Modifications in Gender Roles

 Snow White variations and the

fairy tales of today are a far cry
from the versions of long ago.
This is thanks in no small part
to the changing and
development over time of the
roles genders play in the tales.
As societies change, the
readers of the stories change,
therefore, fairy tales and their
gender roles change also.
Through the years...
 Our Society is pushing to alter
gender roles in fairy tales like Snow
White. Patterson-Neubert says , “Its
important to understand the message
our children receive about traditional
gender roles, especially during a time
when women are encouraged to be
independent and rely on their brains
rather than beauty”.
 Through the years...
 Snow White has been revised by many different people.
“The 1812 Grimms’ version of “Little Snow White" is a
darker, chillier story than the musical Disney cartoon, yet
it too had been cleaned up for publication, edited to
emphasize the good Protestant values held by Jacob and
Wilhelm Grimm” (Windling).
 Gender roles are part of the way the Grimms and even
Disney cleaned up Snow White. The way the gender roles
are portrayed changes through the different versions of
Snow White.
Mother to Step-mother
 In the Grimm’s 1812
version of Snow White,
“Snow-White's jealous
antagonist is her own
mother, not a
stepmother,” (Grimm)
like the Grimm’s 1819
version and Disney’s
1937 animated film,
“Snow White and the
Seven Dwarfs”.
Mother to Step-Mother
 The Grimm’s 1819 version of Snow White added the statement
that “Snow White’s mother died during child birth and her father
remarried”.
 In the 1937 Disney version, Snow White’s antagonist continues
to be her “vain and wicked stepmother” (movie). This is
surprising since after the Grimms’ 1819 version, “there were
complaints about the figure of the guilty stepmother, people
thought this presentation of the stepmother in the folk tale an
injustice to the many good stepmothers” (Tucker).
Mother to Step-mother
 One cause of this switch is that
society rejected the idea of a
mother killing her own daughter.
 Windling says that for the
Grimms’, “the bad mother had to
disappear in order for the ideal to
survive and allow Mother to
flourish as symbol of the eternal
feminine, the motherland, and
the family itself as the highest
social desideratum”.
• Ward says this “also reflects a
significant tradition in terms of
gender roles”. The hateful step-
mother could be introduced into
the picture to convey the missing
“caretaker role”, because “the
woman’s role was to be a breeder
and a caretaker” (Ward).
• The evil step mother did not fill
this role, she did the opposite.
This shows a negative view of
females.
Mother to Step-Mother
 In the more recent spin off,
Sydney White, instead of the
blood related mother or
surrogate step mother, her
antagonist is the president of
a sorority.
 Looking at these variations of
Snow White, its evident that
the evil mother role
diminished.
Snow White Should Have Been Blonde...
 In the 1812 Grimms’ version, Snow
White is actually shown as dumber
and more naïve than she is in the
Disney version. She lets the jealous
Queen trick her 3 times.
 In the Disney version, she is only
tricked once with the poisoned
apple, which doesn’t show the
audience such an ignorant female
role. This shows a better
representation of the female gender.
 Clean Dwarfs-Dirty Dwarfs
 In the Grimms’ version,
the dwarfs were very
clean, the story even said,
“Inside the house
everything was small, but
so neat and clean”
(Grimm).
 In the Disney version of
Snow White, the dwarfs
were extremely messy, she
even had to make them
wash. This is showing a
negative male gender role.
Men vs Women
 In America in 1937, men were
expected to be the bread
winners, while the women were
the caretakers and housekeepers.
 So America’s society in 1937
viewed men as being not as clean
and well kept as women, because
like the dwarfs, most men went
to work everyday, while the
women took care of the house.
Men vs Women
 Snow white learns about the work ethic and
is socialized into woman's domestic role”
(Heiner).
 A quote from my six year old cousin fits the
concept of women being the housekeepers
well, “boys make messes and girls clean them
up” (Davis).
 The dwarfs demanded Snow White to clean
and cook, so she could stay with them. This
was normal for the time period that the film
was released and obviously, from my cousin’s
opinion, it seems like some children still pick
up the old-fashioned concept.
 Courteous Dwarfs - Respect
 In the Disney movie, the dwarfs
all slept down stairs and let Snow
White have the upstairs all to
herself. This shows a positive
male gender role, courtesy.
 This also reflects a time period,
when parents didn’t want their
kids to see the men and women
sleeping in the same room.
 “The dwarfs are sexually
unthreatening to Snow White”
(Heiner).
 Happily Ever After...
 In the Grimms’ version, Snow
White didn’t know the Prince
before the day she was saved.
 In the 1937 Disney version,
they sang to each other before
Snow White had to run away.
 This shows that society was
more comfortable with letting
Snow White meet the Prince
and have a crush on him before
she married him.
 Less Violence
 In the Grimms’ versions, the Queen
said, “Kill her, and as proof that she is
dead bring her lungs and her liver back
to me... and the wicked woman ate
them, (which were really a boar’s)
supposing that she had eaten Snow-
White's lungs and liver” (Grimm).

 In the Disney version, there was no

attempt at cannibalism. This shows a
change in the female antagonist role.
This change could be due to the society
not wanting their children to see
women act that gruesome.
Less Violence
 In the Grimms’ 1812 version,
Snow White is saved when a
servant angrily hits Snow
White, which makes the apple
dislodge.
 In the Grimms’ 1819 version,
the apple is dislodged when a
servant carrying the coffin
stumbles over a stump.
 Less Violence
 In the Disney version, the Prince
kisses her and she wakes up.
There is no aggression shown at
all.
 The ending changes from a man
actually hitting her, to the Prince
kissing her.
 The first version represented
male aggression, became cleaner,
and then the third ending
became romantic.
 Work Cited
Davis, Ethan. Personal interview. 22 Mar. 2008.

Grimm, Jacob and Wilheim. “Little Snow White” 2002. 18 March 2008.
<http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0709.html#snowwhite>

Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. “Little Snow White” 5 Nov. 2005. 18 March 2008.
<http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm053.html>

Heiner, Heidi. “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. 4 July 2007. 10 April 2008.
<http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/sevendwarfs/notes.html>

Patterson-Neubert, Amy. “Experts say fairy tales not so happy ever after.” 11 Nov. 2003. 18 March 2008.
<http://news.uns.purdue.edu/UNS/html4ever/031111.Grauerholz.tales.html>

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. William Cottrell. Walt Disney. Videocassette. Buena Vista Home Video.

Sydney White. Joe Nussbaum. Chad Gomez Creasey. DVD. Morgan Creek Productions.

Tucker, Nicolas. “Snow White Issues.” Kay E Vandergrift. 6 Jan. 1997. 18 March 2008 .
<http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~kvander/swissues.html>

Ward, Sara. “Grimm Fairy Tales: the Role of Rhetoric in Gender Roles and Sexuality.” 18 March 2008.
<http://www.cbu.edu/Academics/honors/hj2k3_grim.htm>

Windling, Terri. “Snow, Glass, Apples: The Story of Snow White.” 18 March 2008. <http://www.endicott-
studio.com/rdrm/forsga.html>