Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

As I viewed the movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, many of the components of the feminist theory can be easily identified.  I was able to focus on the question from the feminist theory, “How is the relationship between men and women portrayed?”.  I was also able to focus on the use of the cinematic elements that reinforced the relationships between the characters in the movie.  As I watched the film I saw that Snow White is characterized as a stereotypical female. The epitome of a stereotypical female embodies  Snow White as beautiful, caring, innocent, gentle, soft spoken, naive, and helpless.

In the scene when Snow White enters the home of the seven dwarfs, she immediately notices that the cottage is filthy.  Snow White, being a typical female is suppose to automatically notice a mess and rush to clean it.  This scene shows characteristics of the image of the perfect woman. Snow White becomes the dwarfs housekeeper, she cooks all of their meals and is a caregiver.  She takes on a motherly figure in this scene.  This shows the audience that Snow White is the kind of female who is more than willing to serve the male.

Snow White's innocence and caring attitude is expressed through sound.  Her voice is very soft, higher pitched, and she is a beautiful singer which allows the audience to view her as a greatly loving and gentle female.  She is also physically a small person, this allows her to be seen as a more weak character. The ideal woman is considered to have a small waist, pretty face, and a gentle heart.  In a few scenes the camera positions are shot from higher angles looking down on Snow White which makes her appear as a small and weak person who has less power.  This allows the audience to feel as if they are looking down at her from above, which makes Snow White seem powerless.

The camera shots that have Snow White in them, the lighting has a more yellow, warm, and calm feeling.The film has a kind of soft, glowing filtered look to it that emphasizes the gentleness of Snow White's character.  Obviously the filmmaker is trying to show Snow White's innocents, by contrasting the evil stepmother scenes which have dark and creepy lighting with sharp angles.  These lighting techniques express the good and evil between Snow White and her stepmother. This type of lighting can also highlight the lack of a loving mother daughter relationship.