This is the original Grimm Brothers’ version of “Snow White,” on which the Disney movie is based. The tale begins with the colors that have become a signature of this classic story. From the finger of a queen who has just pricked herself with a needle, three red drops of blood fall out the black ebony window frame and upon the white snow outside. She gazes longingly at the blood and thinks to herself that her dearest wish is to have a child as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as the wood of the window frame. When she gives birth to such a child, she dies just after naming the girl Snow White. Her widower the king then marries a jealous woman who cannot stand the possibility of anyone more beautiful than she. For years, her magic mirror confirms that she truly is the fairest in the land. However, at age seven, Snow White surpasses her stepmother in beauty. Enraged, the evil woman orders a huntsman to kill Snow White in the woods and bring back her lung and liver as proof of death. The huntsman nearly follows through, but is struck by Snow White’s beauty and allows her to run away.

She escapes through the chilling forest and stumbles across a small cottage. Famished and exhausted, she eats from each of the seven dishes on the kitchen table (so as not to take all from only one) and sleeps in the bed closest to her own size. When the dwarves in whose house Snow White has invited herself return, they feel awe at her loveliness rather than anger at her intrusion. They allow her to stay as long as she cares for the house while they work in the mines.

Meanwhile, Snow White’s stepmother discovers that the girl is alive. The stepmother makes three attempts to kill her: constricting her with a beautiful lace outfit, brushing her hair with a poisoned comb, and tempting her with a poisoned apple. The first two times, the dwarves return and are able to revive Snow White. However, the stepmother’s third attempt stumps the seven little men. Unable to bear to see such a beautiful face be obscured by dirt, the dwarves place her in a transparent coffin. One day, a prince sees Snow White’s lovely face through the casket and asks the dwarves to give her to him. They agree when they see his love for her. While carrying the coffin, one of the servants slips and the jolt brings the piece of apple out of Snow White’s throat and she is revived. Snow White and the prince are married and live happily ever after. The couple then force the stepmother to wear shoes of fired-iron, and she dances in pain until she dies.

Stone argues that Walt Disney has created household names of heroines in his films, but in so doing, is encouraging passivity and inaction from female viewers who are influenced by the pretty-but-dumb characters. Disney has changed the role of women from the original stories for the worse in his films. The Grimm brothers have 40 heroines in their tales, and not all are passive and pretty. Their villains are not always women, either. While Grimm heroines are often not rewarded for having spirit, Disney females are even less so. The three Disney films based on other fairy tales (Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella) all star an innocent, beautiful girl who is victimized by a jealous, evil villainess.

            Disney encourages the image of a perfect housewife in his heroines. They all exhibit patience, obedience, passivity, diligence, silence, and beauty. To become a heroine for Disney, one must have all those qualities. To mute the heroine inside oneself, one must simply don dirty rags. While in Disney, Cinderella is only a heroine when properly cleaned and dressed, in traditional fairy tales, the heroines may be unattractive and disheveled. Their appearance does not affect their success. In Snow White, it is her beauty that eventually leads to her success. It is because of her face that the prince falls in love with her and frees her from sleeping death with love’s first kiss.

            In recent tales, there is great disparity between hero and heroine characteristics. Heroes are judged on their ability to overcome difficulties. They succeed by acting. Heroines, on the other hand, do not develop throughout the story because they start out perfect, without defects. All they need is their beauty and passivity to succeed. This is apparent in both the Grimm and Disney versions of Snow White. Snow White’s beauty is emphasized, as is her kindness toward others and chipper attitude toward housework. She does nothing in either version, except clean house and look pretty, qualities that Stone believes Disney is encouraging in women throughout the world.