Summary
Horror has long been integral to the Disney storytelling method. The earliest days of Walt Disney’s animation studio saw the team delving deep into the horror genre and mining it for maximum tension, suspense, and dread in some truly striking ways. But modern Disney? They tend to veer as far as humanly possible from any horror inclinations, seemingly forfear of upsetting potential viewers.
To this end, many of the live-actionDisneyremakes have taken horror-rooted sequences that were present in the original animated films and either actively downplayed their intensity or removed them altogether, which is what makes it all the more startling that the live-actionSnow Whitepresents a full-blown horror setpiece right in the middle of its first act.
The words ‘horror’ and ‘Disney’ may not exactly seem synonymous in the current cultural lexicon, but that’s more an indictment of the present-tense efforts of the studio than anything else. In reality, Walt Disney and his original team of animators were actually masters of the horror genre. Some of the earliest Disney shorts, from 1929’sThe Haunted Houseto 1933’sThe Mad Doctorto 1937’sLonesome Ghosts, dealt heavily with horror filmmaking. Notably, these shorts even starred Disney mascot Mickey Mouse, a character who is now handled with such delicacy that the studio seems scared to even use him at all. Clearly, the creative team sawthe potential of horrorto up the stakes in these stories and make the character’s inevitable triumph at the end of the film all the sweeter; if audiences genuinely feared that something might happen to Mickey Mouse in the second act, then his victory in the third act would be made all the more affecting.
This mentality and eagerness to utilize the horror genre persevered and expanded in subsequent years. The 1937 shortThe Old Millshowcases a remarkably articulate grasp of horror filmmaking, ratcheting up the tension alongside the crescendoingorchestral score to profound impact. It was with this refined understanding of the genre that Disney and his team moved into the medium of feature films and brought this talent with them. From the haunted forest sequence inSnow White and the Seven Dwarvesto the donkey transformation sequence inPinocchioto the demonic glee of the “Night on Bald Mountain” section inFantasiato the Headless Horseman setpiece inThe Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, the golden age of Disney’s animated feature films were filled to the brim with genuinely frightening imagery and spectacularly well-made horror.
Modern Disney’s Aversion to Horror
In stark contrast, modern Disney could not be less interested in the horror genre. The practice of weaponizing the horror genre against audiences in inventive ways within the context of family-friendly films has been all but entirely abandoned by the studio. As a potent encapsulation of this practice, one needs to look no further than the studio’s live-action remakes of their animated classics. The iconic experimental visuals of the “Pink Elephants” sequence inDumbowere removed and outright scoffed at in the live-action version. The body horror of the donkey transformation scene inPinocchiois so toned down that it is unrecognizable. The ‘hephalumps and woozles’ ofWinnie the Poohare cut out of the story ofChristopher Robin. These choices served tosanitize and sauder the edges offof these works, making them feel painfully dull and weak-hearted in the process.
Considering all this, it seemed pretty obvious that the live-actionSnow Whitewould follow suit and either drastically reduce or outright remove the iconic haunted forest sequence from the new adaptation. But surprisingly, this could not be further from the case. The newSnow Whitenot only stillfeatures the haunted forest setpiece, but it fully embraces it while also recontextualizing it into a key moment of emphasis for the film’s most prominent themes.
For additional context, it’s worth noting that the highly-revered, award-winning, and storied Italian horror filmmaker Dario Argento adored the originalSnow White and the Seven Dwarves. He found the film to be equally beautiful and horrifying and sought to emulate it when he made his own iconic fantastical horror film,Suspiria, in 1977. For the film, Argento utilized three-strip Technicolor film printing, a practice that was well out of style at that point, to better emulate the kaleidoscopic colors of Disney’s original film. Additionally, he staged numerous sequences throughout the film to directly mirror scenes fromSnow White and the Seven Dwarves, specifically referencing the haunted forest sequences numerous times in the film. The newSnow Whitetakes influence from both the original animated film’s version of the haunted forest sequence and from Argento’s ownSuspiriain some genuinely striking ways.
Disney Embraces the Haunted Forest inSnow White
In the original animated film, the haunted forest sequence is a work of cinema-of-attraction showmanship and bravado. It’s this fully realized horror sequence in which Snow White sees trees reaching out for her with claws and floating logs turning into monsters in the water, but in the aftermath of the sequence, all of this is inferred to have been the character’s subjective experience of the woods. The audience is not meant to believe that those things literally happened to her, but rather that, in the aftermath of the Huntsman revealing that the Queen wants her dead, this is what itfeelslike for Snow Whiteto run through the woods. The live-action film takes this correlation and elevates it in fascinating ways.
In thelive-actionSnow White, the haunted forest sequence is not only included in full, but it also turns objectively real. There are a few lines of dialogue early on about the forest being magical, and so, rather than play it as a subjective experience the character is having, the forest is full-tilt alive, maniacal, and attempting to kill Snow White at this moment. Trees literally grab at her with claws; monsters literally circle around her, and the ground literally splits open like a portal to Hell beneath her feet. On top of all of this, the lighting choices and production design of the sequence are highly evocative ofSuspiria, with these periwinkle blues and hellfire reds being used as stark points of contrast in every composition.
Snow WhiteTruly Justifies the Choice
In and of itself,these are gonzo choicesthat feel all the more shocking for how entirely removed they are from the rest of the film’s visual vernacular. And even if that was all there was to this scene, it would still warrant attention for just how unique it is that director Marc Webb managed to sneak this into his live-action Disney film. But actually, there’s an even more intelligent stroke to the work here, and that is in how the live-action film takes ownership of these choices.
One of the primarythemes of the live-actionSnow Whiteis the way in which the main character’s empathy changes the world around her. In a cold, cruel world, Rachel Zegler’s Snow White regularly treats others with care and affection, and her choice to do so influences these other characters in palpable ways. The haunted forest sequence here is used as a visual encapsulation of this very theme: after Snow White crawls out of the lake, the forest is still dark and Argento-esque. But then, as she shows compassion to an encroaching creature, the forest literally lights up around her, and the creatures reveal themselves to be timid woodland critters. The scene also establishes one of the key visual motifs of the film: the fireflies, which come to represent Snow White and the way in which she literally lights up the world around her.
For all that has been said aboutSnow White, this is an incredibly under-discussed element of the film that absolutely rules. In the first twenty minutes of this film, there’s a Dario Argento-indebted horror sequence that pulls its own weight within the film in terms of narrative and thematic heft, gives the filmmakers the opportunity to strut their stuff on a formal level, showcases what a fantastic scream queen Rachel Zegler could be, and hearkens back to Walt Disney himself in the process.
Disney
Disney is a conglomerate and media company that owns a variety of television stations like ABC, Disney Channel, and Disney XD. They are also owners of the Marvel and Star Wars franchises and own the ever-popular Disney theme parks found all around the world.
