Disney Snow White 1937 vs 2025
- Aug 11, 2025
- 7 min read
Updated: May 11
Let me start by saying Snow White has never been one of my favorite Disney princesses, nor will she ever be. Not that I hated her or the story, just simply wasn't a fan. That being said, I have found a couple of movie versions that I thought did her story justice and brought something more to the story.
First, "Snow White and the Huntsman" (2012) features Kristen Stewart as Snow White. In my opinion, her performance as Snow White was superior to her role as Bella in "Twilight." This adaptation presents a slightly darker take on the story, highlighting Snow White's development as a leader more gradually, avoiding the portrayal of her as a Mary Sue.
Secondly, I absolutely adored the 2012 film "Mirror Mirror," starring Lily Collins as Snow White. This version of the tale was more whimsical and fantastical than the previously mentioned adaptation. Lily brought a hint of spunk and sass to her portrayal, while still maintaining Snow White's kind, caring, and positive outlook on the world.
Book:
Before I dive into the Disney film adaptations of Snow White, I want to do a quick recap of the story they are based on. There are a few variations on the story, but they all follow the same basic outline. A mother, who is Queen of a peaceful kingdom, wishes for a child with skin as white as snow, lips or cheeks as red as blood, and hair a deep black color. Mother gets her wish and then dies, although in one or two variations, the mother lives. The Mother figure is vain and uses her magic mirror to make sure she is the fairest woman of all. Until one day, the mirror starts telling her that Snow White, with all her grace, beauty, and positive nature, is the fairest. The Mother figure is immediately jealous of Snow White, also called Snowdrop in one version. The mother figure orders a huntsman to kill her, but he doesn't, and Snow White ends up living with seven dwarfs.
In most of the stories, this event takes place when Snow White is about 7-8 years old. And ends up living with the dwarfs for many years. During those years, the Queen makes 3 attempts on Snow Whites life. The first, with a ribbon, the second, with a comb, and the third, with the famous pisoned apple. Snow White spend about a year in a coma like state before the prince shows up. And it's not a kiss that wakes her up. one story said it was the prince who did another said it was a servent, either way, the piece of apple is dislodged from Snow Whites throat and she reawakens. The prince asks her to marry him and she agrees. The Queen is invited to the wedding. Another variation in stories is that one says the prince puts dancing shoes on the queen and she dances until she dies and another said the queen's own anger killed her. In the end the queen is gone and Snow White gets a happy ending.
Disney History:
Now, as for Disney's adaptations of the beloved classic fairy tale, let's take a closer look at the 1937 adaptation titled "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." It was produced by Walt Disney Productions and was supervised by David Hand and directed by Perce Pearce, William Cottrell, Larry Morey, Wilfred Jackson, and Ben Sharpsteen. In 1933, Walt wanted to create his first feature-length film, and he had been presented with many ideas, such as "Alice in Wonderland" and "Bambi," amongst others, which were all scrapped for a later date. Walt was inspired to use the story of Snow White from when he was a child and watched the 1916 silent film adaptation of Snow White. He based the story on the Brothers Grimm's 1812 version of the story.
"To me, I thought it was a perfect story. I had the sympathetic dwarfs and things. I had the prince and the girl. The romance. I had the heavy. I just thought it was a perfect story." - Walt Disney. Simply put, Walt just wanted to bring a beloved fairytale to life. With many of these classic fairytales that Walt Disney made film adaptations of being centuries old, many cultures had their own variation of the story, allowing Walt to create the masterpiece that is still much loved today.
The film is so popular that it has been re-released at least 9 times since its original release, including the film's 50th and 100th anniversaries. It was also the first film to be turned into a digital file with 4k resolution.
1937 Animated adaptation:
Walt kept most of the basic elements of the Brothers' Grimm version in his adaptation of it. The evil queen, although in some versions the queen was her mother and not her step-mother, the magic mirror, the huntsman, the dwarfs, the poisoned apple, the eternal sleep, and the prince. Walt didn't change much from the Brothers Grimm version. Keeping her look of "skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood and hair as black as ebony" (Brothers Grimm 1812) as described by Snow White's mother, also described by the magic mirror in another variation.
Walt portrays Snow White as a kind, caring, loving soul who is beautiful both inside and out, as she is often described or portrayed in many adaptations of the story. "I wanted to get a voice for Snow White that would be kind of away from everyday. You know, kind of off in another world." - Walt Disney. Because of all the songs that were being written for the film, Walt wanted someone who could also sing. He had someone look for such a voice, which was eventually found in Adriana Caselotti. After listening to her voice and her ability to sing like a bird, Walt said she sounded like a 14-year-old, and she was perfect for the role. Adriana came from an opera family and was born in 1916. So at the time of her audition, she was 18 years old. Adriana was officially hired as Snow White's voice a year after her audition.
In the beginning, there were many suggestions made for story lines and characters, and Walt encouraged staff to add input whenever they had an idea. He even went so far as to offer $5 for any gag that was submitted for Snow White, like the scene with the dwarfs' noses popping above the bedframes when they discovered Snow White. At one point, Walt did feel some concern about there being too much comical approach; he worried that it would weaken character and story plausibility.
I couldn't find much else on Walt Disney's reasoning for the specific storyline of "Snow White" he chose. Or what it was he was trying to do beyond the fact that he thought it was the perfect story to tell for his first feature film. And that he didn't want to be too comical when telling the story." The first duty of the cartoon is not to picture or duplicate real action or things as they actually happen—but to give a caricature of life and action—to picture on the screen things that have run thru the imagination of the audience to bring to life dream-fantasies and imaginative fancies that we have all thought of during our lives or have had pictured to us in various forms during our lives"- Walt Disney, 1935
2025 Live action remake:
Firstly, Rachel's Snow White look. Personally, she doesn't really look like Snow White. She's to tan and her hair isn't black, it's dark brown. I thought the dress was nice. A new look for Disney's Snow White without making an exact replica. Second, the personality that Rachel portrayed for Snow White was...well in some ways it felt like it was being forced. While Snow White is described as a hard working girl because she kept house for the dwarfs in the stories. She's also described as a sweet, kind, loving person, part of the reason why she is the "fairest in all the land". Not only was she beautiful on the outside but on the inside to. What Racheal gave us was a Snow White who was, well, a bit of a Mary sue.
For someone who was suppose to have been mistreated and forced to be a servent shes to quick to be confident and determined. My opinion might be alittle influenced by one of Rachel's interviews about the role and hearing her opinon of it, which was not good, I felt like I could she it in her portrayel of Snow White. Her dislike for the character and the story and the attempt to turn Snow White into someone she's not was very obvious to me. Disney and Rachel tried to turn Snow White into a fighter rebel type person who already knew fighting stratagies. Which I find odd given the fact that both parents were dead by the time she was roughly 8 and she is the princess of a peaceful kingdom that probably preferred deplomatic solutions to war and that she became a servent in the castle right after her father died and most likely didn't have access to the library anymore. She was a servent. Servents weren't educated.
Rachel's atempt at Snow White was disappointing to say the least and if you really don't like a particular character or story then don't play that role. As for Disney's "damage control" after Rachel basically ruined it for everyone. It as painfully obvious that there was some stuff that was added on later, like the dwarfs, I really didn't like the portrayel of Dopey. I could tell where they just added those scenes to appease the masses and didn't really care about what they were doing. Cut and spliceing and adding. Trying to make a quick buck off of people's nostalgia for one of Disney's classic fairytales with little to no effort. There were alot of sences where people were either singing or talking that the lips and the words were out of sync.
While I'm all for putting new spins on stories or making them more detailed but to take the elements of the story that are iconic and change them to fit some sort of standard. That tells me that you as a person forgot the point of fairytales to being with. They teach us things. About the world, ourselves, they help guide us. Give us hopes and dreams while also saying that good will always when even with so much evil. That the weakest person armed with only a dream or hope can still win.
Check out my audiobook of the Brothers Grimm - Snowdrop
Resources:
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2591/2591-h/2591-h.htm#link2H_4_0033 Brothers grimm Snowdrop
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