Saturday, April 11, 2015

"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" Film Review

"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"
(Released 1937 Walt Disney Productions)






 
 



 
The Story

“Snow white and the Seven Dwarfs” (1937) is Walt Disney’s first animated feature film, making her Disney’s first princess. The story is about the fourteen year old sweet natured orphan Snow White who is the fairest in the land with “lips red as a rose, hair black as ebony, and skin white as snow”. Snow White lives in the castle with her wicked stepmother the Queen (Snow’s father passed away after he married the Queen) who is also a witch. The Queen always looks to her magic mirror to make sure she is “the fairest” in the land because she worries that Snow White’s beauty will surpass her own, so she dresses Snow in rags and makes her clean around the castle.

 


Meanwhile, during her daily chores, Snow sings “I’m wishing, for the one I love, to find me, today” (most expectantly waiting for her prince to come whisk her away and marry her), she briefly meets her Prince. Then while picking flowers at a later time an attempt is made on Snow’s life by one of the Queens henchmen (who can’t quite find it in his heart to do the job), which forces Snow to run into the forest where she meets animals that comfort and listen to her as she sings and talks out her problems to them.

 
She then wanders and sees a cottage back in the woods and lets herself (and the animals) right through the front door where she finds a dirty little house with little chairs and beds. She assumes there are children living here so to ‘earn her keep’ she cleans the house (with the help of the forest animals) and cooks dinner and dessert while awaiting the arrival of the tenants. She soon learns the tenants are not children, but 7 ‘little men’ who work as diamond miner’s. At first they are not all agreed in allowing their new guest to stay, but they end up welcoming her after finding out she is the Princess who needs a place to stay away from the wicked Queen and being that Snow could cook for them it only sweetened the deal.


 
The next day the dwarfs leave for work, telling Snow to be careful while they are away. While Snow makes a pie for their return an old lady in a black cloak (the Queen who has magically transformed herself) with delicious looking apples, tricks Snow into letting her rest in the cottage and have a drink of water. The disguised Queen then tempts Snow into trying a bite of one of her red apples which is poisoned, and Snow White falls. The dwarfs come home to find their new guest lifeless, and they put her in a glass box that they set up as a sort of memorial. Then the prince comes riding in on his horse, finds Snow, kisses her which wakes her up and they ride off to their happily ever after.


 
My Thoughts

I watched this movie probably more than 100 times. My grandma would make me buttered pasta with parmesan while I would sit to watch this movie and hear her singing the songs in the background with her beautiful voice (growing up she was in her high schools choir). I still today watch this on occasion because it brings her memory back and that feeling I had in her home. I remember thinking as a child that Snow White was lucky to have been saved by her Prince. Watching the dwarfs I would laugh and think they were funny because they all had different personalities and wanted a “mother” figure in the house, even though they were old men.
I also remember thinking that the queen was evil and mean. The magic part of the movie scared me a bit, so sometimes I would fast forward through parts so I wouldn’t be afraid. I think I just didn’t enjoy watching the evil parts of the movie and only wanted to see the fun and nice parts. Could have had something to do with how my home life with my dad was turbulent, because of his physical abuse. Watching this movie I did grow up (to a certain extent) with the fairy tale complex, meaning I thought it was normal for women to find their dream man to come and take them away. But I think that the majority of females hopes to find a person that can make them happy and ease their troubles at times.

Stereotypes, “ism’s”, and Controversy I Found...

 
Although I look at this movie from a different perspective, I will still always keep a hold of how I felt as a little girl viewing this movie. I noticed myself, along with researching other viewpoints about this movie, some agreed sexism, classism and stereotypical views portrayed in this movie that reflect the time period it was written in, like the statement that "One might suspect that female beauty was really a larger issue for men than for women, because male sexual response depends to a considerable degree on visual clues. Placing each "fair lady" (or anything else) somewhere on an arbitrary hierarchical scale seems to be a male idea. Women may recognize a thousand different types of beauty without having to make them compete." (Snow White Criticism, K. Vandergrift) At the period this movie was written this was a common view in society and many cultures.
  • Snow White plays a “damsel in distress”, who naïve and helpless and is waiting for a man to come and save her.
  • Snow White plays out the sexist stereotype that females stay at home to cook and clean while the male goes out and works.
  • The Queen plays the stereotype of a stepparent being mean or evil
  • The Queen focuses on her physical beauty as the most important thing in life.

  • Grumpy (one of the dwarfs) says that women have “wicked wiles”, generalizing women in a negative light.
  • The dwarfs (all but Grumpy) showed classism when they only got excited about having Snow White stay with them only after they found out she was the princess,  
  • Grumpy was portrayed as sort of a bigot. In the movie most times he only saw his viewpoint and didn’t want to accept anyone else’s way of doing things.
  • The Dwarfs house was dirty, and Snow White assumed children lived there, when in fact men lived there.
  • Snow White came into their house as a stranger and forced her culture (way of doing things) on the dwarfs.
  • Sizeism- During the first evening when Snow White and the Dwarf played music and danced, dopey climbed atop another dwarf to dance with Snow White, as if he couldn’t dance with her just by himself because he was too small. Also she generally treated them like children telling them to wash up before supper and telling them to show her their hands.
  • Ageism- Older people in film are looked at generally as mean, scary, dirty, or bad.
  • The dwarfs were illustrated was not very different from one another, even as a child I had a hard time naming the dwarfs by just looking at them.
  • Classism- The dwarfs are shown to be hardworking and dirty as opposed to the Princess whose only job is to be neat, clean, and cook for the men.
  • Dopey’s name alone tells how he was portrayed as the slow (or disabled) one because he didn’t talk because “he never tried” and he was shown to be overly clumsy.
  • Stereotype that witches are old, cloak wearing, crippled, ugly, wart having, evil women.
  • All men snore
  • Snow White is able to name the dwarfs after seeing the names on their beds and basing it off their looks. She was right, but what if she had been wrong?
  • The Prince is portrayed as the tall White handsome man who comes to save the Princess
 
Through a Child's Eyes...
 
 
I think children who watch this movie could think and/or absorb that...
 
 
  • “little people” sleep in little beds
  • stepparents are mean and evil
  • good looking people will always get what they want
  • good conquers evil
  • animals can do things like humans
  • animals in the forest are friendly, helpful, and can be played with
  • bad people die
  • there are good and bad people in the movie
  • princesses are pretty can sing and marry princes

Resources 

     

     
     
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    Sunday, March 8, 2015

    "Chocolate me!"
    By Taye Diggs
    Illustration by Shane W. Evans
    Published Originally 2011


                                      This children's book is about a boy with dark skin that is teased for the color of his skin, texture of his hair, size of his nose, and the brightness of his teeth. He begins to wonder why he can't look like the boys that are teasing him. He then turns to his mother who comforts and teaches him to love himself the way he is.

    "The CHOCOLATE comes from is a funny looking seed that opens to a little white slimy bean…from that you refine and work it into the SWEET TREAT that we all eat and love. This says a lot about who we are as people. We go through a process to BE SWEET… or BITTER in some instances, but it is essential for all things to come together to make us better…to make us the best that we can be…CHOCOLATE ME!!! Say it loud…"I'M SWEET INSIDE!!!"-(Shane W. Evans 2011, chocolatemetoo.com )

    The author Taye Diggs, had this to say about the book and its message:

     "The book is based on a period in my life where I was five and lived in a neighborhood where nobody looked like me and the kids would make fun. So my mother had to sit down and tell me that regardless of what these kids say, my differences are what make me special, she loved me and I should look in the mirror and love who I am. In the book we refer to it as the sweet inside, to love your chocolate. Everybody should embrace their chocolate sweetness inside. The story is specific to me, but what’s so great about this book [is] the message we’re promoting is universal. It’s for anyone who has ever felt left out and how you should always take some time and look within and let what other people call your faults, let them strengthen you."- (Taye Diggs, Huffington Post , 2011)


     Looking at this book initially, I feel the story is meant to be comforting to children with different skin shades (other than white), who have experienced racism and bullying at a young age. I think this book has a good message but thinking about the fact that this is to be read to 4-8 year old impressionable children of any skin color, I personally wouldn't share this with a classroom of children because I don't think this is a well rounded enough book. After considering the article "10 Quick Ways to Analyze Children's Book's for Sexism and Racism" (CDE, Bill Honig, 1998) here are some of the reasons why...

    1. The characters depict tokenism. The children pretty much look the same besides their coloring in the illustrations and are simplified. 
    2. 'The standard for success' is not reached being that the main character is the child who does the work to avoid the conflict and racism through chocolate cupcakes.
    3. The 'resolution of problems' includes passive acceptance in that white children in the story are never held accountable for their actions, but are rewarded with chocolate cupcakes from the bullied child.
    4. The only names in the book that are mentioned are the bullying white children. The main character and his mother who are the 'minorities' (as most society has so labeled) are never given names.
    5. The resolution to the problem that is given from the mother is a very passive one and shows the main character how to generally assimilate into white culture by ignoring the name calling and giving out cupcakes instead of confronting the issues at hand. Leaving it up to the child to deal with his feelings internally and he is expected to know that he is special no matter what others say.
    6. This book reinforces the positive view of white people being the superior and good looking race.
    7. The language in the story uses racial stereotypes and torments the boy like saying his skin is "brown like dirt" and "Does it hurt to wash off?"

    At first in the story it seemed as though the bullies had the power because they teased and were effecting the way the main character thought about his physical features. The mother had the wisdom in this book because she reassured her son and helped him to build his self-esteem, he was able to see that the bullies were wrong and that he is special even though he is different.

    The moral of the story I think would also refer young children to think that if they are being bullied, they should give the bullies treats (like a chocolate cupcake) to make them like him/her. The book makes no real consequences for the bullying and racism, but actually rewards this behavior (via chocolate cupcakes from the victim) without real correction.
    Some of the illustrations depict African culture as shown in the mothers dress, a reference to braided hair or corn rows and the carpeting of their home, but there is not a lot of reference to this throughout. The mother is the only one with bigger lips in the book, while all the other characters have simple lines drawn as their noses and lips. There is some slang in the words used, like "for real" and "I asked my moms". I think this is accounts as part of the authors viewpoint of his life when he was young. I think that this narrative shows a single parent African American single parent family that is dealing with the stereotypes and racism that comes from other children.

    In general, if we think about what a child (who has skin color other than white) may feel if they were listening to this book in a room full of white peers, I don't think many would find this book as comforting as another book may be. It may even give children ideas of how to make fun of others. I think the message is indeed a great one that is necessary for parents to teach their children at a young age. It is relatable and although the language is very straightforward and harsh at times, I could see it even being chosen as a tool in a single parent home where a mother is caring for her child alone. 

    One particular thing I enjoyed about the book was the clear message that the mother was loving and cared for her son, and I enjoyed the different t-shirt's that the main character was wearing on each page, which had positive messages aimed at building self-esteem.


     So far this book in the majority has been well received and enjoyed. There are mixed reviews from people of all skin colors which range from saying that this book is "racist" all the way to saying it is "amazing". - (Reader's reviews from Amazon.com, 2011-2014)

    References:
    10 Quick Ways to Analyze Children's Books for Sexism and Racism. Adapted from the original brochure which was published by the Council on Interracial Books for Children by the California State Department of Education. Sacramento, Bill Honig, 1998.
    "Chocolate me!" By Taye Diggs, Illustration by Shane W. Evans, Published  by
    McMillan/Feiwell & Friends Originally 2011
    Chocolate me website: http://chocolatemetoo.com/


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