• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.30
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• pp.245-262
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• 2013

This paper analyzes three feature films that are based on Brothers Grimm's "Snow White": Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Tarsem Singh's Mirror Mirror (2012), and Rupert Sanders' Snow White and the Huntsman (2012). Disney's animation, not the original literature, is the archetype of the later films. Grimm's fairy tail does not include the kiss of Prince Charming that saved Snow White which is, in fact, borrowed from "Sleeping Beauty", nor Snow White's rapport with animals. In Snow White and the Huntsman 's case, the costume of protagonist is similar with Disney's film and some shots are almost identical with Disney's version in terms of composition and angles. Nevertheless, these films show their originality with markedly different visual styles. Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman have achieved reasonable success at the box office despite of relatively simple and predictable narratives due to the power of spectacle. While Disney's Snow White displays the model of witch that later becomes prototype of many movies, Mirror Mirror represents the unique magical world, a trompe-l'oell that can only done by director Tarsem, and Snow White and the Huntsman successfully visualizes Freudian concept of 'the uncanny' itself.