Research Paper on Snow White
Since this magical mirror never lies, when he queen asks Moo in this land is the fairest Of all” the mirror responds “Your majesty, you are the fairest of all”, that is until Snow White reaches the age of seven (Pullman). Since this tale depicts the mirror as something magical and the queen as somewhat of a witch, for mixing potions, it falls under said category. In my opinion, the TAT index does not help understand the message it seeks to convey because it doesn’t explain in detail the reason of each category and its placements.
Nevertheless, the index can lead into the archetypal symbols of the tale, like the “supernatural” power of a poisoned apple. An archetype, “An original from which copies are made”, can be “found in situations, characters, objects, and themes that have a universal appeal” (Chooks). An archetype is an original piece, for which different authors elaborate a replica that they modify to suit specific targets, so is the case of the apple in Snow White.
Both the tale by the brothers Grimm and the movie by Disney, portray a story revolving around beauty and jealousy, but they differ in the plot, where Grime’s provides a more complex problem, and Disney falls into a very simple “disobeying is bad” idea. The story is centered n a Good and Evil theme that is portrayed as Crone vs.. Maiden (Chooks). The Crone takes form of the queen and Snow White as the maiden. This fairytale tells the story of a monarch who sends off to kill her stepdaughter in the woods by a hunter. This hunter lets her go and she stumbles upon seven dwarfs who take her in, in return for labor.
The queen learns Snow White has not been killed and sets out to do it herself. Her demise is a shiny red poisoned apple that she potions up. It doesn’t eventually kill her, but makes her sleep so profoundly that she seems as she is dead. Both versions of the ammos fairytale share very similar parts, but differ in some as well. This is due to the adaptation made for it to be suitable for children. For example in Grime’s version of the fairytale, the queen disguises herself and attempts to murder Snow White two times before introducing the poisoned apple in the third try.
In the Disney adaptation, she changes only once to an evil witch as she mixes a potion that she later makes into the apple that she plans to give Snow White, “he reduced the visits to one for dramatic economy/’ (Engine). The red apple, mentioned in both versions, is an archetype used to represent innocence and pureness on the white side (part bitten by the queen) and desire and temptation on the poisoned red side (bitten by Snow White). This temptation is what causes Snow White to want to have it and eventually bite it, causing her to fall into a deep sleep that not even the dwarfs can change.
The queen’s desire to be the most beautiful woman in the land finally happens, but just for a moment. The Prince that eventually lays eyes on the beautiful Snow White in her glass coffin, decides to take her back to his father’s palace. While his men are carrying her, they stumble, making the apple come out of Snow White’s throat (Pullman). The central threat of the story (the desire for beauty) finally gets resolved as the queen gets invited to the wedding and is made to dance wearing iron shoes until she dies (Pullman).
That is another difference from that of Disney, which portrays her death by the hands of the dwarfs by chasing her off a cliff (Disney). This fairytale clearly falls into a sphere of Vladimir Prop’s 31 Functions of a Fairytale. This is the 1st sphere, where he mentions; Inlaid attempts to deceive hero with trickery’ (Prop). As I mentioned earlier, the climax in both versions revolve around the poisoned apple. The reason is that it is the apple hat succeeds in affecting Snow White. The fruit tempts her and serves its purpose; creating a desire and temptation kind of archetype.
The changes in the fairytale made by Disney deriving from the Brothers Grimm vary from the original, but don’t stray away from the novel’s plot. Believe that the changes made by Disney are both good and bad. There can be two points of view on how the story is told. One point of view is that Disney did a good job altering the original, this is because the original Grimm fairytale is not meant for kids which are what Disney’s target is. “The most obvious changes were intended to tone down the violence of the original tale” (Engine). They had to find a way to modify certain things to appeal to their target.
First, if the Story were to stay original, it would last a long time. Kids would lack the attention span to sit through the whole thing. Second, as I mentioned before, the target is kids and the original story is too complex for a child to understand. The different types of archetypes are limited to one: a poisoned apple. It’s easy for a child to understand to simply not eat it. It also shows that good is always better than evil, something Disney always portrays. On the other hand the changes take away much of the detail and richness the story possesses.
The original has three archetypes that are described in detail and what is found behind those archetypes, which Disney just limits to one. The story can become flat because it’s straight to the point as opposed to Grime’s steps to get to the plot. The Brothers Grimm don’t necessarily talk about how good always prevails over evil, that’s not their focus, and it’s something that Disney alters in all its movies. In conclusion Disney’s changes do make the archetype more connected to the theme for the reason that the focus on children sakes them center on just one main archetype which just happens to be the main one too in the Grimm novel.
