Evolution of Snow White and Step Mother

The ultimate tale of the protagonist - poor, helpless, sweet and oh-so-fair Snow White is attacked by her evil stepmother, while she helplessly sings to wildlife and eventually resides in a glass coffin to be rescued. This is clearly an image that needs challenging and, appropriately, Snow White is front and centre of the fairy tales that are being revised for the modern world.

This is clearly an image that needs challenging and, appropriately, Snow White is front and centre of the fairy tales that are being revised for the modern world. Between Once Upon A Time, Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman, we see a very different princess.

The modern Snow White does not lay in glass coffins awaiting rescue. Her reaction is to attack, not to run away in fright, or maybe sing a little ditty to bluebirds.

Snow White is no longer a prize to be claimed, no longer an object to be won and no longer a passive element in what is supposed to be her own story. And if she needs rescuing, she is quite capable of rescuing herself, thank you very much. She is not so fragile anymore.

The modern Snow White kicks arse, she wields a sword, actively hunts down the Evil Queen and she stands shoulder to shoulder with her Prince Charming.

The problem, of course, is that strong woman still means straight, able bodied, cisgendered and White. Snow White may not necessarily be waiting in her coffin for true loves first kiss, but we do know that there will be a love interest and it will most certainly involve a man.

Unlike the Disney version where Black is seen as negative through the clothing choices of the evil queen, modern incarnations of Snow White do have characters of colour. These characters are always secondary and work to serve either the protagonist or the antagonist. Their characters normally can be erased from the film or television show in question without being missed, making it appear as though the choice to include a person of colour was based in a hope to forestall critique based in a lack of racial inclusion.

It is no accident that as the population demographics change that there has been a return to Snow White. No matter the text, there are constant references to her pale skin and dark flowing hair. Snow White is exclusionary from start to finish, no matter how many side characters of colour are included, simply because the role could never ever be played by a woman of colour.

A passive Snow White was always able bodied but this new active Snow White at times appears to hyper able. She fights using weapons and moves like an action hero that Jean Claude Van Dam could steal moves from. A disabled Snow White is far from the imagination because outside of very few examples in literature, disabled people arent considered beautiful, attractive or sexual. Disability is covered in Snow White by the dwarfs who all worship her without question. Having 7 men of short stature who have no real purpose but to uplift the hyper able Snow White hardly counts as good representation. While many are hailing the break from tradition that would require Snow White to be helpless and in need of rescue, those same voices scoff at the idea of tradition being violated to include marginalised bodies. There are few genres that are more erased than fairy tales.

Snow White and the Huntsman, seems to mark a return to Snow Whites macabre origins, it could potentially alter the seemingly eternal emphasis on beauty to demonstrate that the Queens and Snow Whites power are not inextricably bound to their physical appearance. The film could show that the Queen is able to find value in her intelligence and cunning, rather than in her mirrors reflection. Snow Whites beauty could merely be a noted quality, rather than what draws the world to her aid and to her side. The film could also point out that women have more to be angry about than another womans looks.

Unlike the Disney version where Black is seen as negative through the clothing choices of the evil queen, modern incarnations of Snow White do have characters of colour. These characters are always secondary and work to serve either the protagonist or the antagonist. Their characters normally can be erased from the film or television show in question without being missed, making it appear as though the choice to include a person of colour was based in a hope to forestall critique based in a lack of racial inclusion.

Fairy tales need to be the most inclusive of genres. These are books consumed by children trying to discover the world, trying to absorb messages about the world and trying to see where they fit into the world. It seems silly to say, but marginalised people are children too - and just as women in general are hurt and demeaned by endless representations of the pervasive passive princess; so too are marginalised bodies by being told that they dont belong at all - whether an active force to participate in the story or even someone worthy of rescue and questing for.

We do love how Snow White has evolved, and these were important, vital changes to her character and the pervasive passive princesses that has so glutted the genre and our culture.