Innocent or Not, She's Still Gotta Be Beautiful

Once again, it is remarkable to me that stories that tonally seem so different at first glance can be the same tale at heart. While the literary adaptations certainly paint a different picture of the titular hero, Snow White, their tales do bear many similarities to both the music video “Sonne” by Rammstein and the classic Disney interpretation of the story.

In all versions of Snow White that we have seen so far, the societal expectation that women should be beautiful shines through. In every story, Snow White’s main attribute is her physical attractiveness. Despite having different countries of origin, all the tales (and films) describe her beauty in almost exactly the same way: pale skin, dark hair, and red lips.

They also all enforce the idea of what a woman’s role is supposed to be in society, although admittedly they have different views on what that role should be. Many of the oldest versions of Snow White (“Snow White,” “The Young Slave,” “Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs”) as well as the Disney film enforce the idea of proper womanly domestication. Snow White is “good” because, even though she is of an upper status, she learns to clean and cook like a proper housewife. The Disney film is especially guilty of this, as Snow White acts like the dwarfs' mother, scolding them for not washing their hands and tell them when it’s time to go to bed at night. In contrast, “Sonne” idea of woman is society is based more on the aforementioned expectation of beauty. In the music video, Snow White is by no means a “proper housewife;” the dwarfs do the cleaning. They care for Snow White (combing her hair and polishing her apples) instead of expecting her to care for them. However, the video, as well as all the other adaptations, still depict women as having little value outside of their beauty and sexuality*. Essentially, they all express (indirectly) the idea that a woman’s job is to look beautiful for men.

Every single adaptation we were exposed to also had the motif of the glass coffin. This further emphasizes society’s value of a woman’s beauty. Even in death, Snow White was something to be looked at, a beauty that should not be hidden from the world. In comparison with the Grimm brothers’ adaptation alone, the music video also shares apples, the mirror, and a hair item (comb/brush) as symbols. In both cases, the mirror and the hair brush/comb also further emphasize the domestication and need for beauty in women; the apple represents health (life/death) and Snow White’s budding sexuality.  

The main differences between the the versions of Snow White we read in class (as well as the Disney version) and “Sonne” by Rammstein is their tone and their portrayal of characters in the story.

Of all the versions, I would say that the music video, “Sonne,” has the darkest tone and, unlike most of the other tales, it does not shy away from adult themes. In the video the dwarfs are depicted has grey, dirty, and disgusting, slaving away in the mines. Most of the background color is dark and intense, and the dark tone is underscored by the pounding and heavy beat of the music. In terms of adult themes, this adaptation of Snow White is is the most sexualized*. Snow White spanks the bottom of one of the dwarfs in a very sexualized manner, something that would have been deemed too inappropriate for children to be put in the Grimm version (or the other adaptations that aimed to reach an audience of children). There are also other “adult elements” in the music video as opposed to the Disney and literary renditions. In “Sonne,” Snow White is depicted smoking drugs. From my perspective, this is what causes her “death,” an overdose on a sparkly gold powder that results in her coma-like state. This is a stark contrast to the other interpretations of Snow White in which the wicked stepmother poisons her.

The versions also display their characters dramatically different. On the surface level, all the written adaptations of Snow White include a “villain character.” Snow White has a stepmother she is pitted against. But in the music video, there is no such character. Snow White’s coma-like state is the result of her own actions, no one else’s.

What stuck out more to me in terms of depiction of characters was how each tale viewed Snow White herself. In “Sonne,” Snow White and her attributes (mirror, apples, dust, etc.) are the only things in color. This vibrancy of color is further emphasized because the dwarfs, the only other characters seen, are covered in dark dust. They do not seem to have any personality and are almost indistinguishable from each other. While she does not really have any agency, she is far more interesting than both the Grimm and the Disney versions of her. She is not “innocent” or “domesticated,” and we she some elements of her personality through her actions (e.g. how she treats the dwarfs and what she does in her free time). In the literary versions (and the Disney version for that matter), Snow White is an innocent little creature who has to be repeatedly reminded to not trust strangers but is still stupid enough to fall victim to the wicked stepmother (or aunt in “The Young Slave” version)*. She is by no means interesting or unique, helpless without the assistance of men.

My favorite version of all the adaptations of Snow White that we experienced was Anne Sexton’s “Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs.” I like its witty word choice and use of pop culture. More significantly, I appreciate how the version does not paint Snow White has purely innocent; the story is not “black and white.” At the end, it hints that Snow White has the capacity to become just as “evil” and self-absorbed as her stepmother, and it critiques the societal expectation of women’s beauty in doing so.

*Perhaps with the exception of Neil Gaiman’s “Snow, Glass, Apples