Virtually the first film I can remember watching was Disney’s ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.’ I can remember being terrified by the wicked stepmother in that film and feeling her raw jealousy as the mirror responded to her question ‘Mirror, mirror, on the wall/ Who is the fairest of them all?’ with the assertion that Snow White was more beautiful than she was. I can also remember willing Snow White not to take the apple from the queen and being horrified that this woman could transform herself into that old hag and deceive the lovely heroine. I was totally immersed in the story, and whilst the seven dwarfs provided much comic relief, my abiding memory of that story as a five-year-old is fear. The innocence, beauty and sheer loveliness of Snow White was so contrasted with the evil of the wicked queen that even then, the conventional ending of the prince awakening her from her poisoned sleep with a kiss never seemed to me the main point of the story.
Fairytales give us a glimpse into good and evil. They do so in conventional forms, but for me as a child, the transformation of the wicked queen from a beautiful woman to a wicked-looking hag was my first understanding that evil did not always have to look ugly to be ugly. I knew she was wicked when she looked beautiful; I knew she was wicked when she was ugly. Disney personified evil in this character and as a child, I recognised that evil comes in different disguises. Paul tells us that Satan masquerades as an angel of light. (2 Cor 11:14) I think I learned that first from ‘Snow White’...
Whilst fairytales may place what people have subsequently felt is an over-emphasis on female beauty, I have always felt that they underline the need for inner beauty as much as outward forms of beauty. Snow White’s kindness and good nature are seen repeatedly in the film; she is generous, warm-hearted and loving. I rooted for her not because she was beautiful but because of these inner characteristics, and as such, I learned a valuable lesson about beauty from a young age.