| Snow White | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs |
| Created by | Brothers Grimm |
| Voiced by | Adriana Caselotti (original film) Carolyn Gardner (modern media) Mary Kay Bergman (1990s merchandise) |
| Information | |
| Nationality | Dutch/German (in Disney Version) |
Snow White is a fictional character and the main protagonist from Walt Disney's first animated feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, (1937). She is also the first member of the Disney Princess group of characters.
Snow White (in Dutch Sneeuwwitje) is derived from a fairy tale known from many countries in Europe, the best known version being the German one collected by the Brothers Grimm.
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Walt Disney had difficulty finding a suitable voice for Snow White. A casting director for Disney phoned a well-known voice coach named Guido Caselotti, to help him. Overhearing the conversation, Caselotti's daughter Adriana got on the phone and sang and spoke in a young girl's voice. Embarrassed, Guido ordered his daughter to get off the phone, but the casting director had already invited her to audition. After Walt heard her, he cast her immediately.
Princess Snow White, a beautiful fourteen year old girl[1] with a wonderful, otherworldly singing voice, is seen working as a scullery maid in the kingdom. As she uses the well to scoop the bucket up with more water, she begins to sing; she is seen by a prince, who accidentally interrupts her singing, and she runs, embarrassed, into the castle. He sings back to her, and she acknowledges him by sending him a kiss, through a dove. She then retreats back into the castle.
Snow White's stepmother, the Queen, grows jealous of her stepdaughter because of her kindness and beauty. Fearing that one day her stepdaughter's beauty will surpass her own, she consults with her Magic Mirror, an animate object who confirms that the princess is indeed the fairest of them all. After she hears Snow White is still the fairest, she angrily orders her huntsman to take Snow White in to the forest to be killed. The huntsman recognizes how innocent and beautiful the princess is and soon can't bring himself to do the deed and instead tells her to run away into the forest to save herself from the Queen's wrath. Frightened, Snow White runs in to the forest. When finally out of the forest, she wearily falls to the ground and weeps in fear. She soon finds consolation with some animal friends, who take her to a little cottage. Since the items and pieces of furniture are all so tiny, she assumes that the house is owned by seven children who possibly have no parents. It is revealed however that the cottage residents are seven dwarf miners, who are very surprised to see Snow White in their house when they return from the mines. Upon learning of her fate and identity, they agree to let her live in their house. During this time, she cooks, cleans, and cares for the dwarfs.
The Queen discovers that Snow White is still alive and drinks a potion to disguise herself as an old hag. She then poisons an apple with a special potion that would cause Snow White to fall into a deathlike coma, where she could only be revived by love's first kiss. She finds Snow White in the dwarfs' cottage while they are out at the mines and offers her a poisoned apple, telling it's a wishing apple and that one bite can make all her dreams come true. After Snow White makes a wish, she bites in to the apple and falls to the ground dropping it. The Queen cackles in triumph and leaves. The dwarfs arrive soon after and are unable to save Snow White, but they chase the Queen up a cliff. She attempts to roll a boulder on them and laughs until Lightning crackles next to her and cracks the rock she is on and she falls to her death to be crushed by the boulder herself.
Unwilling to bury Snow White because of her beauty, the dwarfs build a glass coffin in which to lay her to rest. She is left in the woods, where the prince, who has been searching far and wide, finds her. He kisses her and she awakens. After bidding farewell to the seven dwarfs, Snow White and the prince leave together, presumably to be married and return to The Evil Queen's castle, which is glowing in her presence.
There is a dark ride dedicated to the princess and her story at the Disneyland, Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris theme parks. Located in Fantasyland, it is one of the few remaining attractions operational on Disneyland's opening day in 1955.
Snow White as well as the Dwarfs will have a new attraction in 2012 at Magic Kingdom. The attraction will be based on the film. It will include the Dwarfs' Cottage and a new mine train roller coaster.
Snow White (白雪姫 Shirayukihime) appears in the Kingdom Hearts series as one of the Disney Princesses of Heart. She first appears in the first Kingdom Hearts as a Princess of Heart captured by Maleficent. She reprises her role from the film in the PlayStation Portable game, Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep.
Snow White also appears in video games related to the Disney Princess franchise, such as Disney Princess, Disney Princess: Enchanted Journey, and Disney Princess: Magical Jewels.
Snow White appears as a guest in the animated television series Disney's House of Mouse. In this series, she is voiced by Carolyn Gardner. Snow White also appears at the endings of Who Framed Roger Rabbit and The Lion King 1½.
Snow White appears as one of the Disney Princesses in the manga, Kilala Princess.
The young princess also can be seen in the Disney theme parks as a meet-and-greet character. She also appears in one of the Disney Princess books called My Side of the Story with her stepmother the Queen.
The Snow White character is a featured part of the Disney Princess line of products. She is part of the music video for the song "If You Can Dream." Strangely, she does not sing in the song, but some people believe she does.
The Walt Disney Company currently has a trademark application pending with the US Patent and Trademark Office, filed November 19, 2008, for the name "Snow White" that would cover all live and recorded movie, television, radio, stage, computer, Internet, news, and photographic entertainment uses, except literature works of fiction and nonfiction.[2]
Snow White is one of the few fictional characters with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Costume companies have made several knockoff brands of Snow White's dress using the same colors as the Disney character.
Kim Kardashian dressed as Disney's Snow White in 2009. [3]
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