Disney Crowns and Tiaras: Historical and Modern Inspirations (Part II)

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I decided a while back that I wanted to compare the crowns and tiaras in Disney films to real life crowns and tiaras, posted up one blog post about it in April, and then…nothing for a long time because pandemic depression.

So uh, here is part 2 finally. I’m not saying that these original crowns/tiaras WERE inspirations for those in the films (some actually post date the crowns/tiaras in the films), but am just looking for similarities.

Today, I’m going to look at crowns and tiaras in Cinderella, Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Frog, and The Sword in the Stone!

  • The king’s crown (Cinderella, 1950); a modern replica of the Crown of Rus (Ukraine); the Frankfurtian crown of Charles VII

  • Cinderella at her wedding (1950); Grace Kelly at her wedding to Monaco’s Prince Rainier in 1956; Audrey Hepburn in her wedding dress for cancelled wedding with James Hanson in 1952 (Credit: Bettmann / Getty)

The King’s Crown: Although the king doesn’t wear a crown in either the cartoon or live action versions, in the animated version, he does throw his crown out of the window. I managed to get a screenshot of it. It’s notably trimmed in ermine, a fur associated with European royal crowns and robes, but is otherwise pretty unusual, as it features very tall golden spikes, appears to be open to the sky, and is otherwise pretty unadorned (are those rubies around the edge maybe?).

As I mentioned in my first post about Disney crowns, most actual crowns (which remember, are used for coronations and formal ceremonies, as opposed to the the more decorative function of tiaras) these days are closed. Open crowns were much more of a thing in medieval times. If you ignore the padding on the inside, the appearance of the crown bears some similarities to Ukraine’s Crown of Rus, as both feature gold sides ascending into spikes of varying heights. The only gold spiky open crown I could find was the smaller of the imperial coronation crowns of Charles VII (Holy Roman Empire, made in Frankfurter in 1742). The Frankfurter crown is also relatively unadorned with jewels.

Cinderella’s wedding cap: Cinderella (Cartoon) doesn’t wear a tiara in the animated version, but she does have this odd headband/cap thing on her head, which honestly looks more like the juliet caps of the 1950s, as seen on Grace Kelly, more than any sort of tiara. This makes sense, as Disney is known for using a lot of modern clothing elements (modern meaning the years in which the film was developed and released), so the use of a 50s style wedding headdress and dress silhouette is totally on brand for them.

  • Cinderella’s wedding outfit (2015); Cinderella with her prince (2015); Queen Letizia’s floral tiara (created 1879, Queen Letizia of Spain); Empress Farah Pahlavi’s floral tiara (Credit: Historical Collection / Alamy); (unknown date of creation, but worn in the 1970s, Empress of Iran)

Cinderella (Live action) - The gold, brightly colored floral tiara that Cinderella wears in the live action version has a few real life counterparts. It reminds me a bit of maybe queen Letizia floral tiara or Empress Farah Pahlavi’s floral tiara.

  • King Triton (The Little Mermaid, 1989), Detail from Dispute between Minerva and Neptune over the Naming of the City of Athens by René-Antoine Houasse, c. 1689-1706

  • Ariel at her wedding (1989), the Braganza Tiara - 1829, Queen Rania’s diamond tiara (Credit: Tim Graham Picture Library / Getty); (Rania of Jordan, unclear where or when tiara was made) ,

  • Ariel and her daughter Melody (The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, 2000), Princess Astrid of Norway wearing the Norwegian Gold Bandeau (possibly inherited from Princess Ingeborg of Sweden); Queen Sonja of Norway wearing the Norwegian Emerald Parure (Credit: Pascal Le Segretain / Getty); (possibly dating back to the 1820s-1830s)

  • Melody (2000); Madeleine, Princess of Sweden, wearing her Aquamarine bandeau

King Triton’s crown doesn’t look like any crown I’ve ever seen, but I believe it’s supposed to be different because he’s an underwater king. It looks like it’s supposed to emulate coral, not metal, and seems to echo the spikes of Triton’s trident, rather than any crown. I checked to see if his crown looks anything like traditional depictions of Poseidon. I only found one depiction of Poseidon/Neptune that looked anything like this. For the most part, statuary and paintings of Poseidon’s crown do /not/ look like Triton’s crown, but I did find one painting that has a crown with some similarities - Dispute between Minerva and Neptune over the Naming of the City of Athens by René-Antoine Houasse. The painting’s crown appears to go all the way around Poseidon’s head though, while Disney Trident’s crown appears to sit on the front of his head only. Note: Triton sports the same long hair and beard that Poseidon usually sports (although Triton’s is more extreme). Fun fact: Triton in Greek mythology is the son of Poseidon and is usually represented as a merman (and looks nothing like the disney character).

Ariel’s wedding tiara greatly resembles Aurora’s tiara from Sleeping Beauty, which I talked about previously. As I said then, “I couldn’t find any plain gold tiaras in this shape, but I did find a few modern silver and diamond that resemble it, such as the Braganza Tiara and Queen Rania’s Diamond Tiara. “

Ariel sporting an emerald tiara and jewelry set in Little Mermaid 2 - This tiara reminds me a lot of the Norwegian gold bandeau, which is primarily gold and studded with white, green, and red stones. I really haven’t seen many tiaras with white stones in them at all, much less matched with green, so I was pretty excited to see such a close match to Ariel’s crown. Also, with her matching crown, earrings, and necklace, Ariel is actually wearing a parure, which is a jewelry set all intended to be worn together. I’ve included a picture of the Norwegian Emerald Parure to demonstrate what a full emerald jewelry set looks like in real life.

Princess Melody’s tiny tiara most resembles Princess Madeleine of Sweden’s aquamarine bandeau. This tiara, which some have dubbed “the cyclops” has a very simple design, and was assumed to be modern for a long time, but actually goes back several generations, possibly to the art deco period.

  • Tiana (The Princess and The Frog, 2009), Sophie, Countess of Wessex, wearing her Wedding Tiara (1999) (Credit: Pascal Le Segretain / Getty); a painting of Queen Victoria wearing Queen Adelaide’s fringe tiara (England, 1831)

  • Lottie (2009); Princess Madeleine of Sweden wearing her aquamarine bandeau (made for her in 2000 for her 18th birthday), Princess Astrid of Belgium wearing the Savoy Aosta Tiara (~1920s France) (Credit: Pascal Le Segretain / Getty)

Tiana’s wedding tiara has an unusual design that reminds me more of lilly pads than most crowns, but it does have some resemblance to the wedding tiara of Sophie, Countess of Wessex, and a depiction of Queen Victoria wearing Queen Adelaide’s fringe tiara (the fringe tiara looks a little different today, more narrow and with the diamond fringe cutting closer to the head - I’m not sure if that’s because of the painter’s interpretation of the tiara or if the tiara has been reset over time into a different shape).

Charlotte “Lottie” wears a very simple looking tiara that reminds me a bit of the Savoy-Aosta tiara in shape, but also definitely reminds me of Princess Madeleine’s aquamarine bandeau, which I included in the previous section on Princess Melody’s tiara in Little Mermaid 2.

Arthur (The Sword in the Stone, 1963), the Imperial Crown of Brazil (made in Rio de Janeiro in 1841), or Napoleon iii’s crown (made in 1855 in Paris and sold in 1885 by the Third Republic, this photo is a reproduction), Crown of queen Elisabeta of Romania (made in 1881)

Arthur’s crown in The Sword in the Stone is surprisingly modern for a film set in medieval England, as medieval kings tended to have crowns open to the sky rather than this covered crown with big imperial semi-arches Arthur is wearing here. See: the tapestry from c. 1385 depicting what King Arthur’s crown actually would have looked like (if he even existed). I think they chose this crown design more to emphasize how young and small Arthur is rather than to depict anything resembling historically accurate. Sidenote: a crown like this is very heavy and would DEFINITELY only be worn for ceremonial occasions and only a brief amount of time.

The crown reminds me greatly of the Imperial Crown of Brazil, Napoleon III’s crown, or Queen Elizabeta of Romania’s crown. You can see the resemblance in the shape, colors, and the lines of jewels along the base of the crown. All three of these crowns date to the 1800s. The legend of King Arthur goes back to the 500s or so, and the Sword in the Stone film is set in 1200s-1300s ish.

Disney Crowns and Tiaras: Historical and Modern Inspirations (Part I)

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I’m going through all the crowns and tiaras shown in Disney animated films, analyzing their historical inspirations, and comparing them to actual crowns and tiaras worn by royals around the world! I’m not definitively saying that these original crowns/tiaras WERE inspirations for those in the films, but am just looking for similarities. There are so many though, that I’m just going to try to talk about 5 or so in each post.

Today, I’m going to look at crowns and tiaras in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the various Alice in Wonderland films, the various Sleeping Beauty/Maleficent films, Robin Hood, and the Great Mouse Detective.

(L to R): Evil Queen , “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” - 1937; Uta von Ballenstedt statue - ~1044; She Who Must be Obeyed, “She” - 1935; and Princess Kriemhild, “Die Nibelungen” - 1924.

Evil Queen (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 1937) - Only one character in the first full-length Disney animated film wears a crown: The Evil Queen. She sports a spiky gold “open” crown, with only a single pearl at the top. Keep an eye out for this style of crown, because we’ll see variations on it many more times in other Disney movies.

The queen’s look was mostly inspired by a statue of Uta von Ballenstedt at the Naumburg Cathedral in Naumburg, Germany. Uta was supposedly the most beautiful woman in medieval Germany. Many elements of the queen’s costume, including her headcovering, high cape, facial expression, and large pendant necklace are drawn from this. The character known as She Who Must Be Obeyed in the 1935 film “She” also is a likely inspiration for Snow White’s queen. Her crown, however, though gold like Uta’s and tall like the character in “She,” looks to be more inspired by Princess Kriemhild in the 1924 silent film “Die Nibelungen.”

I only found one actual royal crown with large spikes on it- the Danish king Christian IV’s coronation crown, made in ~1595 (below left, on the top). It does look pretty similar to the Eastern crown (also known as the Antique crown) in heraldry, except for the taller central front spike and the pearl at the top (below left, on the bottom).

It does have some similarities to the Diamond Festoon Necklace Tiara as well! (below center)

The Evil Queen’s tiara is much simpler than any of these real crowns and appears to be just solid gold, with only a single pearl on the top. Although the crown was probably designed this way to make the animation easier, historically, relatively simple gem-less metal tiaras became popular in the mid-1700s and through to the Victorian age. These cut steel tiaras were a less expensive way for women to obtain sparkly jewelry when they couldn’t afford diamonds or other precious gems. These were still time-consuming and beautiful though, as they were specifically cut and carved to shimmer as a diamond would. You can see an example below right.

Dutch Diamond Festoon Necklace Tiara - 1889

Dutch Diamond Festoon Necklace Tiara - 1889

Swedish Cut Steel Bandeau - ~early 1800s

Swedish Cut Steel Bandeau - ~early 1800s
(Credit: Pascal Le Segretain / Wireimage)

Notes:

  • Quick Reminder:

    • Crown – A full circle headpiece with an emblematic function associated with sovereignty and nobility.

    • Tiara – An open semi-circular headpiece that usually does not encircle the head, but perches on the top. Worn by royal and noble women at white tie events, formal state occasions, and weddings.

  • Open crowns, without bands overhead, are the oldest crowns and leave the wearer’s head open to the sky. The vast majority of crowns in Disney animated films appear to be open. However, historically, closed crowns became the dominant design in sovereignty headgear in the middle ages and are the dominant type today.

  • Although the Evil Queen wears her crown throughout the movie (except when she’s disguised as an old woman), in real life, crowns would only be worn on special occasions, such as at coronations or upon other state occasions.

L to R: Queen of Hearts, “Alice in Wonderland” film - 1951; The Queen of Hearts, “Alice in Wonderland” book - 1865 (John Tenniel); Red Queen, “Alice in Wonderland” film - 2010; The Red Queen, “Through the Looking Glass” book -1871 (John Tenniel); and Elizabeth I - 1585 (portrait by Nicholas Hilliard).

L to R: The White Queen, “Alice in Wonderland” film - 2010; The White Queen, “Alice Through the Looking Glass” film - 2016; The White Queen, “Through the Looking Glass” book - 1871 (John Tenniel); and Elizabeth I, coronation portrait - 1559 (unknown artist).

Swedish Ducal Coronet

Swedish Ducal Coronet

The Queen of Hearts/Red Queen; The White Queen - All of the Queens in the Alice in Wonderland (both animated and live action) movies wear spiky crowns that are relatively small and sit on top of their head instead of encircling them. This reminds me a bit of a Swedish ducal coronet (right).

In the book “Alice in Wonderland” (1865), the Queen of Hearts is drawn as a playing card character and sports a gable hood rather than a crown. She’s actually a totally different character from the Red Queen, who appears along with the White Queen in the book “Through the Looking-Glass” (1871), but the characters are commonly confused or melded together like in the live-action film series. The red and white queen characters in the books are clearly based off of chess pieces, which explains the continued spiky crown theme.

What’s interesting is that both characters in the live action films have some similarities to Elizabeth I at different times in her life. The Red Queen’s red hair, the shape of her updo, and her use of white makeup all over her face is clearly based off of Elizabeth I’s later looks. However, the white queen’s pallor and long flowing locks have some similarities to the young Elizabeth I’s look at her coronation. Both queens’ costumes have some Tudor elements to them, but neither crown looks like the Tudor crown (shown in Elizabeth’s coronation portrait), apart from the general “perched on top of head” appearance.

Notes:

  • Coronet – Small crown generally worn by dukes and earls at coronations, and often worn by princes/princesses at formal events. These are standardized for various peers, with different designs for each rank (e.g., Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount, Baron).

L to R: King Stefan and Queen Leah, “Sleeping Beauty” - 1959; Crown of Scotland (sans cap); King Stefan, “Maleficent” - 2014; Queen Leila, “Maleficent” - 2014; Stéphanie de Beauharnais, Grand Duchess of Baden's pearl-and-diamond tiara - 1830.

King Stefan (1959) and Queen Leah (1959) - Both of these crowns resemble the crown of Scotland without its velvet cap, minus the top arches.

King Stefan (2014) - This crown is very similar to the Swedish Ducal Coronet I talked about previously under the Red Queen/White Queen section, only larger, fitting around his entire head instead of perching on top like with the Alice Queens.

Queen Leila (2014) The shape of her crown reminds me of the pearl-and-diamond tiara of Stéphanie de Beauharnais, Grand Duchess of Baden, made circa 1830.

L to R: Princess Aurora, “Sleeping Beauty” -1959; the Braganza Tiara - 1829, Queen Rania’s diamond tiara (Credit: Tim Graham Picture Library / Getty), King Hubert, “Sleeping Beauty” - 1959; and the crown of Boleslaw I the Brave (replica made in 2001-2003 after originals were lost after 1036 and 1794).

Aurora (1959) - I couldn’t find any plain gold tiaras in this shape, but I did find a few modern silver and diamond that resemble it, such as the Braganza Tiara and Queen Rania’s Diamond Tiara.

King Hubert - I haven’t seen many crowns like this that don’t have arches but DO have a cap, but I DID find this one from the Polish crown jewels, which has arches but they’re so low to the cap that you can only see them from certain angles - The Crown of Bolesław I the Brave, which was the coronation crown of the Polish monarchs.

Queen Ingrith, “Maleficent: Mistress of All Evil” - 2019

Queen Ingrith, “Maleficent: Mistress of All Evil” - 2019

L to R: King John and Queen Ingrith, “Maleficent: Mistress of All Evil” - 2019; George IV State Diadem -1820 (Credit: Royal Collection Trust); Aurora, “Maleficent: Mistress of All Evil” - 2019; Danish Ruby Parure Tiara ; Queen Ingrith, “Maleficent: Mistress of All Evil” - 2019; and the Spencer Honeysuckle Tiara - ~1858 .

King John and Queen Ingrith’s crowns both resemble the George IV State Diadem in their shape, color, and overall sparkliness.

Aurora’s gold vine crown bears a resemblance to the Danish ruby parure tiara.

Queen Ingrith’s silver tiara looks like the Spencer Honeysuckle Tiara in height and overall shape.

Queen Ingrith’s tall, thin tiara shares a lot in common with the tall small crowns worn by the red and white queens in Alice in Wonderland (as discussed earlier).

I’ve actually never seen Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, and now I really want to, if only to figure out why Queen Ingrith gets to wear three different crowns throughout it all!

L to R: Prince John, “Robin Hood” - 1973; King John of England’s tomb effigy; portrait of King John; King Richard, “Robin Hood” - 1973; Richard I’s tomb effigy; and Richard I .

Since the stories of Robin Hood include the historical figures Prince John (later King John I) and King Richard I as characters, we can actually look at portraits of them to see how similar the film’s crowns are to their historical counterparts’ crowns. Richard, of course, was known as Richard the Lion-Heart, so both he and Prince John are portrayed as lions.

The crown in Robin Hood appears to be a simplified form of the medieval crown used by King John and Richard I, as seen in their tomb effigies and portraits above. The animated and historical versions all appear to be gold, open crowns with alternating colors and sizes of gemstones, although the animated version has a much more simplified crenelation decoration than the fleur-des-lys/cross like decorations on the historical ones.

I’m fairly sure that the crown or crowns depicted (they LOOK awfully similar, don’t they?) are wearing their state crowns, the “working” crowns of monarchs that they wore regularly, rather than the coronation regalia, which was generally far older, heavier, and more valuable. Although the crown of St. Edward, the traditional coronation regalia for English kings, existed at the time of their reigns, Edward the Confessor wasn’t actually made a saint until 1161, and we don’t actually have any records that his crown was used again before Henry III’s in 1220. Both King Richard and King John reigned before than, from 1189-1199 and 1199-1216 respectively, so it seems likely that they were using different crowns. In addition, written records describing St. Edward’s crown describe it as having arches, while the crown seen in these effigies and paintings is clearly open and without arches.

The Mouse Queen, “The Great Mouse Detective” - 1986; Queen Victoria - 1882 (photographer Alexander Bassano); Queen Victoria’s small diamond crown - 1870 (Credit: Royal Collection Trust); and the Imperial State Crown - 1932 (Credit: Royal Collection Trust).

The mouse queen in “The Great Mouse Detective” is clearly an homage to Queen Victoria, as the character appears to have a similar age, shape, and dress to the real life Victoria. Her small crown worn over a veil is the biggest giveaway, as Victoria herself wore such a miniature crown over her widow’s cap following the death of her husband Prince Albert. After Albert died in 1861, the Queen withdrew from public life. Though she eventually came back into the public view in 1870, she refused to wear the imperial state crown again, partly due to its weight and partly because she could not have worn it over her widow’s cap. The miniature imperial crown was created as a substitute. Victoria continued to wear black and white “widow’s weeds” until he death in 1901.

The mouse queen’s crown does appear to have a velvet cap and at least one gemstone in the base that aren’t visible in Victoria’s crown. Though I haven’t seen a crown /exactly/ like the mouse queen’s, it does appear to borrow some inspiration from the Imperial State Crown of the UK, which has a similar velvet cap and prominent gemstone in its base.

That’s it for now! I have many many many more crowns and tiaras to talk about in the future. :) These posts are very fun but oh man, they take a long time. Thanks for reading everyone!

Disney+ Marathon: Revisiting Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

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 So for my blog, I’m doing a Disney+ movie marathon through all the animated feature length films I haven’t seen in 20+ years/have never seen! I’m starting off with the first animated full length cartoon feature in the United States, Snow White!

  • Setting: The original Snow White story is a 19th-century German fairy tale. It was featured in Grimms’ Fairy Tales in 1812. The time period isn’t explicitly stated anywhere that I can find, but since the Queen’s clothes are based off of a preserved Medieval statue of the German noble Uta von Ballenstedt (c. 1000 -1046), it seems to be set in medieval Germany somewhere.
    The Disney version, of course, is a very simplified version that removes a lot of the original elements of the story, namely, any sort of backstory. The fairy tale also featured the Queen trying to kill Snow White three times rather than just with the apple shown in this film.

  • Why is Snow White in a peasant outfit at the beginning? The only explanation given is in the little story book page at the beginning that says “Her vain and wicked Stepmother the Queen feared that some day Snow White’s beauty would surpass her own. So she dressed the little Princess in rags and forced her to work as a Scullery Maid.”
    What happened to Snow White’s father or original mother? No one knows; we’re certainly not told.

  • Clearly Snow White is some kind of witch who can get Woodland creatures to somehow all get along follow her and do her bidding, namely, unpaid household labor. I need her skills. Can she teach cats? Actually, she may be a vampire given the whole skin as white as snow and lips as red as blood thing.
    ALTHOUGH, the origin of her name isn’t explained whatsoever in this movie version, so perhaps that isn’t canon for Disney film? The original story has Snow White’s mother wishing for a child with “skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as night,” after pricking her finger with a needle and seeing her blood drip onto freshly fallen snow on a black windowsill.

  • Are the trees in the forest actually evil and do they have faces or are they just representations of snow white’s fears?

  • The dwarves definitely say Jiminy crickets before Pinocchio The movie came out. What on earth did it mean before then? Was it a reference to the book?
    I later looked this up and discovered that “Jiminy” is an exclamation of surprise dating back to 1803, which may be a disguised oath referring to Jesu Domine, or Jesus Lord. “Jiminy cricket” was used starting in 1848; the “JC” initials also refer to Jesus Christ. The Adventures of Pinocchio wasn’t published until 1883 and featured a character named the Talking Cricket, but he didn’t get the name Jiminy Cricket until the 1940 Disney movie came out.

  • Interesting fact: This movie’s title uses the more common at the time “Dwarfs” instead of the “Dwarves” plural form popularized by Tolkien later.

  • We never see snow white with her stepmother the queen. Do we ever see any women talking to each other? I guess the witch (the evil queen in disguise) talks to snow white. But I can’t think of anyone else. It just barely passes the Bechdel test (they talk a little bit about Snow White wanting to marry the prince, but they also talked about dreams more generally), but it’s hardly progressive.,
    For that matter, we never hear about Snow White’s father, his relationship with the Queen, or Snow White’s relationship with the Queen at all. There’s really no backstory given.

  • They kept the plot very very simple. There are no complex characters, no outside friendships, and no motivations outside basic survival? Snow White is nice to animals but that’s basically all we know about her. Except that she likes to sing and appreciate a clean house.

  • The entire dwarves sneaking into the house to figure out who’s in there segment is like a tribute to slapstick comedy.

  • What were the dwarves’ names before they were old enough to have personalities and/or noticeable health issues (sneezy- hat fever, sleepy- narcolepsy). It appears that dopey is maybe intended to have some sort of mental delay but it’s passed off as “he’s never tried to talk.” Not sure such a character would fly in today’s society.

  • “Oh good, you talk.” Jesus, Snow White, they’re short men, not mute animals.

  • I had completely forgotten about the whole Snow White having to harass them to wash their hands and faces because they haven’t done that in weeks bit. Mildly appalled. This reminds me of the cruise we went on where they played an entire video about how you definitely need to wash your hands every time you go to the bathroom.

  • It’s a total myth that people in medieval times didn’t wash or keep themselves clean, by the way; I’ll explain this more later but even if they didn’t take full baths all that often they did wash their hands and faces daily.

  • "A Pedslar's disguise" what a convenient spell she just happens to have there. Is that a commonly used spell? What does she use it for? Shopping in disguise in the kingdom?

  • It's nice that everyone in this kingdom knows everyone else. You wouldn't expect a Queen to know who the dwarfs are (it makes sense that the dwarfs know who Snow White is though).

  • "A thunder bolt to mix it well" - wait. What? Doesn't she mean lightning? There's lightning when she says that about her potion. Plus, can sound even mix a potion? It has to be lightning right? She says "look my hands, my voice" as if she's surprised by the results of the potion she just gave herself.I have a feeling that this plan wasn't totally formulated or thought through very well, as she doesn't think about the poison apple part.

  • John made a valid point when I talked to about - why are they making spells that can be broken easily? Can you just not make a spell permanent?

  • -I somehow only figured out that Snow White is set in Germany a few years ago and listening to this Silly Song tune with all the yodellling and the super German organ, I just really don't know how I hadn't ever figured that out. Did we see that organ at all when Snow White and the bewitched woodland creatures were cleaning the house? Also - what kind of organ can you play with your butt like that? Why does Grumpy have such a flexible butt? What sort of exercises do you do in order to be able to move one butt cheek at a time? Is that a thing people can do? I'm pretty sure i can't.

  • Gooseberry pie? Is that a thing? What is that? Is it German?
    Later: YES, it’s a thing. Gooseberries are berries with tart skin and sweet flesh. Gooseberry pie adds in sugar to balance out the tartness. However, it appears that their presence in this film is anachronistic; the 1879 Encyclopaedia Britannica said, “Although gooseberries are now abundant in Germany and France, it does not appear to have been much grown there in the Middle Ages, though the wild fruit was held in some esteem medicinally for the cooling properties of its acid juice in fevers.”

  • Good lord, Snow White is an idiot, isn’t she? The dwarfs specifically tell her that the queen is dangerous and a master of disguise and the animals straight up attack the witch to protect her and she lets her in and eats the damn apple anyway, the dumb girl. I know she's supposed to only be 14 in this movie but....COME ON. 

  • I’m not really going to get into costume analysis much for most of these movies, but suffice it to say that these movies generally reflected the time in which they were made. It’s not a coincidence that Snow White’s hairstyle and face look distinctly Betty Boop-ish. Many other people have done great work discussing the historical influences of the costumes; I highly suggest the great work done over at Frock Flicks!

  • Walt Disney may have been a visionary, but he was a total asshole in some ways. He held the 19-year-old actress Adriana Caselotti, who provided the voice of Snow White, to an extremely strict contract which basically kept her from singing professionally for the rest of her life (she had extremely small parts in Wizard of Oz and It’s a Wonderful Life). She wasn’t credited as the voice, she was only paid $970 for her work on the film (equivalent to about $16,905 in 2018), and Disney refused to let her work on radio shows.

  • This movie is really gorgeous and I understand why so many people consider it a classic, but the characters and plot are paper thin and I don’t personally feel it holds up very well when I watch it as an adult. It’s very important for its role in movie history as the first full-length cel animated feature film and the earliest Disney animated feature film, but it’s not something I plan to rewatch much.
    THAT BEING SAID, I adore Snow White’s costume and aesthetic and Disneybound as her more often than any other character. :D