Saturday, January 7, 2012
Episode 27: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Happy New Year, everyone! 2012 is a banner year for Mousterpiece Cinema, because the Disney movie podcast you know and love is now being presented to you by the amazing movie website Sound On Sight! Why not start off this new year than with a look back at where it all began for Walt Disney Pictures? Yes, this week, Josh commemorates the 75th anniversary of the first feature-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but don't hold your breath if you're waiting for him to gush about the American Film Institute's choice for the best animated film ever. It may be first, but Josh wasn't as charmed as you may think. Now that he's got your attention, check out the first Mousterpiece Cinema of 2012, from Sound on Sight!
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Josh,
ReplyDeleteI can't say I disagree with you on much of your issues with Snow White. I've been thinking about why Snow White herself is well...annoying ... it's partly because Adriana Caselotti's voice is slightly shrill. But really...it's a maturity thing. Snow White is still a girl, not a woman, and it makes the whole love interest thing very jarring. Not to mention that the prince is even worse, there is literally nothing there in terms of his persona. So, as you said, there's nothing invested in that part of her finding happiness at all and the very end rings quite falsely.
The other part about the ending that bothered me was...she's just going to ride of in the sunset with the prince, right? It feels wrong because I've come to care about the dwarves, in particular Dopey and Grumpy, and they are well...essentially kids (you mentioned this too). So we're happy she is alive but now she's going to abandon them? It's very strange and it leaves all sorts of questions.
Snow White is an astonishing acheivement and without it there would be no other animated films (or none for a few decades, anyway) and no Disneyland either. It's hard for me to understand just how amazing it must have been when it premiered - a new art form, really - and I think that I might have a greater appreciation if I was living back in the 20's and 30's.
If I'm not mistaken, the next time Disney tackled a princess would be Cinderella - what a difference! I don't think the ending could be any more triumphant in Cinderella, despite the fact that nobody is ever in physical danger.
Anyway, thanks for another excellent podcast.
First off, thanks for sharing your thoughts--I'm glad you enjoyed the episode. You bring up a lot of good points in your comment. I hadn't really considered Snow White's age as part of why her voice is, indeed, so obnoxious. While I agree that her lack of maturity explains part of her vocal tendencies, that's all there is to her.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, that the prince and Snow White leave the dwarves at the end is baffling. But then, we know so little about these characters that it's hard to latch onto any of them.
Hi Josh,
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to clarify one thing, when I refer to Snow White as a "girl" I really should say "kid". Physically she may have grown up but she's really just a kid - her (and the movie's) ideas about love are just silly IMO.
They had to have the whole love aspect because they needed the plot device of "Love's first kiss" to wake her up from her slumber, but they never really bought into that aspect of the story - and it shows.
I will disagree a bit on Grumpy at the very least as his change in demeanor is pretty complete - from "ah, phooey!" to sobbing at the end.