THE WONDER TALE AND THE WONDER OF ANIMATION

This paper examines the context of creation of the first full-length animated film by Walt Disney – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) – and suggests a hypothesis that the reason behind the success of Disney adaptations of European fairy tales may be found, among other things, in the typological similarity between the animation technology and the poetics of folk tales. Using Snow White as an example we will analyze the way in which color film, a flat and bright image, universally understandable and at the same time responding to the specific demands of the Great Depression era, became the reference fairy tale film adaptation and formed the basis of the American reinterpretation of European fairy tale material. The features of the European fairy tale highlighted by M. Lüthi (especially its one-dimensionality, depthlessness and abstract style) are considered in relation to their animated representation in Disney animated movies. The lack of surprise when characters meet magical creatures (even though magical episodes are carefully created in order to surprise the viewer – but not the hero), attention to the outside rather than the inside (i.e., representation of characters’ personal attitude and feelings through objects or easily understandable actions), as well as an emphasis on bright colors and clear silhouettes – all this determined the popularity of the animated versions of the fairy tales and ensured their “canonization” both in the context of the American fairy tale tradition and in the context of American cinema.