My kids and I just watched Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. And once again, I’m thinking, “How have I never seen this movie before?” I knew the story line. I knew most of the details. I even knew the Hi-Ho song, but I’ve never watched the movie from start to finish. It’s a classic! And like Sleeping Beauty, the story follows a basic outline to share the Gospel.
We have our princess living simply and humbly.
We have our evil character- the princess’s stepmother who is vain and filled with jealousy for her own stepdaughter.
We meet our prince early in the story. And just like in Sleeping Beauty, he pursues the princess after only hearing her voice.
However, our Evil Queen plots to kill Snow White so that she can be the fairest in the land. She sends a huntsman to kill her. But the huntsman cannot go through with the plan and tells Snow White to run far away.
Snow White runs off into the woods, but she is filled with fear. Everything in the forest seems to be attacking her. However, one she stops and gets her composure, she realizes how silly it is to be filled with such fear. Her new friends, the animals of the forest, lead Snow White to a cottage.
As she enters the cottage, she realizes that seven very messy children live here. Wanting to be welcomed to stay, she and the animals clean the house, do the dishes, wash the laundry, and cook some food. But then of course, Snow White is tired and rests in the beds upstairs.
Hi-Hoooooo! Then we get to meet our seven dwarfs. They are working in the mine and heading home.
As they come to their cottage, they realize someone is there. There’s a light on, smoke coming from the chimney, and the immediately all get scared. Upon entering the cottage, they notice it’s clean. There’s food cooking. Yet, they think there is a monster in their house. All these clues that good things could be coming, and these men let their fear control their thoughts. They liked their cobwebs. One misses his sugar in his dirty coffee cup. They shake in fear as they fight to see who must go confront this monster. And indeed, fear controls them, as they mistake the sheet for a monster. And mistake one of their own for a monster as well.
Eventually they realize this is no monster, but they’re still scared. During this time, she wakes up and tells each his name. *This definitely reminded me of the scene where Jesus reveals Himself to Mary Magdalene at the empty tomb in John 20:6. She was freaking out wondering where they took His body. But then He says her name, and she immediately recognizes him. her tears turn to joy!
Finally, they ask her name. Once she reveals it, they know she is the princess. They also openly state that the queen is a witch. And they agree to let her stay.
As dinner is getting ready to be served, Snow White insists that the dwarfs clean up. They try to convince her that they have cleaned up recently, but the dirt on their hands reveals otherwise. Six of them clean up happily. One, Grumpy, does so reluctantly. But then dinner is served.
After dinner, they dance and sing and enjoy the evening. As the clock reveals it is bedtime, the dwarfs insist that Snow White sleep upstairs and they make their own beds downstairs.
Hi-Hooooo! It’s off to work they go. The dwarfs head off to work in the mine leaving Snow White at home. They seem happy and cheerful, but also concerned as they leave Snow White for their workday.
Meanwhile, the evil queen learns that Snow White is not dead. And she devises a plan to disguise herself and poison the young princess with an apple. Now the spell specifically states that she will be in a deep sleep and can be broken by true love’s first kiss.
The old hag heads out to the cottage (being followed by two vultures) where she finds Snow White making gooseberry pies. She tries to convince her that apple is what she wants. Just take one bite. But the animals of the forest intervene. Then she fakes a pain and Snow White invites her inside. While inside, the hag tells Snow White that this is no ordinary apple, it’s a wishing apple. Make a wish and take a bite.
She takes a bite. A bite of death.
All this takes place while the animals are trying to alert the dwarfs, who haven’t even made it to work yet. The animals are doing their best, but the dwarfs keep shoeing them off until one of them states that maybe the queen came for Snow White. Then they rush off to help Snow White.
But they are too late. They get to the cottage as the hag is leaving. They chase her up a mountain top. (Interesting enough, the vultures follow the hag, not our fallen princess.) It looks as though the queen will smash the dwarfs with a giant boulder, but lightning strikes and the hag falls to her death.
Yet Snow White is still dead… or so they think. But she is so beautiful that they make a casket of glass.
The dwarfs and animals mourn her loss.
Then the prince comes, kisses her, and takes her away.
Suddenly the tears are gone. Though Snow White is leaving them, they are happy because she is not dead. Snow White and the prince ride off into the sunset together.
So let’s talk parallels.
Let’s get the obvious out of the way.
We’ve already established the evil queen as our source of evil. She is led by vanity and jealousy. She has an evil plan to kill the one more beautiful than she. When that plan fails, she takes it upon herself to disguise herself and tempt her with an apple.
And now we are at the Garden of Eden. Satan disguised himself as a serpent and tricked Eve into taking a bite of the forbidden fruit. “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’? (“Genesis 3:1). The serpent twisted God’s word. He took a little bit of truth and planted a seed of doubt in Eve’s mind. Suddenly she didn’t know anymore.
Similarly, Snow White is tricked with a forbidden fruit. In this movie, the queen/hag tried using the ploy of a beautiful apple, but it did not work because the animals stopped her. So, she had to use another trick, what does your heart really desire, this apple can give it to you.
This is why the Bible tells us time and time again to guard our hearts. All of our actions are an overflow of our hearts. Guard your heart. Make sure that desire is on godly things.
Another parallel- The prince saved Snow White after pursuing her, much like Christ saved us all on the cross. Death is defeated by the love of the Prince of Peace.
But I want to draw in on the dwarfs. I can relate to them. When Snow White first came into their lives, they were fearful. They didn’t really want this change. They liked their cobwebs, dirty hands, and messy life. But she came in cleaned up and gave them a reason to rejoice.
When the animals tried to warn them, they tried to turn them away. Kind of like I can do when the Holy Spirit prompts me. No, I need to go do x, y, and z, I will not stop to do what you are asking me to do. But once they do start changing, they don’t want their lives to go back to how they once were.
Now let’s take another look at these men when they see Snow White is dead. They mourn her loss. They give her a proper burial full of tears and love. Honestly, here I thought about that first Good Friday. Jesus’ followers thought He was dead. They truly mourned his death. They gave him a proper burial in a marked tomb.
But I know the ending of both of these stories. Jesus rises three days later!!!!The prince comes, kisses Snow White, and she comes back to life. Death is not the end of either one of these stories.
Now Snow-White wakes up and immediately starts telling the dwarfs goodbye. And they’re happy! What! Why doesn’t she spend time with them? They just mourned her loss.
But they’re happy! Why? Because they love her and are overjoyed that she is alive.
It’s just like the apostles. When Jesus revealed Himself to them after his death, they were overjoyed! They weren’t begging to spend time with Him. They were rejoicing that He was who He said He was! And once they received the gift of the Holy Spirit, nothing, not even death, could stop them from sharing the Risen Lord with anyone who has ears.
Though I had never seen this movie, I knew it. I knew all the important details. Why? Because deep in our hearts we long for this story to be true. A world corrupted by evil… a plot to kill an innocent… all of it stopped by the designated prince. A plan from the beginning of the movie to save the princess long before a hint of trouble was on the horizon.
Good news! It is true! From the beginning, God had a plan to save his fallen creation from sin. He would send His one and only Son, the Prince of Peace, to fulfill the prophecy foretold. He would be the perfect Savior, Rescuer, and Redeemer. He conquered death. And because He did, we all have hope for a happily ever after in Heaven with our loving Father!