other than writing poetry and stories, I’m also a huge Disney fan, in fact there’s only one Disney movie I had a costume for and that was Snow White.
I remember my grandfather telling me he watched Snow White as a kid and as I got older I wanted to know what Snow White was based on. It turns out it’s based on a brother Grimms story called snowdrop. So let’s compare the Disney move with the Grimm brother version.
Without further ado this is Disney vs Grimm brothers!
Before we get started with the movie let’s start off with the story written by the Grimm brothers.
Snowdrop’s mother was making something near her ebony window. She was looking at the snow at the window frame when she pricked her finger three drops of blood came on the white snow and she said, ““Would that my little daughter may be as white as that snow, as red as that blood, and as black as this ebony windowframe!” Snowdrop’s mother’s wish came true but she died. So the king remarried but his new wife was vain. By the time snowdrop was seven, yes , seven years old, her beauty surpassed the evil queen. We don’t hear anything about snowdrop’s father after he gets remarried.
The huntsman takes pity on snowdrop thinking that the wild animals would tear her apart and tells her to run.
But when the evil queen discovers that snowdrop is alive she tried to kill her not one or two but three times!
Here are the three attempts
1. The queen dressed herself as an old lace and bobbins seller and attempted to strangle her.
2. She took a poisoned comb and when snowdrop ( that’s what she is called in the book.) places the comb in her hair she fell down until the dwarfs took the comb out.
And finally the last attempt
3. She made a poisoned apple and dressed as a peasants wife, only one half of the apple was poisoned so she could trick snowdrop into eating the poisoned side when the queen ate the non poisoned side. Of course she dropped that time but didn’t wake up until the piece of apple dislodged from her throat.
Now the story doesn’t end there. Unlike the Disney film, the story continues at the wedding of snowdrop and a prince. When her step mother arrived at the wedding and saw snowdrop again alive, depending on which version you read, the evil queen dies in two ways, in one version she choked with rage, and in the other version she was forced to dance in red hot iron shoes until she died.
Damn, it’s been awhile since I’ve read a Grimm brothers story.
Now it’s time to talk about the movie that Disney made.
In the entire film she’s called Snow White.
We don’t hear anything about her father who is a king like in the book. But Snow White is twelve when she is chased away from the castle. The evil queen has a name queen Grimhilde. So that’s one reason why I like the movie. Although they never reveal her name in the movie you can easily google it. So I admit they had to do some creative liberties. She still has a magic mirror. And even attempted to kill her by using a poisoned apple. She tricked Snow White into thinking it was a magic wishing apple and told Snow White “Don’t let the wish grow cold.” As if it was a hot meal. If that getup didn’t make her realize that was her step mother in this film I don’t know what will. But the queen does die. Now we don’t see her body but vultures fly down after lightning strikes the edge of the cliff she’s on causing her to fall off. At least the birds had more sense of danger than Snow White did in this film. In the book she gets more cautious. Even though I may have ruined Snow White by Walt Disney I still enjoy the film.
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