Celebrity Deathmatch: Snow White A Tale of Terror vs. Disney Guest Post by Kait Nolan

Today for my Anything Goes section, we’re in for a special treat.  Kait Nolan, one of my favorite bloggers is writing about my favorite topics: fairy tales.  Thank you so much, Kait, for this post about Snow White.

Classic Disney

 

Snow White with the darker edge.

Celebrity Deathmatch: Snow White

A Tale of Terror vs. Disney

 

I was a huge Disney fan as a kid but I just never could get into Snow White.  I found it dreadfully…well, dull.  And I really couldn’t figure out why any self-respecting woman would want to hang around and wash and cook and clean up after SEVEN MEN, even short ones.  I guess it subtly outraged my budding inner feminist.  That aside, the whole thing felt too…light.  Too easy.   It wasn’t until I was older and read the original Grimm Brothers version that I realized exactly how watered down and glossed over the Disney version really is.

I just finished watching Snow White: A Tale of Terror.  Now I’m sure there are those who would criticize me for even comparing a horror movie with Disney.  I’m not here making any claims that this is appropriate viewing for the kiddos.  With that body count and the psychological creep factor, this version most definitely is not kid friendly.  But my point here is to discuss which is the better telling of the real tale of Snow White.  So let’s have a Celebrity Deathmatch between these two adaptations.

Round 1: The Evil Stepmother

In the Disney version we have the Queen, vain as the day is long.  Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all.  And of course our magic mirror tells her Snow White, which thus begins her crusade to take Snow White out.  We’re not seeing a lot in terms of character motivation beyond the most shallow level of characterization.

In A Tale of Terror we actually get to see the development of the dynamics between Lily and her step mother.  Lily’s been the apple of her father’s eye her entire life and here comes Sigourney Weaver, marrying her father, and taking his attention.   There’s obvious tension and very obviously Lily does not accept her new step mother.  Flash forward eight years later.  Step mother is pregnant, Lily’s a teenager, and tensions are still running high.  At a big holiday gathering, Lily makes herself center of everyone’s attention (including her father’s), taking eyes off vain step mother.  She goes into labor and the child, the male heir, is stillborn.  Step mother will not be able to bear more children.  Step mother blames Lily and fixates on getting revenge.  Sigourney Weaver really does an astounding and Oscar-worthy job of showing the step mother’s descent into madness and hatred.  We really know why she’s after Lily.

Round 1 winner: A Tale of Terror

Round 2: The Apple

Both versions of the story have Snow White taking a bite out of a poisoned apple and “dying”.  Both versions have the dwarves fashioning a coffin of glass.  The Disney version then has the Prince showing up, kissing her like she’s Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White just wakes up.  In A Tale of Terror, the hero breaks Lily out of the coffin and shakes her until the poisoned apple piece lodged in her windpipe is knocked out, allowing her to breathe again.  This gives us reason to understand why she lives.

Round 2 winner: A Tale of Terror

Round 3: The End To the Evil Stepmother

In the Disney version, after Snow White takes her bite of poisoned apple, the dwarves get home, chase the evil stepmother/witch up the mountain, where she then proceeds to try and lever a boulder so it will go crashing down on them, and a bolt of lightning shatters the cliff she’s standing on such that she falls to her presumed death.   Can we say deus ex machina?  The alleged “hero” isn’t even there!  No one actually has anything to do with stopping her.

In A Tale of Terror, it is Lily herself, who’s alive and well thanks to hero’s insistence on not giving up on her, who goes back to the castle to rescue her father (who’s been injured and held captive by her evil stepmother).  They actually fight, Lily is injured, and she must battle to get to the mirror, which is the source of her step mother’s power, and destroy it.  Lily wins the day by her wits, successfully destroying the thing that drove the villain of the piece.  And we all know how much I love heroines who kick butt.

Round 3 winner:  A Tale of Terror

I think it’s clear that in a Celebrity Deathmatch mash up between the Disney version of Snow White and Snow White: A Tale of Terror, the clear winner for better told story is, hands down, A Tale of Terror.

 

Bio:

Kait Nolan is stuck in an office all day, sometimes juggling all three of her jobs at once with the skill of a trained bear—sometimes with a similar temperament. After hours, she uses her powers for good, creating escapist fiction. The work of this Mississippi native is packed with action, romance, and the kinds of imaginative paranormal creatures you’d want to sweep you off your feet…or eat your boss.  When she’s not working or writing, she’s in her kitchen, heading up a revolution to Retake Homemade from her cooking blog, Pots and Plots.

You can catch up with her at her blog, Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads.

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Posted in Applying Fairy Tales to Real Life
Tags: Brothers Grimm, Disney, Kait Nolan, Lily, Marilag Lubag, Sigourney Weaver, Snow White, Tale of Terror, writer