burning hot shoes, you might as well bust a move or two out.
