There they found Snow White, lying still and lifeless, the poisoned apple by her side. They did their best to bring her around, but it was no use.
They wept and wept for a long time. Then they laid her on a bed of rose petals, carried her into the forest and put her in a crystal coffin.
Each day they laid a flower there.
Then one evening, they discovered a strange young man admiring Snow White’s lovely face through the glass. After listening to the story, the Prince (for he was a prince!) made a suggestion.
“If you allow me to take her to the Castle, I’ll call in famous doctors to waken her from this peculiar sleep. She’s so lovely … I’d love to kiss her… !” He did, and as though by magic, the Prince’s kiss broke the spell. To everyone’s astonishment, Snow White opened her eyes. She had amazingly come back to life! Now in love, the Prince asked Snow White to marry him, and the dwarfs reluctantly had to say good bye to Snow White.
From that day on, Snow White lived happily in a great castle. But from time to time, she was drawn back to visit the little cottage down in the forest.
– The legend of Snow White
I remember, when I was a kid, I saw the animated Disney version of Snow White at the Terrace Theater at Friendly Shopping Center.
I saw the scene where the prince kissed Snow White and I was like, “No, don’t tell me she’s lying there defenseless and unconscious and this predator comes along and uses the opportunity to sexually assault her.”
For years, I’ve marveled at the way people have celebrated this tale of outright sexual assault. The poor woman is completely incapacitated. And here comes this so-called prince and he’s all over her in a flash.
As we left the theater, I asked my younger sister, who had also just seen it for the first time, if she was as uncomfortable with that semi-rape scene as I was. I was like, can you believe what that creep did to her?”
And she said, “I don’t know – I thought it was kind of sweet.”
And I was like, “Sweet?? You think that’s sweet!? A man thrusts his lips onto the face of a poor helpless woman who could in no way shape or form consent?”
Anyway, back then, as well as years later whenever I brought up the story, people looked at me like I was crazy or whatever, and I finally shut up about it.
So I was thrilled to see the other day that, finally – decades after I had seen the movie – people were becoming “woke” about it (as they say).
Finally, after all these years.
I first realize people were coming around when I was watching Inside Edition and, to my delight and amazement, people were realizing the same thing that I did decades ago: That this story was downright creepy.
Inside Edition was reporting on a big controversy and a huge uproar when actress Kristen Bell (who knows a thing or two about Disney because she starred in Frozen) said of Snow White, “Don’t you think that it’s weird that the prince kisses Snow White without her permission? Because you cannot kiss someone if they’re sleeping!”
Exactly Kristen.
There is no way you can consent if you are not conscious. Being conscious is a necessary condition of consent.
Despite the dead-on validity of her comments, they caused a huge uproar and she took a lot of criticism for speaking truth. And, since then, this controversy over Snow White has snowballed in a big way. Feminists rushed rightly to defend her comments while others threw stones.
Actress Keira Knightley expressed a sentiment similar to Bell’s last week when she told Ellen DeGeneres that Cinderella is banned in her home because Cinderella “waits around for a rich guy to rescue her.” Knightley also said The Little Mermaid is banned in her house for similar reasons.
What a lot of people don’t realize – and this is something many will be glad to know – is that the story of Snow White doesn’t end where the Disney movie does. Though the second part of the story never got as much recognition as the first part, the second part does reveal a lot.
For those of you unfamiliar with it, I am reprinting the end of the story here. We pick it up in the scene of the jam-packed grand courtroom in the case of the Kingdom v. Prince Charming (felonious aggravated indecent sexual assault), a case that was the Trial of the Century for that century …
Prosecutor: And, did you then proceed to kiss her? I remind you that you are under oath.
Prince Charming: Yes, yes, I did kiss her.
Prosecutor: So you approach this defenseless young woman, alone in the forest, incapacitated, prostrate and unconscious, and you decide to force yourself on her – to accost and violate this dear young thing.
Prince: Well, I kissed her, if that’s what you mean, but …
Prosecutor: Just answer the questions, Mr. Charming – if that is even your real name! And what exactly did you think gave you the right to do that!?
Prince: Well, honestly, I just thought she would be better off by waking up and living the rest of her live happily ever after in a beautiful luxurious castle than spending it in an extended coma followed by atrophy and death.
Prosecutor: Aha! So what you are really saying is that, “She wanted it – she was asking for it.” Perhaps you felt the fact that she was wearing a sexy Snow White costume meant you could have your way with her. How dare you blame the victim! Your honor, good people of the jury – I would point out that he claims that he kissed her in for her own benefit.
Prince: I’m just saying …
Prosecutor: Women are perfectly capable are taking care of themselves without a man. So please tell the jury what exactly made you think that this woman even want a “prince” to come by and whisk her away to a new life?
Prince: I think it was the fact that she was always running around the forest singing at the top of her longs, “Someday my Prince will Come.”
Prosecutor: Please, spare me! Who knows what other unspeakable felonious acts you have committed and not gotten caught at. For all we know, you were the one who poisoned her in the first place – precisely so you could take advantage of her.
Hell, for all we know, you could have been the one who shot Bambi’s mother.
Defense attorney: Objection! Your Honor, there is not even a Bambi in this fairytale and, in addition, that doesn’t take place for another 400 or 500 years from now. Firearms don’t even exist yet.
Judge: Objection sustained. Mr. Prosecutor, please refrain from bringing in other fairytales.
Prosecutor: So, back to the matter at hand. You are arguing that his innocent young flower would be better off if you accosted her.
Prince: Well, it did work out very well. You can ask her. She’s sitting right over there. She’s crazy in love with me. I mean, we were living our lives in utter bliss until you arrested me. We never even fight.
Prosecutor: Oh Please! Do you expect us to believe –
Snow White: Can I please say something? I am so grateful he kissed me and we have been so happy! You know, he really is dashing and rich and he loves me and, really, I promise, I am very happy and I’m really quite thrilled that he decided to bring me out of a coma with a kiss. If we could please just go, that would be great …
Prosecutor: Miss White, it is perfectly understandable that you say that. It is no surprise that you are in in this delirious state after all you’ve been through – poisoning, coma, sexual assault. It is not at all unusual for for a victim such as yourself to sympathize with her attacker. Please, just let the jury do its work so we can protect you from predators such as this. You have been through an extremely trying time.
Jury Foreman: We’ve heard enough, Your Honor! We have a verdict.
Jury (in unison): Guilty! Guilty! Burn him. Burn him!
Snow White: Noooooooooooo!
