Snow White is one of the popular fairy tales stories we’ve all read in our childhood. It’s so popular there have been countless animation and movie adaptions from this story. Children love Snow White too! Who wouldn’t love a lively young girl who can speak to animals, right?
Well then, what’s iffy about Snow White? Let’s look at a few flaws of the story.
1. Snow White’s name
Snow White. The name the mirror that knows everything takes when asked who is the prettiest of them all. Keeping in mind that this is a story for kids, this would make children think only things that can be related to ‘snow’ and ‘white’ can be beautiful. This is now a progressing world where everything is about breaking stereotypes and accepting beauty in all shapes and sizes. If children are still learning this in this day and age, maybe we’re progressing backward.
2. Beauty
The whole story of snow white and the seven dwarfs rotates around beauty. It starts with the evil queen making sure she is the most beautiful person alive ends with the prince falling in love with Snow White at first sight due to her beauty. That’s because the theme of the story is ‘beauty’. It makes it seem like beauty is something rather important when it isn’t. Beauty may add to someone’s attractive points, but some people forget that there’s more to a person than just their beauty.
3. Consent
This is the reason Disneyland and its Snow White ride were under fire a while ago. For showing the prince kiss snow white without her consent. Unfortunately, many of the fairy tales stories we’ve read as children have similar content. Sleeping Beauty is another example of this very instance. Children would start thinking that kissing unconscious women without their consent is perfectly alright. But it is, in fact, a serious violation despite it being portrayed as a way to show ‘true love’.
That’s not all though. Despite Snow White and the seven dwarfs not being acquainted with each other, she takes refuge in their house. Imagine if you come back home and see a stranger inside. You would call the police. But the dwarfs accept it so easily. Recalling that it is a story for children, they might unconsciously learn this behavior, which is also a serious violation.
The Takeaway
Fairy tales are made for kids. Who would have known that even content made especially for children could be dangerous? Not to mention some fairy tales like the red riding hood are older than most existing things. Why are they so dark then?
It doesn’t take much to influence a child the wrong way. They pick up the littlest things at the fastest pace. And it could be rather hard to unlearn all that. So, it’s important to make sure they are not exposed to the wrong kind of content. Even if the content is for children especially.
Some people say fairy tales are dark because humanity is just like that, dark. Humanity is indeed dark. Unlike Snow White, ironically. That doesn’t mean innocent children deserve to be exposed to that harmful darkness.