Snow White: 'Old' doesn't Mean 'Unimportant'

In an age where 'newer' is 'cooler,' updates are crucial and the newest styles have to be acknowledged as by far the best, it's easy to forget that 'old' doesn't mean 'unimportant.' I believe this is especially relevant in Disney's movie history. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is almost a hundred years old, but it is one of the most important movies of its day. It was the beginning of Walt Disney as a great movie-maker, and it was a breakthrough in animated films.

Disclaimer: While I stand behind the old Disney movies, the ones where Walt himself was in charge, I am not standing up for most of the new ones.

To decide whether or not a movie is important, even if it's old, we have to do one of two things: take advice from someone that we trust highly, or watch the movie ourselves. Watching the movie ourselves (unless it's trash) is, of course, the best way to tell. Recently, I rewatched Snow White to remind myself what I had seen when I was very young. It didn't take me long to reinforce my belief that Disney's first movies are very, very important, however old they are, even though they're animated.

1. It shows where the film industry has taken us

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was Walt Disney's first movie-length film, and it premiered on December 21, 1937, bringing the attention of thousands of people, and many Hollywood stars. Famous actors like Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn and Charlie Chaplin all attended the historic event. Aside from the hundreds of movie stars, thousands more people turned out to see the event. It's not often nowadays that you hear about hundreds of famous movie stars turning out to see a "cartoon," as it was called.

And their reaction to this cartoon?

Once they took their seats and the movie began, the film made people laugh and later reduced them to tears. Ward Kimball, one of Disney's animators said, "I sat about two-thirds of the way back and here were all the luminaries of Hollywood, all around. Especially, I saw Clark Gable.. And the laugh(s) just came in a steady stream, but when Snow White bites that poisoned apple and becomes unconscious, and she's laid out on... the bier...the picture gets very serious...Even though these are a bunch of cartoons...everybody in that theatre was crying. I heard the sobs. I couldn't believe it."

Can you imagine a theatre of adult Hollywood stars sobbing at the end of a movie like Snow White? It's a testament to how jaded people have become. Today, it can truly be wondered at that an animated movie with few plot points, flat character arcs and a predictable ending could bring an audience of adults to tears. When I was a little girl and watched Dumbo, I burst into tears halfway, but as I grew older, I never cried at an old Disney movie again. I admit that I can't imagine crying at the end of Snow White.

Becoming jaded to movies is definitely not a positive thing, and remembering the reactions to Snow White can help us, through a pure historical lens, to realize the changes in the movie industry. Ethically, it is a frightening example of how movies have changed us as people and could continue to change us if we prove careless watchers.

Aside from its historic importance, Snow White is important for other reasons.

2. This film is a great work of art.

Yes, while this movie isn't so realistic that you have to wonder how they managed it, it is a great work of art. It wasn't until I recently watched it again that I realized just how great. However, for someone who is used to watching stunning movies, it can be difficult to understand how such apparently simple art can also be stunning. For one, it was all hand-made.

A quick breakdown, renders it even more impressive. Production started as the animators drew all the motions for the characters, often looking in mirrors at themselves to capture difficult facial expressions. Once the rough sketches had been approved by Walt Disney and his directors, they were taken to a different warehouse where they were inked in. Chemists created around 1,500 different colours and the drawings were painted in carefully on celluloid, a semi-synthetic plastic.

The artists, mostly women, had to wear gloves so that they wouldn't get any fingerprints or smudges on the plastic. Such a defect would show up, magnified enormously on a movie screen. As well as paint, the women who painted these sketches also used real makeup and blush on Snow White. When Walt Disney expressed concern that it wouldn't be placed correctly on her face, one woman responded with "What do you think we do every morning?"

Finally, the celluloids were placed, one at a time, on top of the proper background, and a picture was taken. At least one million motions were photographed. Imagine the tedium!

Artists of the time period recognized the brilliance and high quality of the film's art. Layout artist Ken O'Connor remembered this: "The audience broke into applause two different times just for the layouts and paintings...the shot of the queen's castle above the mist and the marsh received applause. I was sitting next to John Barrymore, and he was bouncing up and down in his seat; he was so excited. He was an artist, of course, and he knew the kind of work that went into something like that, and he appreciated it." Just watch the movie and study the backgrounds. They were all painted by hand in watercolour. For a movie that's almost one hundred years old, they're still stunning. We study art that's well over 88 years old and still consider it magnificent. The art in old animated movies, though less stunning than newer films, should be given the same value.

3. Snow White was and still is a monetary success.

There's no doubt about it, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs made Disney Studios famous. Walt spent 1.5 million dollars on it, equal to about 33 million dollars in today's money, and he would have most likely been irreparably broke if his movie hadn't been a success. Upon his arrival at the premiere, he told NBC's audience, listening by radio, that he hoped the people turning out to see the show wouldn't be "too disappointed." However, before they had even see the film, emotions ran high, and Disney's fears were proven groundless. In the first year of its release, the movie earned more than 8 million dollars, (calculated for inflation, this is an estimate of 180 million dollars) and this was all during the Great Depression. No doubt, the triumph of good over evil gave people hope, uplifted and encouraged them that better days were ahead.

Snow White was a success then and still one now. According to Time Magazine, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs should be a hit long after current Hollywood stars, writers and directors have passed away, long after its first audiences are gone. Is that true? Is this "authentic masterpiece" still "shown in theatres and beloved by new generations"? It's been released in America four times and other parts of the world three times, to the present day. According to Wikipedia, "Adjusted for inflation, it is one of the top-ten performers at the North American box office and is still the highest-grossing animated film..." People put their money down on what they care about, and the amount of money that this movie has earned is proof enough that it has been beloved by generations, proof that though it's old, it is still of great value.

My Conclusion

Even though Snow White portrays the somewhat helpless female of the 1930s, even though such an easy 'love at first sight' story is unrealistic and unbelievable, even though we now have movies that sport stunning special effects, it's important that we never classify 'old' as 'unimportant.' We must never cast old movies aside, either because they're less stunning than movies today or because they don't emotionally overwhelm us as much as newer movies do.

So next time you assume that a movie is no good simply because it's old, at least look into it. There are plenty of new movies that are no good as well! So don't let time period be your guide.

'Old' doesn't necessarily (doesn't usually, in fact!) mean 'outdated' or 'unimportant.'

After all, the oldest book in the world also happens to be the most important.