We’d say Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is tied with Cinderella for the most culturally significant early Disney animated film.
The tropes of the evil stepmother, poison apple, evil queen, and magic mirrors all stem from this 1939 Walt Disney masterpiece.
The music is a little annoying at this point, though. (Kidding. Sort of.)
This Disney film fairy tale is the one that has people yearning for their prince charming and true love’s first kiss.
Not to be confused with sleeping beauty, Snow White is a beauty who sleeps. There is a big difference!
Here’s an interesting piece of trivia about the original movie: Snow White is the only Disney princess to be shown praying.
We never thought anything of this scene and were surprised to learn it is one of a kind. The more you know, right?
Snow White’s Age and Prince
We’ve talked about Belle and some of the Disney Princes already (specifically, Snow White’s Prince Florian); their ages are not mentioned or very meaningful in the context of the stories or time period in which they were released.
Some age gaps in early Disney movies make us a little uneasy as contemporary viewers, but part of critical consumption of fiction is being able to change your POV to engage with the work, THEN zoom out and consider how it lands today.
This article will only be doing that first thing. Feel free to zoom out elsewhere.
It is fortunate that the intentional vagueness with which early Disney fairy tales are told means that the potential for problematic details is equally obscured.
How Old Is Snow White?
There is no non-frustrating way to answer this question. There’s a resounding consensus among fan sources and publications alike, but no concrete source.
There is no reference to Snow White’s age in the film. All we are told is that she is younger than the evil queen. Their visual appearances make that clear on their own, don’t they?
There is a widespread rumor that the press in 1939 was told that Snow White was 14 years old. We could not find evidence of this, and no other source has been able to either. T
he views of romance, girls, and men in the 20s, 30s, and 40s make this age believable, but not fact.
The truth of this matter seems lost to time at this point.
If the rumor fits into your understanding, by all means, run with it. We have to do similar things with Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella, anyway.