Can I tell you the truth? I don’t like Snow White.
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Don’t worry, I’m not remaking Snow White, so nobody needs to cancel me over that little confession.

Maybe her ridiculously high-pitched voice got to my nerves. Maybe I couldn’t vibe with her garish color scheme. Maybe the whole movie terrified me a little bit.

But when I grew up and looked past the gross apple and sketchy trees, Snow White only infuriated me more.

Snow White is expected to clean up after seven guys—after she almost died—because for some reason, guys can’t clean up after themselves? And then a clearly sinister woman approaches the window, and Snow White goes “yeah this seems legit” and accepts food from her?

Younger me got the message loud and clear. Snow White existed to mindlessly clean up after the boys—a glorified housemaid, if you will.

Younger me hated that.

Grown-up me hates that.

But grown-up me found herself rewatching the movie anyway. And despite all my hatred, I found something deeper buried in this very sexist film.

And I found it in Snow White herself.

Don’t get me wrong--Snow White the movie has issues. Lots of issues. Whether intentional or unintentional, it reflects harmful views about women that were held at the time (and that women still have to push back against today).  

In fact, it’s worth noting that I automatically blamed the movie’s problems on the fictional heroine, rather than on the systems and false beliefs that made the film and put her there.

But Snow White doesn’t do what she does because someone else told her so and she simply obeyed. She does these things from the goodness of her own heart.

She doesn’t clean up after the dwarves because someone told her that’s her place. She genuinely wants to help them.

She doesn’t accept the witch’s apple she’s too dumb or ditzy to know better. She chooses to believe the best of everyone—even to her own detriment.

Even after the Evil Queen attempts to kill her and strands her in the forest, Snow White chooses to be kind and to believe the best about everyone.

Obviously, that outlook has fallacies. If someone looks sinister, maybe don’t accept food from them.

But I can still look past it and see the good heart and good intentions behind Snow White’s fallacies.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not the most trusting person. And I watched a fictional girl suffer and get betrayed and have every right to be just as mistrusting as I am. But she consciously chose to be kind anyway.

That’s something beautiful.

That is a different sort of strength, a strength not as readily seen in heroines.

Do I still hate Snow White the movie? Yeah. But I can still appreciate something deeper in Snow White the princess, something that maybe even her filmmakers didn’t intend to hide in there. But it’s there all the same.

Did you enjoy this post? If you did, I'm not SAYING that you'll enjoy my analysis of Wendy from Peter Pan . . . but I'm just saying. You can read that analysis here: https://www.racheljleitch.com/blog/disney-heroines-that-hold-up-surprisingly-well-wendy​
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Hi, I’m Rachel! I write young adult fantasy. I write the novels I needed growing up—the novels I still need. Novels for the weird little girls and the women they’re becoming.

Maybe you need those stories, too? You can get one for free by signing up for my email newsletter via the “HOME” page of my website. It might involve a girl and the magical violin she didn’t want and maybe a metaphor about grief. Plus, you’ll also get email-exclusive updates on my dieselpunk Anastasia reimaging. Sound good? I hope I’ll see you there! 

​This year will be THE year. The year I get my act together.

I’ll make the perfect resolution and keep it flawlessly. I’ll find the habit that will fix all my problems. I’ll reach the achievement or fulfill that dream. Whatever I do, this year will NOT end up like last year.

Sound familiar? Oh, yeah, that sounds like how I opened last month’s article about holiday stress.

And yet, less than a week after Christmas morning and all the joy that brings, I set my high expectations on another celebration—the new year. But this time, instead of stress, I battle disappointment.

How can I feel disappointed when everything is fresh and new?

Maybe we feel disappointed when everyone seems to have a life-changing resolution, but we don’t even know what we want yet.

When the habit that was supposed to fix everything fades after a few short weeks.

When the year that was supposed to bring happiness and joy starts out mundane or less than perfect.

When we watch others reach their goals and dreams and we feel left behind.

Disappointment doesn’t always come with a handy step by step guide to get over it. I don’t know that I can lay out a neat bullet point article like I could with stress last month. But my new year did arrive with a realization, a realization that I hope comforts you, and maybe challenges you, if that’s what you need.

When the new year rolls in, we look back over the previous one. It’s only natural. In all that reflection, sometimes we focus on the things that went wrong and just how desperately we want this year to be easier than last year.

Or we focus on the things that went right. We scheme how we can replicate it, and we worry about what this new year might hold.  

Or maybe we focus on all the things we haven’t done yet, the things that seem so far away and distant no matter how hard we work or how much we want them.

I, for one, can get a little mopey.

So we make resolutions and habits and promises. Because if I can just get on top of myself and my own tendencies, everything will HAVE to go right, won’t it? Previous years have taught us that we can’t control other people, and we can’t control our life circumstances, so we control our bodies, our feelings, our habits.

Or at least we try.

So is it a control issue? Maybe. But I suggest that it might be about something deeper.

It might be about hope.

Hope, that thing that keeps us going. That mystical force that seems so out of reach. Everybody puts their hope in something, whether or not we realize we’re doing it. Everybody has something that keeps them going.

When a new year rolls around, our hopes are elevated and renewed. When we look at all the ways we were unfulfilled last year, it’s easy for us to shift our hope to the wrong things.

We put our hope in the new year instead of the One Who knows exactly what’s going to happen in every second of that new year.

We put our hope in resolutions and habits. In the experiences we hope to have. In our own strength, control, and achievement.

Hope in those things will ultimately be disappointed. Our world does not run the way it should, so even the best experience will fade and the strongest person will fail. Our broken world physically cannot fulfill our expectations.

Perfect, Rachel. Thank you for ruining New Year’s.

But there is one hope that will not disappoint us—even if it may feel like it now.

The One Who came at Christmas so He could grow up, die in our place for our brokenness, and rise again so we could live in that hope.

I’m not saying resolutions and habits are bad. I have quite a few habits that have helped me over the past year. But unfortunately, no matter how much water I drink or sleep I get, it won’t solve all my problems. (Dang, I wish.)

So even as we make our resolutions and plot out our habits this new year, we remember our true Hope. Each of us can find a way to keep that hope close, whether it’s preaching truth to ourselves, reading God’s Word, praying, or talking with friends who share the same hope. Maybe there is a habit that could bring you closer to that hope.

And when disappointments come, as they will, we can use those opportunities to shift our disappointment into relationship with Him, reminding ourselves what is true.

And that doesn’t just go for disappointments. It goes for the joys that await this year, too.

Alright, alright, I know it sounds like I spent this whole article putting down resolutions and habits, but . . . do you have a resolution or habit you’re hoping to improve this year? Or maybe an experience or milestone you’re looking forward to? Let me know in the comments below!

Hi, I’m Rachel! I write young adult fantasy novels. But more importantly, I write the novels I needed growing up—the novels I still need. Novels for the weird little girls and the women they’re becoming.

Maybe you need those stories, too? You can get one for free by signing up for my email newsletter via the “HOME” page of my website. It might involve a girl and the magical violin she didn’t want and maybe a metaphor about grief. Plus, you’ll also get email-exclusive updates on the dieselpunk Anastasia retelling I’m working on. Sound good? I hope I’ll see you there!