Disney’s Snow White hit cinemas last weekend after many controversies and tribulations. At the heart of the story is the famed fight for the fairest of them all between two iconic Disney, and literary, characters, the Evil Queen and Snow White. In the most recent adaptation these characters are played to perfection by Gal Gadot and Rachel Zegler. To interrogate the relationship between the two popular characters, not just in the Disney world, we will have to go back to their origins.
Both characters first appear in a collection of fairytales written by the Brothers Grimm, published in 1812 and originally titled ‘Schneewittchen.’ Much of it is familiar, but as you may have already guessed, the original story has some darker elements. For a start, the Evil Queen is Snow White’s biological mother, and when she tries to kill her daughter Snow White is only seven. Also, said Queen does not originally ask the Huntsman for Snow White’s heart, but her lungs and liver, so that she can eat them with salt. Well, at least she is using seasoning. I found this plot point particularly shocking, as it was not enough for the Queen to dispatch Snow White, she also feels that she must ingest her. Snow White quite literally was intended to be engulfed by the Queen like her prey, implying the Queen’s sheer force and influence was nearly enough to overcome Snow White. Did the Queen think that by cannibalising Snow White, she could absorb or ingest her fair nature? Perhaps this mutilation was the Queen’s way of ensuring that Snow White was truly dead and gone. After letting Snow White go, the Huntsman provides the Queen with a boar’s lungs and liver instead.
In the Grimm fairytale, the Queen, after twigging that Snow White is alive, embarks on not one, but three attempts to kill her. The Queen, disguised as a peddler, offers a silk, laced bodice to Snow White, who faints after the Queen ties it too tightly. The dwarves arrive home and cut her out of it. Next, the Queen sells Snow White a poisoned comb, but once the dwarves remove it, she is restored. Her third attempt involves the poisoned apple. However, only one half is poisoned, the Queen takes a bite from the white, non-poisoned half to reassure Snow White, who then tucks into the other red half. These methods of killing all seem gendered, they are all objects associated with femininity. If Snow White were a man, I doubt anyone would be selling poisoned combs or laced bodices to him. If we were dealing with a wizard and a prince, I am sure there would be some violence or sword fighting involved. The above three scenarios describe female warfare, one that is rooted in the domestic and free of explicit violence.
The colouring of the apple is significant and ironic. Despite Snow White being the innocent and purest of all, normally associated with white, it is the red half that she takes. While referencing passion and sexuality, nowadays red is reminiscent of danger, both symbolic of the Queen herself, building the image that the Queen is the one who killed Snow White in ‘apple form.’ The two halves of the apple represent the Queen and Snow White herself and highlights their incompatibility. When Snow White bites from the red half, she dies. Snow White and the Queen are antithetical to each other, and therefore incompatible. In Marc Webb’s 2025 version, the sweetness of apples is highlighted by Snow White, who as a child, would pick apples and bake apple pies for the townspeople, noting that something sweet can remind people that there is ‘more to being alive than mere subsidence.’ I would argue that the Queen uses an apple to lure Snow White in this version because she is aware of this emotional attachment.
While the apple is not present in every version of Snow White’s story, bear in mind many countries have their own versions, the apple is a feature in majority of them. An apple might have been chosen as the poisonous fruit due to its biblical connections. In Genesis, after being tricked by Satan, Eve eats the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge and brings all sin into the world. The Queen, as Satan, tricks Snow White into eating the forbidden fruit, thus releasing evil into her own body, killing her.
In the 1812 version, an unassuming Prince then stumbles upon the scene of Snow White in the glass casket and is so taken by her story that he stays with her. Ironically, despite the amount of poison that the Queen is serving Snow White does not ‘die.’ Although how it occurs is slightly different version to version, once the chunk of apple is knocked out of Snow White’s throat, she is as right as rain. So… she was more choked into a coma? When revived, the Prince then declares his love for Snow White, and they marry. Enraged, the Queen, after being told by the Mirror that Snow White is still alive and kicking, storms the wedding, and tries to kill her again! She’s persistent I’ll give her that. The Queen is then forced to dance in red hot iron slippers until she drops dead. Snow White’s resurrection and the vanquishing of good over evil can similarly draw Christian interpretations.
In the 1937 Disney film the Queen, whilst being chased by the dwarves, falls off a cliff and is crushed. In the most recent film, the Queen destroys the Magic Mirror, which is the source of her powers. She then turns into glass herself and is pulled into the Mirror, which repairs itself. In a way, Gadot’s Queen is immortalised in the Mirror. Her turning into glass, and the fragility of the material, is stark contrast to her previous immortality.
Snow White and The Evil Queen are representative of two different sides of womanhood. Two sides of the same coin or two sides of the same apple, if you will. Feminist scholars Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar believe Snow White and the Evil Queen to be the two female stereotypes of the angel and the monster. Snow White is pure, innocent and in Disney’s version maternal and loving. We see this through her interactions with woodland creatures and the dwarves. The Queen is antithetical to that, and therefore antithetical to the prevailing idea of womanhood at that time. Snow White and the Queen could also be discussed in the context of Freud’s Madonna-Whore complex. It is obvious that Snow White fulfils the Madonna trope, but it is never explicitly stated that the Queen is promiscuous. However, she is styled as a femme fatale, and in the most recent adaptation it is revealed that the Queen enchanted and then murdered Snow White’s father. The Queen, in this version and Disney’s 1937 version, is seen wearing make-up, unlike Snow White. Historically, heavy make up in society was an indicator of sexual promiscuity or prostitution, particularly in the Victorian era. Again, this does not suggest that the Queen is promiscuous, but she is portrayed as a sexual being, who has used that sexuality to gain power, and dispatch of their rivals. This is how she captured the attention of Snow White’s father. Gadot’s recent portrayal of the famed villain certainly leans into this idea, and into the Queen’s obsession with material wealth. At the close of the film, the Mirror tells her that her beauty is only ‘skin deep.’
Snow White has grown up with nothing, and is reduced to rags. She is generous and loving, as showcased in the 1937 film. She has no desire for material things, but for love and happiness. While the Queen in the 1937 film is not explicitly concerned with material wealth, Gadot’s iteration of the character is. This material obsession matches well with the Queen’s desire to be the fairest of them all. It is from this beauty that she exerts her influence and maintains her power, something Gadot explains in her solo song, ‘All is Fair.’ Again, Snow White is not concerned with such things, she seeks to be fair in her personality, not physically.
This is explicitly fleshed out more in the recent film, as Zegler’s Snow White goes head-to-head with the Evil Queen to take back her kingdom, using kindness and fairness as her weapon. Zegler attracted criticism when discussing the original 1937 film, and implied that Snow White was passive. Upon a recent rewatch, I believe she was more active than people give her credit for. She stands up to the dwarves, most notably Grumpy and at times she tells them off. Yes, she fills the maternal role, and perhaps her limitation is that she was active in the domestic space which is typically gendered female.
Zegler was accused of promoting the ‘Girlboss’ narrative. The ‘Girlboss’ narrative was popularised by Sophia Amoruso and described an empowered woman who is successful in the capitalist world. While praising individual achievement, people have criticised the narrative as it does not focus on encouraging systemic change. Promoting such a narrative risk invalidating Snow White, and other women who are happy in the domestic space. An example of this is the relationship between Meg and Jo March in ‘Little Women.’ Meg must remind Jo that, just because she dreams of being a wife and mother, this does not mean that her dreams are any less than that of Meg’s.
The 2025 film gives Snow White greater agency, a subtle example of this is in ‘Whistle While You Work.’ In this version, she encourages the dwarfs to clean with her, instructing them. In the original she tidies up their mess upon her arrival. Zegler also criticised Snow White’s decision to marry the prince, someone who she barely knows. This is also rectified in her version, and her relationship with vigilante Jonathan is given much more time to develop.
To be honest, I feel like Zegler could not win and, and the response she received was incredibly sexist. If Disney did not seek to update the previous story for a 2025 audience, it would have come under fire, and Snow White’s decision to marry a man she barely knows would, I am sure, have provoked the ire of many women out there. Especially in light of dramas like ‘The Crown’ shining the troublesome light on the mismatched union of Charles and Diana.
It is also unlikely that a man would find themselves in Zegler’s position, as they perpetually exist in the male version of a ‘Girlboss’ narrative. By and large, it is male characters that drive stories and have greater agency than women, therefore, it is not a fight or argument that they would have to make. Men would not ever find themselves in Zegler’s position, and if a man advocated for another male character to be a strong, fearless leader, I am sure that no one would bat an eyelid. We can see these feminist updates in other Disney adaptations, such as 2019’s ‘Aladdin.’ Now, Jasmine seeks to rule the kingdom herself, she is not just concerned with marriage as she was in the original. Women must actively advocate for greater autonomy and agency in the fairytale world but also the real world.
I have already talked about the Queen’s obsession with her appearance, but over the past few years, it is the public who have been obsessed with Snow White’s. In the original story, Snow White has ‘skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood and hair as black as ebony.’ When Zegler was cast, in an example of colour-blind casting, she was subjected to racist abuse online. This response, and Snow White’s original story, perpetuates the narrative that whiteness is superior. Zegler hit back at the abuse, citing the fact that Snow White is popular in Spanish-speaking countries, and is known as ‘Blanca Nieves.’ In Zegler’s version, the title character is named Snow White after surviving a snow blizzard as a child.
Snow White holds the special Disney status of being the original Princess, and the film itself is instantly recognisable due to its iconic imagery and iconography. The changes made between Disney’s two versions, and countless iterations unmentioned, showcase Snow White’s adaptability and versatility, but also the idea that the themes within her story, as with many other Disney fairytales will forever be universal.
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