Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Pravanthika Alluri

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the first full-length animated feature film in color and also with sound. It went on to become one of Disney’s greatest films. The production of this movie was very interesting because it ended with Disney mortgaging his house which totaled $1,488,422.74. He went through with the movie by fighting hard for it because his brother and business partner, Roy Disney and also Walt Disney’s wife, Lillian tried to talk him out of it because they didn’t feel like the movie would be a hit with the audience. The Hollywood movie industry also didn’t think Disney’s movie would be anything. They felt that this movie was going to be “Disney’s Folly” while the film was in production. Folly meaning foolishness. I agree with the movie industry honestly, because whenever someone tries to do something out of the ordinary especially something which costs so much money, anyone would think it is foolish. Disney actually acted out the entire story of Snow White to his staff, while announcing to them that this would be produced as a feature-length film. Disney’s dream/wish was to expand his studio by doing features since before Snow White, Disney only produced animated short subjects. Disney concentrated mainly on the dwarfs when his team was working on the story and script of this movie. He was adamant about the dwarfs having their own personalities and making each of them different which would make them prominent. The representation in this film which I feel holds a lot of importance was the representation between good vs. evil. The fact that the film showed how the Queen who was evil, died during her own plan to kill Snow White who didn’t even have to do anything to the Queen. She just remained pure and innocent which is portrayed as good. This representation, I believe, showed children that being pure and innocent and nice towards everyone was good. If someone is that way, then only good will happen to them. The consumption of this film was that many families went to it and enjoyed it very much because it thought little kids a good lesson about good vs. evil. The emotion, the illusion, and the fantasy and romance were good plus points which lead people to love this movie so much. I think the identity of films like this one was that it made little kids who watched it, feel like they could all be little princesses or princes. It made kids want to be like Snow White or want to live in a place like that fantasy. The film overall set the trend for all these fairytales which followed.    

Introduction

Pravanthika Alluri 

The 1930s was referred to as the golden age of Hollywood. Most of the movies from this decade were black and white. The pictures which I want to discuss about were all in color. The 1930s was considered the golden age because many of the movies made in that decade ended up being classics which are still famous and talked about today. Movies such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Wizard of Oz, and many Shirley Temple movies. The Great Depression was happening at this time which caused people to really look for movies as an outlet and escape from their struggles. While everyone was going through a hard time during this period, the Hollywood movie industry was going through this “Golden Age” because movies were doing so well. These movies gave people reason to feel emotions other than the depression that they were going through. Also during this decade was the first film in a three-color Technicolor. It was Walt Disney’s animated talkie, Flowers and Trees (1932). Since the Great Depression was happening at this time, the attendance in movie theaters was not as much as people would have liked. Even through that, the movies still made good profits. The movies which really made a difference and the movies which I would really like to talk about are movies like Snow White and Wizard of Oz because those movies were movies with happy endings which is what people needed at this time period. They needed to see what happiness could be like and that’s what they experienced when they went to see these types of movies. The movie industry was dominated by five main studios. 20^th Century Fox, MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer), Paramount, Warner Bros., and RKO Radio were studios which had their dream factories and their employees and workers were fully in control which was the studios’ strength. They had a strong influence over the choice of films, the budgets, the selection of scripts, and everyone working for the film whether it be the actors or the technicians. Even though these were the five main strong studios, at that time, there were three other studios which came in a close second. They were Columbia, Universal, and United Artists. The 30s was also the age of glamour so MGM studio soon became the biggest, most predominant and star-studded studio.

Steve Bobadilla
MCS 222, Group Project
Dr. Snyder
12/7/15

Shirley Temple:

Was well known for her roles in Curly Top, Stand up and Cheer. Lots of people didn’t know who played Annie originally. She provided people with joy and laughs in very challenging times. Her intention was to get her message across to the viewer. She became popular at a rapid rate.

Adventures of Tom Sawyer:

Also based on a book. Also reminds me of a mystery film, because it takes a long period of time figure the underline messages. Many remakes exist. Many actors played big role in different versions of movie. Movie was well received in the 30’s.

Movie industry in the 30’s:

The 30’s is also known for star actors starting out young, which propelled them into stardom at a rapid rate. In this era the cold war was going on as well and citizens needed a distraction from all the violence and horror that was experienced. Movies dominated public eye and it became more popular than television. The market for 50’s movie is young people, as well as middle-age people. 3D movies were also becoming very popular. A war between the movie industry and the tv industry sparked a change in movie production. Some actors were used as sex symbols as well. Many films were adapted to certain audiences for better reception, most of the time this worked but sometimes this strategy failed. Most movies in this era are based on bestselling books or previous version of movies. The 1930’s are known as the golden age of cinema, meaning that many popular movies were made in this time period. The 30’s cinema was also utilized for keeping the unity.

Treasure Island:

Struggled in the box office because it only made 1 million dollars. In my opinion if they had better-known actors, they would have probably made more money. They also work with a very low budget, because of the Great Depression in the 30’s. This film was more connected to the financial situation in America. However it had a fictional twist. This film appealed to children because of the fictional stories that were being told. This was a family friendly movie, which also involved a child actor. It was also a more realistic film.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:

This film was also a popular book as well. Mickey Rooney was a well-known comedian at this time. This film didn’t have the best reviews. Again a young Mickey Rooney starred in this film. This was also a family friendly movie, which featured better known actors like Walter Connolley. This film was realistic as well. This film appealed to older adults.