On Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

Oh my! This movie was a big surprise to me. First, in the opening credits it said that it was based on the Grimms' version of the fairy tale, unlike Cinderella which said it was based on Perrault's. This is an important difference in how the fairy tales are told; had Cinderella been based on the Grimms' version, her stepsisters would have been cutting off parts of their feet in order to fit them in the glass slippers (no, really; if you didn't know that, I apologize for the gross detail). So, I was surprised by that. And then as I was watching it, it was so creepy!! The magic mirror? The forest? The order to cut out the princess's heart and bring it to the queen in a box? The apple..."her breath will still, her blood congeal" in "the Sleeping Death" made in a laboratory where there are skulls and stuff? Honestly, I would have found it terrifying when I was little.

Also, I had heard "Someday my Prince will come" criticized as an attitude, but in the actual context, which I was unclear on before, it didn't seem like such a bad thing. As long as we all just accept that falling in love at first duet is a standard issue fairy-tale suspension-of-disbelief thing that need not resemble real life, that is. Other than that, well, she was singing about an actual specific prince that she had met, who had declared his love to her in a serious way, who was actually riding around seeking to be reunited with her. And, she was not idle, even as she was singing the song, but was actively making life brighter for those who were actually around her and were helping her.

I enjoyed the dwarves and how sweet and funny they were, especially Grumpy. Animated proof, if you will, that one must sometimes look beyond the obvious to see what people are really like. He was grumpy, he seemed mean and unfriendly, but he was a big softy underneath all that.

And Snow White said her prayers before she went to bed.