Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: New Perspectives on Production, Reception, Legacy

Description

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (David Hand, 1937) occupies a central place within the history of global animation. Based on the German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, the film was the first feature-length animated film produced by the Disney Studio and served to announce the animated cartoon as an industrial art form. Yet Disney's landmark version not only set in motion the Golden Age of the Hollywood cartoon, but has continued to stand as an international sensation, prompting multiple revisions and remakes within a variety of national filmmaking contexts. This book explores the enduring qualities that have marked Snow White's influence and legacy, providing a collection of original chapters that reflect upon its pioneering use of technology and contributions to animation's visual style, the film's reception within an American context, and its status as a global cultural phenomenon.

Chris Pallant is a Reader in Creative Arts and Industries at Canterbury Christ Church University, UK. His publications include Demystifying Disney: A History of Disney Feature Animation (2011), Storyboarding: A Critical History (2015), Animated Landscapes: History, Form and Function (2015) and Animation: Critical and Primary Sources (2021). Chris currently serves as President of the Society for Animation Studies. Christopher Holliday teaches Film Studies and Liberal Arts at King's College London, UK, specializing in Hollywood cinema, animation history and contemporary digital media. He has published several book chapters and articles on digital technology and computer animation, including work in Animation Practice, Process & Production and animation: an interdisciplinary journal. He is the author of The Computer-Animated Film: Industry, Style and Genre (2018) and co-editor of Fantasy/Animation: Connections Between Media, Mediums and Genres (2018).

This is an incredible edited collection, showcasing meticulous research by all of its outstanding contributors. Featuring chapters that revisit the contextual, technological and aesthetic breakthroughs of Disney's first fairy tale, and contributions that cover new ground, such as the film's exhibition, reception and influence in Europe and China, this book is sure to become a major touchstone for scholarly researchers of Disney, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and fairy tale adaptations. * Tracey Mollet, author of Cartoons in Hard Times: The Animated Shorts of Disney and Warner Brothers in Depression and War 1932-1945 (2017) * A masterful collection of essays that confirms Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs as a cultural, technological and artistic landmark that features animated characters who, like their best live-action peers, have provided an enduring emotional bond with generations of moviegoers. * Eric N. Young, Assistant Professor, Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, Chapman University, USA * A meticulous analysis of one of the most complicated movies in film history, this volume places Disney's masterpiece within discussions of European art cinema, aesthetic influence, the history of the musical, costume design, the Hollywood film as international commodity, and much more. Of all the work on this great film, this is the definitive edition, by far "the fairest of them all." * Eric Smoodin, Professor in the Department of American Studies, University of California, Davis, USA *