Favorite Snow Whites, Part 1: Sleeping Beauties: Sleeping Beauty and Snow White Tales From Around the World

 

Today is the official release date of Disney's live action/CGI film of Snow White in the United States, accompanied by all of its controversies. There's plenty of coverage of the new movie just about everywhere right now in the media machine. I don't really want to tread there myself. So I won't!

But while everyone is paying attention to the tale of Snow White, I would like to share other versions that I enjoy, both modern and traditional. I plan to do that over the next week or so, and this post serves as a brief introduction.

I have always had a strong push/pull with the Snow White story. Disney's rendition is my least favorite of the Disney versions of fairy tales if I am forced to choose. However, the more familiar traditional versions are often problematic for me, too. I was taught by loving parents of stranger danger from a young age, so Snow White accepting gifts from strangers was always disturbing to me. Her trusting innocence felt like pure stupidity to my immature black and white thinking brain. Her domesticity and physical beauty weren't compelling for me either. Consequently, I often ignored Snow White in favor of other tales that resonated with me more.

Then I edited and translated a collection of Snow White tales as part of my Sleeping Beauties: Sleeping Beauty and Snow White Tales From Around the World. During that process of researching and reading about Snow White variants from around the world, I gained a much deeper affection for the tale. And I discovered some gems that are included in that book. I will discuss some of those in the coming days. 

I shared 41 variants of Snow White in Sleeping Beauties. They are from Italy, Turkey, France, Germany, England, Mozambique, Libya, Morocco, Gabon, Algeria, Iceland, and so many other interesting places. It is closely tied to Sleeping Beauty in some versions, especially the earliest published versions. Those 41 tales (and more that I couldn't include in the book) provide a much larger scope for the imagination, and some don't include many of the more controversial elements of the tale. And occasionally, Snow White more actively rescues herself, too. She is innocent and naive, but she is also sympathetic. I have great affection and compassion for Snow White these days and don't want her to be lost in the giant media machine, defined by the most popular version carefully crafted for corporate profit. So please check back in the coming days as I share some of her interesting varieties.

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