Snow White (Disney)

Snow White
First appearance	Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Created by	The Brothers Grimm Hamilton Luske (animator)
Voiced by	Adriana Caselotti (original film) Mary Kay Bergman (1989–1999) Carolyn Gardner (2000–2010) Katherine Von Till (current)
Information
Species	Human
Gender	Female
Occupation	Princess
Family	The King (father; deceased) Unnamed mother (deceased) Queen Grimhilde (stepmother, deceased)
Spouse(s)	The Prince
Nationality	German (Bavarian)

Snow White is a fictional character and a main character from Walt Disney Productions' 1st animated feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The character of Snow White was derived from a fairy tale known from many countries in Europe, the best known version being the Bavarian one collected by the Brothers Grimm. Snow White is the first Disney Princess and the first fictional female character with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.^[1]

Development

Animators' initial sketches for Snow White's character, some of which bore a resemblance to Betty Boop, did not meet Walt Disney's expectations, as they were too cartoonish.^[2][3]

Hamilton Luske, whom Walt Disney had selected as the supervising animator for Snow White's character, was tasked with the challenge of making Snow White more believably human and realistic than any of the Disney studio's previous animated characters. This was a challenge Luske and co-animator Les Clark had previously been asked to explore while developing the character of Persephone for the Silly Symphonies animated short The Goddess of Spring. Of that project, Les Clark later remarked, "I'm sure Walt was thinking ahead to Snow White." Though the Persephone character ended up appearing somewhat lifeless and devoid of personality, that experiment in imitating realistic human movement and anatomy was continued and its lessons were applied in the development of Snow White's animation techniques.^[4]

The relatively new technique of using live-action footage as a reference for character movements was used extensively to bring Snow White's character to life. A young dancer named Marjorie Celeste Belcher (nicknamed Margie Bell) served as the live-action model for Snow White. (Margie Bell, daughter of animator Ernest Belcher, also later modeled for the Blue Fairy character in Disney's 1940 film Pinocchio.) Hamilton Luske directed her through the filming of numerous movement sequences, and then the animators studied and copied the footage to enhance the realism of Snow White's animated movements. Animator Ollie Johnston later recalled, "Ham's careful planning and shooting of the live-action footage, always with the idea in mind of how it would be used in animation, resulted in a very convincing character."^[5]

Voice

Disney could not find a voice for Snow White. Around 150 girls auditioned for the role of Snow White,^[6] including well-known actresses such as Deanna Durbin,^[7] whose voice seemed too old to Disney.^[8] One assistant to Disney called his friend and teacher vocal music Guido Cazelotti, complaining that Hollywood had no singing girls. Cazelotti wanted to offer to send their best to listen to the students, but it turned out that his 20-year old daughter Adriana overheard a conversation on another phone in the house, and she sang in a tube and has demonstrated her shrill girlish voice.^[9] Her father was confused and told his daughter to get away from the phone, but the casting director liked her voice and invited her to audition. After Walt Disney heard her, he immediately gave her a role.^[10][11][12]

The studio signed a multi-page contract with Adriana Caselotti: she was forbidden to sing in a movie or on the radio before the movie,^{[citation needed]} instead she received $970 (now worth approximately $15,751).^[7]

Since 2000 and until 2010, Snow White was voiced by American voice actress Carolyn Gardner, but since 2011, Snow White has been voiced by American actress Katherine Von Till, who first voiced the character in the Disneyland-themed video game Kinect Disneyland Adventures.^{[13][14][15][16]}

Characteristics

Snow White is a 14-year old^[17] princess^[18] with short hair "as black as ebony", full lips as "red as the rose", skin "white as snow", and brown eyes. Snow White is a kind, gentle, sweet, innocent, cheerful, and motherly character, with a trusting nature. She also shows great resilience and an inner strength against adversity.

Though she is first seen in rags at the film's beginning, Snow White is most well known for her iconic gown with a blue bodice, a long yellow skirt, short red and blue striped sleeves, and a high white collar, along with tan court shoes, a red cape, and a red hair ribbon.

Appearances

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Snow White first appears in the film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). In the film she is depicted as living under her wicked, vain stepmother, the Queen, who forces Snow White to engage in menial labor, fearing that one day Snow White's beauty might become greater than her own. After many years, the Queen's magic mirror confirms Snow White as being the "fairest of them all", which causes the Queen to cast Snow White out and send a huntsman to kill her. When he refuses to do so, the huntsman helps Snow White escape into the forest. Snow White stumbles upon the home of the seven dwarfs, who happily aid her.

The Queen discovers that Snow White has survived and uses magic to disguise herself as an old hag and creates a poisoned apple that will kill whoever that eats it will be put into "Sleeping Death" and only a kiss of true love could revive her. When the dwarfs are away the hag arrives at the dwarfs cottage and offers Snow White the poisoned apple, unbeknownst to her that it is the Queen in disguise. Snow White bites into the apple and falls into a coma. The dwarfs discovering what had happened track down the Queen and short fight ensues and the Queen is killed. Believing her dead, the dwarfs build an open grave for Snow White to rest on. Time passes and the Prince comes across Snow White. Saddened by her apparent death, he kisses her, causing her to awaken. As the Seven Dwarfs dance with joy, Snow White and the Prince go off to live in his castle.^[18]

In other media

A cast member as Snow White in Disneyland Paris

Snow White is an official member of the Disney Princess line, a prominent franchise directed at young girls. The franchise covers a wide variety of merchandise, including but not limited to magazines, music albums, toys, video games, clothes and stationery.^[19]

Snow White also appears as a cameo in the films Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) and The Lion King 1½ (2004).

Snow White's Scary Adventures 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. The ride was taken down in Disney World in May 2012 as part of the New Fantasyland expansion.^[20] Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is an upcoming 2014 attraction at Magic Kingdom, that is based on the film, and includes the Dwarfs' Cottage and a new mine train roller coaster.^[21] Princess Fairytale Hall is an attraction at the Magic Kingdom that replaces Snow White's Scary Adventures.^[22]

Aside from appearing in video games related to the Disney Princess franchise media as well as appearances on the television show Disney's House of Mouse, Snow White also appears in the popular Kingdom Hearts series as one of the Disney Princesses of Heart.^[23] She first appears in the first Kingdom Hearts as a Princess of Heart captured by Maleficent.^[24] She reprises her role from the film in the PlayStation Portable game, Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep.^[25]

Actress Ginnifer Goodwin portrays a live-action version of Snow White on the ABC series Once Upon a Time.

On Jun. 18, 2013, the US Patent and Trademark Office granted The Walt Disney Company's trademark application (filed November 19, 2008), for the name "Snow White" that covers all live and recorded movie, television, radio, stage, computer, Internet, news, and photographic entertainment uses, except literature works of fiction and nonfiction.^[26]

Reception

Since her first appearance in 1937, Disney's Snow White character has elicited a range of reactions from film critics. Writing in 1937, John C. Flinn Sr. of Variety, described Snow White as "the embodiment of girlish sweetness and kindness".^[27] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote in 2001, "Snow White is, truth to tell, a bit of a bore, not a character who acts but one whose mere existence inspires others to act," and went on to say that "Disney's inspiration was not in creating Snow White but in creating her world."^[28] Sandie Angulo Chen of Common Sense Media wrote in 2005, "As is to be expected in a film made in 1937, Snow White is a passive damsel in distress who needs to be rescued by her true love... Although Snow White may not be as brave as Mulan, as intelligent as Belle, or as talented as Ariel, she is, like Cinderella after her. Snow White is the sweetest and weakest among the Disney Princesses."^[29] Desson Thomson of The Washington Post joked, "Snow White may be pure, but she has no real estate, is compulsive about house-cleaning and talks to animals".^[30] TV Guide's review describes the character as "the most surreal" of the Disney Princesses, noting that "never again would Walt's heroine have such a fantasy singing voice, and for that reason, she's the favorite heroine of many animation auteurs."^[31]

Snow White is one of the few fictional characters with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.^[1]

See also

• Queen Grimhilde

References

External links

• Snow White at Disney Princess
• Snow White at the Internet Movie Database