The first of the Disney Heroines, and probably the weakest of them all. Snow White was the original, the first idea straight from Disney's head, of what a woman should be like. The prefect woman in fact. So why is she so badly presented?
Snow White is the typical 'mother' figure. She leads a simple life, her beauty and kindness all that are going for her against the evil of her stepmother. When faced with the dangers of the forest, she runs away terrified and falls on her tiny little heels into a weeping heap on the floor. Hardly a woman who can defend herself.
Upon finding an empty house, Snow White's first instinct is how dirty it is, and she sets about to clean it up. Surely to young viewers this is a terrible message to send out, that the woman's role in life is to look good and service the man she lives with.
But it is not just this about Snow White that enrages so many feminists. When the evil witch poisons her with an apple, Snow White falls into a deep sleep which can only be broken by a kiss from her one true love. This similar set-up also takes place in Disney's 'Sleeping Beauty'. The message here is that women are natural born home-makers, who should lie in a state of suspended passivity until a man can come along to give them life.
Even at the happy-ending, Snow White leaves to live her 'happy ever after' with the prince, leaving behind her new friends, the dwarves, an idea similarly seen at the end of 'The Little Mermaid' as well. Clearly Disney had either a scornful view of women in 1959, or he didn't stop to think of the message he was creating. |
