Warning: SPOILERS for Disney’s live-actionSnow Whiteremake.
Many have criticized Disney’sSnow Whiteremake, but there’s a much older horror version that delivers some of the same plot changes in similar ways. After all of the controversies that the movie racked up in the years up to its release, it was predictable thatSnow White’s box officemight be a bit compromised. What’s interesting, however, is that not all of this had to do with initial reactions toSnow White’s cast. Many have also had poor reactions to certain changes in the story.
These changes aren’t necessarily removed entirely from the controversies. Because there were times when basic plot points were unclear, such as whether the movie would even include dwarfs. Eventually, the inclusion of seven bandits inSnow White’s storybecame a Schrödinger issue. However, one of the bandits in particular draws a surprising comparison to a Snow White movie from an entirely different genre.
The Snow White Remake’s Jonathan Is Oddly Similar To Will From Snow White: A Tale Of Terror
Both Characters Command Dwarf Stand-Ins Who Double As Criminals
Disney’sSnow Whiteremake does away withSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ Prince Florian, instead substituting a bandit known as Jonathan who has seven other bandits following his lead. But this has certainly been done before. In 1997’sSnow White: A Tale of Terror,protagonist Lilli meets a miner named Will who also happens to be a criminal outcast. In fact, his team of outcasts lives so far outside the law that they even consider ransoming Snow White in the hopes of profiting from turning her in.
Will turns out to be a stand-in for the prince. He falls in love with Snow, saves her from the poisoned apple in a fashion similar to that of the original tale, and stays by her side until the end.A Tale of Terroreven includes the detail that precisely one member of Will’s gang is a dwarf, a detail shared by Disney’s remake. The characters play very different roles, but it’s nonetheless odd that two Snow White movies chose to cast precisely one dwarf actor in a team of what would otherwise seem likeSnow White’s dwarf replacement characters.
The Mirror Is More Important Than It’s Ever Been Before
Image via Disney
There are many adaptations of the tale in whichSnow White’s Magic Mirrorturns out to be more than it first appears. But both Disney’s remake andA Tale of Terrordecide that the mirror is directly in charge of whether the Evil Queen lives. In both versions,destroying the Magic Mirror ultimately leads to the Evil Queen’s death. The manner in which she dies may differ in each version, but it’s a particularly interesting coincidence when both movies already try to combine their miner and bandit storylines.
At the same time, this also leads to the biggest difference between the two films.Gal Gadot’s Evil Queenand Sigourney Weaver’s version can hardly be compared. Gadot at least thought she controlled the mirror whereas Weaver was under its strangely independent control. Disney’sSnow Whitelikely wasn’t intentionally taking cues fromSnow White: A Tale of Terror. But the fact they share any similarities at all might suggest that Disney could be better off pursuing new stories rather than trying to rewrite tales that have already been written for decades.
Snow White
Cast
A live-action adaptation of the classic fairy tale. The film follows Snow White as she escapes into the forest and seeks refuge with seven dwarfs to elude her jealous stepmother, the wicked Queen, who is threatened by Snow White’s surpassing beauty.
