“The Fairest of Them All”- The many adaptations of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves” in film.

“In my personal opinion, making creative variations on a particular story can be a great way of paying homage to a classic story- by looking at what is there, and adding your own touch to create something completely unique.”

Most of us are familiar with the tale of Snow White, the story of a lovely princess who flees her wicked, envious stepmother and finds refuge with seven kindly dwarfs who treat her as a member of their family. No doubt if you haven't read the original tale itself, you know of the Disney film-"the one that started it all." It is a film I myself have grown up watching, as I'm sure many of you have, and needless to say one of the most well-known adaptations of the story.

However, there are many other famous adaptations of this famous tale that I do not feel should be overlooked. Each demonstrate unique and innovative takes on the story of Snow White that in my opinion are definitely worthy of our attention.

Nevertheless, the Disney version is a good place to start. It is a gorgeously animated film, with wonderful music and amusing, lovable versions of the key players of Snow White.

Most importantly though, the essence of the story is kept intact. Snow White is still a young princess whom becomes the target of her wicked stepmother who despises her for being more beautiful than her. She is pursued by a huntsman hired by the Queen to dispose of her and upon escaping finds herself living among the seven dwarves. However, the first real thing that struck me in terms of differences was that, in the Grimm version, the dwarves don't have individual personalities. There is pretty much no distinction between one and another, besides them being referred to as, "the first, the second, the third..." and so on. Now, I guess most would argue that Grimm stories aren't known for having the most complex characters, but to literally have characters that have essentially no identity within a story, let alone seven of them, just struck me as pretty jarring, when the Disney version, by contrast, has them all to be such vibrant personalities. Granted, their main character traits are pretty basic, but still, they are there. I just find it funny to think of an adaptation as being the version that adds character where little to none existed, as in my experience, its usually happened the other way around.

However, I noticed one major difference when rereading the original Grimm story that stunned me. In the original story, The Queen does not request for Snow White's heart in a box, as we see in the Disney version. Instead, she requests that the huntsman cut out Snow White's lungs and liver, which she states she will then cook in salt and eat. The thing about this that truly boggled my mind though was the fact that the Queen gives no direct reason for why she must consume the organs of her daughter, outside of the fact that the huntsman has to prove that he killed her. It is treated almost matter-of-factly within the story, with no real explanation. In this case, I think Disney made the right decision in altering this; he is able to make it dark, while not being so disturbing as to question it being in a children’s tale. It is not a plot-essential detail, and to be honest, it makes the story more palatable to the average viewer in my opinion.

Interestingly though, the Disney version was not the first to make this change. The 1916 adaptation of Snow White, directed by J. Searle Dawley and adapted to the screen by Jessie Braham White from his 1912 play of the same name, is another film adaptation that changes the scenario from the Queen eating Snow White’s lungs and liver to the Queen asking for her heart. This film also diverted quite a bit from the original tale by adding characters and conflicts not even referenced in the Grimm story. For example, the Huntsman in this version is a friend to Snow White, as she at one point in the movie is sent to his home to retrieve ducks for the Castle’s lunch. Snow White is also friendly with the Huntsman’s three daughters in this scene, and I found this significant as it adds to the inner conflict of the Huntsman when the Queen demands that he murder Snow White and bring her heart. Although the film is silent, we can see his guilt and his anguish clearly on his face as he sits with Snow White in the Woods, struggling with the reality of being asked to kill his beloved princess.

Snow White, for that matter, is also given character and personality that is left somewhat vague in the story. She is shown as being very kindly towards the palace servants, as well as to her maids of honor, even in the midst of the Queen subjecting her to dressing in rags and doing the work of a kitchen maid, (which reminded be a bit of Cinderella). Another interesting difference to note is the fact that the Queen who mistreats, and is jealous of Snow White in this version is not her mother, but the second wife of the King, Queen Brangomar. It is not clear why this change was made, as their roles of the Snow White’s mother and Queen Brangomar are virtually identical. However, she still plays the role well, as do all of the actors in this film, managing to breathe life and expression into the characters even without the use of spoken dialogue.

Fast-forward to 2012, and you have another major film adaptation of “Snow White” taking the scene, whose major difference from the previously mentioned films was its darker tone and its emphasis on action and drama. This film was called “Snow White and the Huntsman,” and was directed by Rupert Sanders. Although this film has received mixed reviews, it was a success at the Box Office, grossing well over $396 million. Whether or not you feel the film is well-made or well-written, one cannot deny it caught people’s attention.

Many significant changes to the plot were made, such as having Snow White fight her evil stepmother the Queen and end her reign after she steals the throne by murdering the King. While it is clearly trying to put a more modern spin on the classic tale, and stand out from previous adaptations, I did find some elements added to the story to be a bit cliché. For example, rather than simply being a Queen who longs to be more beautiful than her daughter, she is also obsessed with retaining her youth, and she achieves this by stealing the youth of young girls. I have seen this type of scenario many times before, and I felt that they could have found a more original way of conveying to us that the spell that keeps her young and beautiful is waning, and she must find a way of prolonging it.

Another notable change in this version is that the Queen must take Snow White’s heart in her hand to become the “fairest in the land,’ rather than needing the heart as merely a form of proof that Snow White is dead. I felt this was an interesting twist in and of itself, but the majority of the film is not so much focused on the Queen capturing Snow White, as it is Snow White distancing herself from her and forming a resistance against the Queen (including the seven dwarves) and defeating her in battle. However, the film does have a scene towards the end that honors the classic story, albeit with another twist; in the middle of the forest, the Queen disguises herself as the Prince, gives Snow White an apple, and the apple ends up killing her. However, this does open up questions as to why she needed the Huntsman at all, if at any point after Snow White left the Dark Forest, (where her powers were supposedly nonexistent) she could have located Snow White wherever she was at any time and killed her. It is not made clear how she found Snow White in this scene, as in the previous scene she was back at the castle, mourning the death of her brother. No scouts or guardsmen gave her any information as to where Snow White was, so we can only assume that she found her, somehow, by herself.

Another important element added to this film is the expanded role of the Huntsman, who serves as a protector and ally of Snow White. As in the original story, he is tasked with killing her by the Queen, but he decides instead to escort her through the Dark Forest to safety. He is a character who carries much grief inside of him, due to the loss of his wife, and had originally agreed to killing Snow White only on the condition of her being brought back to life. A character much overlooked in the iconic Disney version, the Huntsman in the 1916 and the 2012 adaptations is given special honor, as both versions reveal more of his personality, and furthermore, his humanity, by giving him an identity beyond that of a hired killer. In the end, in fact, it is the Huntsman’s kiss that breaks the spell cast on Snow White. It is left ambiguous, however, as to whom she chooses to be with, the Prince or the Huntsman, which I feel is an interesting choice of the writer. The affection the Huntsman, has for Snow White is not overtly romantic, besides that one brief kiss) so this ending can leave us with the impression that while his love for Snow White is deep, it is not necessarily romantic. In my view, it is a more realistic decision of the director to end it this way; it shows regard for the fact that the Huntsman, like many widows, cannot simply replace the one they love with another so easily. It makes more logical sense for the Huntsman as a character to not end up with Snow White at the end, and I have respect for the director making the decision to end it that way. It is a subtle touch, but I found it quite interesting, and overall, the film was pretty good, in my opinion. There may be a few plot inconsistencies here and there, but I think it was an intriguing take on the story, and a fun movie to watch.

In an interview with Rupert Sanders, director of “Snow White and the Huntsman,” he stated that the tale of Snow White had made a deep impression on him as a child, and that his main goal was to “go back to that source material and create something very new and contemporary with it but in keeping with the Grimm’s fairytale version.” In his own words, he was not “polishing it up to make it something it isn’t.” His main goal was to reincorporate the classic themes, myths, and symbolism of the original story into a more contemporary version, and if you watch the film, it is evident those elements are still there, albeit in a different framework. I believe Sanders was being honest when he made these statements, and I respect him for his veneration of the original story and the way he appropriated the main essence of that story into his film.

In my personal opinion, making creative variations on a particular story can be a great way of paying homage to a classic story- by looking at what is there, and adding your own touch to create something completely unique. The 196, 1937, and 2012 versions of “Snow White” demonstrate this, by having their directors add characters and personalities that only serve to enhance the story of “Snow White” further, making it even more entertaining and memorable. When directors and writers work upon a story that has already been told, they have the potential to give us some truly incredible work, and I feel their efforts should not be dismissed.

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