Credit: DisneyIf the world remembers one Disney movie in all the annals of history after society falls, it has to be Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. As the world’s first animated feature, it’s become a piece of cinematic importance that has been watched, rewatched, studied, and analyzed for decades. However, viewers have noticed something peculiar about the film’s third act.
It’s been said that Snow White is a film fueled by emotion rather than by reason, so it’s understandable to see how fans and casual viewers alike can formulate their own theories beyond what Walt Disney put on the screen. However, one grim take on the ending might actually have a more lighthearted side.
Did the Queen Really Kill Snow White?
A fan theory circulated by Cosmopolitan and Buzzfeed states that Snow White’s happy ending might actually be a metaphor for her death; the prince is actually a grim reaper figure, she’s still lying underneath that glass coffin in the woods, and what the audience sees is her soul ascending into the afterlife. As graphic and dark as that notion might be, a different angle might have a better leg to stand on.
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After the Queen makes her transformation into the old hag, she creates the poisoned apple in the dark depths of the castle dungeons. Dunked in a draught of Sleeping Death, the apple is loaded with her wicked potion. The hard part of her scheme is getting the princess to actually take a bite.
When the Queen encounters Snow White at the dwarfs’ cottage, she creates an elaborate story about a “Magic Wishing Apple” to get her to take the bait. “One bite, and all of your dreams will come true.” The thing is… they do.
After Snow White bites the apple, she falls into her comatose state, prompting her seven woodland friends to build her a glass coffin, which gets the attention of the prince who kisses her and breaks the spell, cue music and roll the credits. None of this would have happened if the Queen had not given her the apple.
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Call it a plot device, call it speculation, call it fans operating by Disney logic, but the elements are definitely there for this theory to stand. It’s certainly a better outcome than the Disney version of the Brothers Grimm story being a kid-friendly metaphor for death. Perhaps the Evil Queen could have been a fairy godmother of sorts?
What’s your interpretation of Snow White’s ending? Tell Inside the Magicn the comments below!