Snow White in Current Times

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfHlA3fmJG0

In modern day America, there are references to fairy tales in just about every instance. From t-shirts to the internet fairy tales pop up in unexpected cases. Although we see this in our own culture, we do not tend to see it in other cultures but in the German band Rammstein they reference a well known fairy tale, Snow White, in the song “Sonne”.

The song in no way references the famous Brothers Grimm’s story. The reference comes from the music video of modern day men stuck in the world of a fairy tale and in this case it is not a happily ever after ending for the men.

Some of the similarities in the music video in comparison to the fairy tale Snow White are some of the symbols and people represented in both. In the beginning of “Sonne”, the scene opens in a coal mine with seven men working quickly and diligently. These men are covered in coal and are sweating profusely. They portray the seven dwarfs like in the Disney version Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. We can tell from the video that they are the dwarfs because Snow White is larger and looks like Alice in Wonderland when she takes the bread to grow larger; she looks like an over grown person. Snow White is easy pick out of the video. She has the qualities that Snow White has in the Disney version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs—long dark hair, red lips, white porcelain face, the yellow and blue dress and even the red ribbon tied perfectly in her hair. All these qualities are ones that a person can easily identify the character Snow White. Another part that is in most of the versions of Snow White is carrying the glass casket up the mountain; the video made this an obvious parallel to the original fairy tales.

Some qualities of the video Rammstein made their own. First of all, Snow White is not the innocent bystander of the story. She is the evil one who makes all the dwarfs work for her in the coal mine and even in their living quarters when cooking and brushing her hair. The men work together to get rid of her and end up killing her with a needle while she was taking a bath. Another part that was different was when they brought her up to the mountain dead and then a random apple on a tree fell on the glass casket and shattered it. The representation of the apple is still there but not in her mouth this time. In the end of this video there is not a happily ever after. The men return to the mine and continue their work as long as Snow White is in charge.

This video represents how times have changed and how now the women in society have a stronger hold on men sometimes. Whether it is good or bad times have changed for women and it is not about the men having all the control.