Snow White: Glorified Housemaid or a Girl Who Chose Kindness?

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.

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