Disney's Golden Age: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

And now for something entirely different! As much as technology and gaming consume a vast breadth of my attention, I have other interests as well. One of them is animation, and starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, I'm going to talk about Disney films of the golden era, spanning a ten-part series ending with Sleeping Beauty. This was inspired by a fellow blogger who calls his page "The Norman Nerd", in which he recounts Disney films during their renaissance period in the 90s. I thought that was a fun idea so I figured I'd give it a try, only this time covering their nascent years and early rise to pop culture stardom.

There's some caveats, though, as I'm going to be skipping much of their musical works such as Saludos Amigos, with the exception of Fantasia. This is equal parts because I'm less familiar with those films, and also because they don't fit the typical Disney cannon.

Snow White's origins can be traced back many years before the film began production. As a boy, Walt Disney attended a press screening of the story adapted as a silent film, leaving a long-lasting impression on him. Disney had a love of classic stories from an early age, and using cartoon characters he would entertain friends and classmates by acting out and illustrating stories of his own. Eventually this led to experiments with the then-fledgling concept of hand-drawn animation, and before long he was taking his passion to Hollywood, first to be a film director, and then to be an animated film producer at his own studio, where he found a new avenue for telling the stories he loved through animated shorts.

These shorts would often be the testing ground for the latest in cutting edge technologies. Along with innovations of his own, he would be among the first to utilize sound in 1928 with Steamboat Willie, and the very first to use Technicolor, where he showed surprising business acumen by acquiring exclusive rights to the technology for two years. This first debuted with the short Flowers and Trees in 1932, which earned him his first Academy Award in the new category for animated shorts.

During this period, he was growing his staff and promoting their talents, eventually building the famous Hyperion Studio. In 1934 they began full-time production on their first feature-length film, lasting nearly four years before its premier late in 1937. Shorts continued to be made during production, and many elements of Snow White can be traced back to these shorts, where they would experiment on such things as realistic human animation and multi-plane cameras. There's even a short involving Santa's elves that bear a striking resemblance to the seven dwarfs.

All of these shorts, most featured under the "Silly Symphony" banner, hinged on music. The director would sit in a room with the composer and time every action with the music, creating an intrinsic link between the rhythms of sound and how the story unfolded onscreen. This would carry over to their first feature, and became a Disney trademark that would continue throughout their history.

As a result, Snow White is paced like one long song, beautifully building the characters through brilliantly-timed comedy and drama, until it reaches a crescendo-like climax resulting in a tragic outcome, where the film slides into a solemn and mournful procession. The finale of the film is an uplifting and triumphant fairytale ending that shoots through the grim malaise like a blinding light. It was a formula that would not only be a staple for Disney, but a template for mainstream Hollywood from then on.

What is amazing is how well the movie holds up almost a hundred years later. This is helped in large part by a wealth of timeless musical numbers that are still remembered by generations today. While music featured in the shorts prior to Snow White's release were fun and well-produced, the studio would put its best foot forward here, going way beyond what they had done before.

This would be true for every other aspect of the film as well. More thought was put into the color palette and art design than any other production, in order to ensure that audiences would find the film visually pleasing throughout its hour-plus run-time. Characterization was also a revelation for the time, as each character was painstakingly imbued with distinct personalities in order to support the story built around them, and to strengthen moments of pathos in ways never before experienced in an animated film.

Snow White was a resounding success at its release, made all the more astonishing given the skepticism it received throughout production. Animation was known for simple stories, bright primary colors, and non-stop slapstick, leading film contemporaries at the time to scoff at the idea of a feature-length take on the concept. When Snow White proved the critics wrong, it was heralded as a revolution, and its importance was immediately obvious to all those concerned even before its impact could truly be felt.

In ten short years, Disney evolved the medium from dinky black-and-white comedies to a masterful cinematic art form. This is strikingly similar to Pixar's growth in the decade or so leading to their first computer animated movie. Both were pioneers of harnessing and maturing new technology for a purpose never before imagined.

If there's anything to complain about in the film, it's that its drama and love story feel a little over-the-top and corny by today's standards. In fact this was deliberate, as schmaltz and melodrama were popular storytelling techniques during the Depression era, when audiences craved excessively warm and positive stimulation to alleviate their everyday concerns.

The voice they chose for Snow White herself may also illicit cringing among modern viewers, as audience sensibilities for cuteness have evolved over the years, and the once-thought angelic and beautiful operatic vocalizations might turn off cynical ears of the 21st century.

Still, Disney's first feature-length film hits the right notes where it counts, and new generations will still find its characters lovable and entrancing. It's a remarkable achievement by all accounts, and it's greatest accomplishment may not simply be its invaluable influence on modern cinema or even human culture, but in how to this day, it can still move audiences to emphatic applause as the princess rides off on her true love's ivory steed towards the celestial golden palace in the clouds.