1930 Illustration by Otto Kubel depicting the seven dwarfs finding Snow White asleep

The Seven Dwarfs are a group of seven fictional dwarfs that appear in the 1812 fairy tale Snow White by the Brothers Grimm and other renditions and adaptations.[1]

History

The Seven Dwarfs are a group of seven dwarfs that live in a tiny cottage and work in the nearby mines, Snow White stumbles upon their house after being told by the Huntsman to flee from the Queen's kingdom.

The Seven Dwarfs return home and immediately notice someone has snuck in, because the house has been cleaned. During their loud discussion, they discover the sleeping Snow White. She wakes up and explains to them what happened. The Dwarfs take pity on her, saying: "If you will keep house for us, and cook, make the beds, wash, sew, and knit, and keep everything clean and orderly, then you can stay with us, and you shall have everything that you want." They warn her to be careful when alone at home, and to not let anyone in while they are delving in the mountains.

When the Queen, disguised as an old peddler, ties a colorful, silk bodice onto Snow White, it causes her to faint. The Seven Dwarfs return just in time and Snow White is saved when the Dwarfs cut the lace. The Queen comes once again, this time dressed as a comb seller. She gives Snow White a poisoned comb, but the Seven Dwarfs save her again. The Queen then appears disguised as a farmer's wife and gives Snow White a poisoned apple. Snow White bites into it and falls to the ground, apparently dead. This time, the Seven Dwarfs are unable to revive the girl, because they can't determine Snow White's physical state and, assuming that she is dead, they place her in a glass coffin. After some time has passed, a Prince traveling through the land sees Snow White. He walks up to her coffin and instantly falls in love with her, enchanted by her beauty. As the Prince transports her body back to his castle, her coffin is hit hard and a large piece of apple in her throat is released and thus revives her. The prince then marries Snow White and "they lived happily ever after."

Response from people with dwarfism

As a prominent cultural portrayal, the Seven Dwarfs have been recently controversial among people with dwarfism. One critical scholar has said it "followed the conventions of the freak show and perpetuated contemporary prejudices in their constructions of people with dwarfism," portraying them as "incapable, humorous, weird, childlike," and "overly naïve, perhaps even dim-witted."[2] In 2022, the actor Peter Dinklage criticized Disney's planned live-action remake of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs as being responsible for "renewing damaging stereotypes", saying "You’re progressive in one way but you’re still making that fucking backward story of seven dwarves living in the cave. What the fuck are you doing, man?".[3][4][5]

Others in the dwarfism community expressed different views. Professional wrestler Dylan Postl, better known by his ring persona Hornswoggle, voiced his disagreement with Dinklage's condemnation of the Seven Dwarfs' portrayal, saying that Disney's replacement of them with anonymous "magical creatures" and portrayed by voice actors, would have deprived dwarf actors of a possible starring role in a film based on an established property.[6][7][8] Comedian Brad Williams also expressed a similar sentiment, stating that while he agreed that the portrayal was "mildly offensive", there are ways to work around the issue by depicting the Dwarfs as a potential love interest for Snow White and de-emphasizing the prince's role in the story, also complimenting the positive aspects of the characters: "I mean, they have jobs, you know? They got good friends. They got a house. They like to protect her [Snow White]. They're diamond miners, so they're rich. They're self-made, wealthy."[9][10]

Translation in other languages

language Doc Grumpy Sleepy Bashful Happy Sneezy Dopey
Albanian I mençuri Nevriku Gjumashi I turpshmi I qeshuri Tështima Memeci
Arabic دوك غضبان نعسان خجول سعيد عطوس دوبى
Armenian Խելացի Փնթփնթան Ամաչկոտ Փռշտացող Ուրախ Քնկոտ Հիմարիկ
Catalan Savi Rondinaire Dormilega Vergonyós Feliç Esternuts Mudet
Czech Prófa Bručoun Dřímal Stydlín Štístko Kejchal Šmudla
Croatian Učo Ljutko Pospanko Stidljivko Srećko Kihavko Glupko
Chinese 萬事通 愛生氣 瞌睡蟲 害羞鬼 開心果 噴涕精 糊塗蛋
Danish Brille Gnavpot Søvnig Flovmand Lystig Prosit Dumpe
Dutch Doc Grumpie Dommel Bloosje Giechel Niezel Stoetel
Esperanto Dok Grumblulo Dormulo Timemulo Ĝojulo Ternulo Ŝmirulo
Finnish Viisas Jörö Unelias Ujo Lystikäs Nuhanenä Vilkas
French Prof Grincheux Dormeur Timide Joyeux Atchoum Simplet
Georgian დოკი ბრაზიანი მძინარა მორ­ცხვი მხიარული სნიზი სულელი
German Arzt mürrisch schläfrig schüchtern glücklich niesen dumm
Greek Σοφος Γκρινιαρης Υπναρας Ντροπαλος Καλοκαρδος Συναχωμενος Χαζουλης
Hebrew דוק רטנוני ישנוני ביישני עליזי אפצ'י שתיה
Hungarian Tudor Morgó Szundi Szende Vidor Hapci Kuka
Icelandic Glámur Naggur Purkur Kútur Teitur Hnerrir Álfur
Irish Saoi Cancrán Codlatán Cúthalachán Sonaí Sraothachán Simpleoir
Italian Dotto Brontolo Pisolo Mammolo Gongolo Eolo Cucciolo
Japanese 先生 おこりんぼ ねぼすけ てれすけ ごきげん くしゃみ おとぼけ
Kazakh Ақылды Жұбаншақ Ұйқышыл Ұялшақ Күлегеш Түшкiршек Қарапайым
Latin Medicullus Severus Somniculosus Verecundus Beatus Sternuens Fatuus
Norwegian Brille Sinnataggen Søvnig Blygen Lystig Prosit Minsten
Persian دکتر اخمو خوابالو کمرو شنگول عطسه‌ای خنگول
Polish Mędrek Gburek Śpioszek Nieśmiałek Wesołek Apsik Gapcio
Portuguese Mestre Zangado Soneca Dengoso Feliz Atchim Dunga
Romanian Doc Morocănosul Somnorosul Rușinosul Voiosul Hapciu Mutulică
Russian Умник Ворчун Соня Скромник Весельчак Чихун Простачок
Spanish Sabio Gruñón Dormilón Tímido Feliz Estornudo Tontín
Swedish Kloker Butter Trötter Blyger Glader Prosit Toker
Turkish Doktor Huysuz Uykucu Utangaç Mutlu Meraklı Salak

Appearances in modern media

Disney Dwarfs

See also: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film) § Cast, and The 7D § Characters

The Seven Disney Dwarfs
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs characters
Six out of the seven Disney dwarfs (left to right: Sneezy, Bashful, Sleepy, Happy, Grumpy, Doc) – all but Dopey, who is just off-screen – walking on a log and singing "Heigh-Ho"
First appearance
Created byWalt Disney
Fred Moore
Bill Tytla
Ward Kimball
Frank Thomas
Les Clark
Walt Disney introducing his design of the dwarfs in the trailer of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

A Disney version of the Seven Dwarfs appeared in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs:

The Seven Dwarfs also appeared in Seven Wise Dwarfs, All Together, The Winged Scourge, House of Mouse, The Lion King 1½, Once Upon a Studio.

Built during World War II, Doc, a Boeing B-29 Superfortress, was named after one of the Seven Disney Dwarfs.
Dopey on the emblem for the 341st Bombardment Squadron during World War II

In the early 2000s, DisneyToon Studios (DTS) joined Disney Consumer Products (DCP) as their internal Disney conglomerate video partner in developing the new Disney franchises. While DCP eyed other potential franchises, DisneyToon looked to the Seven Dwarfs for a male-centric franchise to counterbalance the female-centric Disney Fairies. By 2005, The Seven Dwarfs animated sequel to Snow White was officially underway. Paul and Gaëtan Brizzi was one team that was given an attempt at a movie pitch, which was to follow the Dwarfs in which they trap the villain in the magic mirror and setting it up for Snow White movie. Given the possible demand, Buena Vista Games brought in Obsidian Entertainment, a game developer, who pitched a video game focusing on the Dwarfs' similar ancestors. DTS executives were not feeling that the two franchise launching projects were coming together well enough that they turned to Mike Disa, who worked on the Tinker Bell story. Disa and Evan Spiliotopoulos pitched a The Lord of the Rings-style epic for the dwarfs while "connecting seamlessly" with the original film, which was given permission to move forward. With interfering managers wanting a tragic back story for Dopey, Disa decided that he could not go forward. Walt Disney Animation Studios chief creative officer John Lasseter about two month later ended production on the film.[11]

The 7D is an American animated television series produced by Disney Television Animation based on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It is a re-imagining of the title characters from the 1937 film and their adventures prior to the introduction of Snow White. The TV series details the 7D working for Queen Delightful where they protect Jollywood from the Glooms and other threats.[11]

The Seven Dwarfs were given a new theme park attraction called the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train coaster.[11]

In Descendants, Descendants 2 and Descendants 3, Dopey is shown to have a son named Doug (portrayed by Zachary Gibson) who can talk and becomes smitten by Evil Queen's daughter Evie. In the Descendants novel The Isle of the Lost, Doc is shown to be sympathetic towards the Goblins that operate on the Isle of the Lost's Goblin Wharf where they want amnesty for their involvement with Maleficent. In the books, Grumpy, Bashful, and Sleepy also have sons (respectively named Gordon, Bashful Jr., and Sleepy Jr.), and Happy is mentioned to have one in Descendants 2 who's his opposite.

Sneezy is among the bootlegged toons in the 2022 live-action film adaptation of Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers.

The guns of the British battleship HMS Nelson, officially known as "Right, Centre or Left" gun in "A", "B" or "X" turret, were unofficially named by the crew, "Mickey", "Minnie", "Grumpy", "Sneezy", "Dopey", "Bashful", "Happy", "Sleepy" and "Doc".[12]

Sesame Street

In Sesame Street, there were different versions of the Seven Dwarfs where each of them was made from Anything Muppets.

Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics

In the "Snow White" episode of Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics, the Seven Dwarfs are named Sunday (voiced by Clifton Wells in the English dub), Monday (voiced by Kerrigan Mahan in the English dub), Tuesday, Wednesday (voiced by Tom Wyner in the English dub), Thursday, Friday (voiced by Michael Sorich in the English dub), and Saturday (voiced by Edward Mannix in the English dub) and are shown to be allied with a pack of wolves.

Happily Ever After

In Happily Ever After, it was mentioned that the Seven Dwarfs have opened up a mine in the next kingdom. In their place is the Seven Dwarfelles (their female cousins) who have received a power based on nature to help out their boss Mother Nature.

The Dwarfelles consisted of:

The Dwarfelles helped Snow White on her quest to rescue the Prince from the Queen's sorcerer brother Lord Maliss.

Snow White (1990)

The Seven Dwarves appear in the 1990 Snow White film voiced by Jim Cummings and Rob Paulsen.

Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child

In Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child, the show's adaptation of "Snow White" that takes place in the American southwest depicts the Seven Dwarves as seven mystical little men who came from the north to mine turquoise. They consist of:

Shrek

The Seven Dwarfs appear in the Shrek series.

In Shrek, the Seven Dwarfs appear in the first film carrying Snow White's coffin. When they place the coffin on the table, Shrek says "Oh no no no no! Dead broad off the table!" (in the trailer, Shrek said “Oh no no no no! Dead girl off the table!") “One of the Dwarfs says "Where else are we supposed to put it? The bed's already been taken." Shrek promptly finds the Big Bad Wolf in his bed.

They are seen again at the start of Shrek 2, giving Shrek a ring engraved with "I love you" in flaming letters for Fiona (in an allusion to the One Ring from The Lord of the Rings).

In Shrek the Third, one of them is given to Fiona as a wedding present (as a babysitter) from Snow White who says she has six more at home.

The Seven Dwarfs are seen at the end of Scared Shrekless when Shrek and Fiona celebrate by egging them.

In Shrek The Musical, one of the dwarfs, based on Grumpy, is written as Farquaad's father who says he abandoned him in the woods as a child after his wife (from The Princess and the Pea) falls out of 25 mattresses. However, when the fairytale freaks brought Grumpy to Farquaad's wedding, he reveals that he kicked Farquaad out because he was twenty-eight years old and living in his basement.

Mirror Mirror

In Mirror Mirror, the Seven Dwarfs work as Highwaymen and rob from anyone that comes down their way by wearing boots with retractable stilts that make them look taller. The Seven Dwarfs consist of:

The Seven Dwarfs help Snow White to form a resistance against Queen Clementianna.

Princesses

In the Princesses series by Jim C. Hines, the dwarfs are actually anthropomorphic elemental personifications, summoned by Snow to aid her based on a spell from one of her mother's books. The seven dwarfs represent Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Light, Shadow, and Magic, although the 'Magic' dwarf is essentially a spirit that just inhabits Snow and enhances her power rather than appearing on its own, with the others appearing in some form to represent their element. Although powerful fighters that will serve Snow loyally, the consequences of summoning them is that Snow must 'pay' the spirits with seven years of her life, with the result that she appears to be in her mid-thirties when she is really only in her early twenties. As a result, she has only summoned the dwarves twice, initially calling on their aid to help her defeat her mother before the series began, and summoning them again to help her and her allies defeat her mother's spirit in the first book in the series (she contemplated summoning them against to deal with the ruthless Wild Hunt in Red Riding's Revenge, but was advised against it as the spiritual nature of the hunt meant that nobody could be sure if the dwarves could do anything against them).

Snow White and the Huntsman

In Snow White and the Huntsman, the Seven Dwarfs started out as eight dwarfs when they are encountered by Snow White and Eric the Huntsman while fleeing Queen Ravenna.[13] The Seven Dwarfs are:

The Dwarfs were played by actors without dwarfism who had their faces digitally transmuted onto small bodies, prompting a protest from the Little People of America.[14]

In The Huntsman: Winter's War, Nion returns where he aids Eric the Huntsman in retrieving the Magic Mirror which was stolen before it can be sealed away. They are aided by Nion's half-brother Gryff (portrayed by Rob Brydon) who is a debt collector.

Once Upon a Time

In Once Upon a Time, the Seven Dwarfs (who started out as eight) are on the side of Snow White and go by their Disney names.

There were some other dwarfs that were associated with the Seven Dwarfs:

The Goodies

In the first episode of the final series of The Goodies (which was filmed at ITV), The Goodies did a story set in a fairy tale world where they replaced three of the seven dwarfs (two of them died of exposure and another one was eaten by a gold fish). But they are later found out because of their height. The dwarfs take their names from the Disney film (Sleepy, Happy, and Grumpy) while Graeme and Bill renamed themselves to fit in (Soppy and Gwotty). Only Tim kept his name.

Additional appearances

The following is a list of names of the Seven Dwarfs from various adaptations of the Snow White story. Some adaptations do not name the dwarfs, have seven non-dwarfs (such as the seven Leafe Knights in the anime Prétear - The New Legend of Snow White) or omit them altogether (as in the 1998 opera Schneewittchen).

Title of work Date and type of work Names of the seven dwarfs
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 1912 play Blick, Flick, Glick, Snick, Plick, Whick, Quee
Mr. Magoo's Little Snow White 1965 TV episode of The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo Axlerod, Bartholomew, Cornelius, Dexter, Eustace, Ferdinand, George
Faerie Tale Theatre 1984 TV series Bertram, Bubba, Barnaby, Bernard, Boniface, Bruno, Baldwin
Snow White 1987 Cannon Movie Tales film Biddy, Diddy, Fiddy, Giddy, Iddy, Kiddy, Liddy
The Legend of Snow White 1994 anime Boss, Gourmet, Woody, Goldie, Chamomile, Vet, Jolly
Snow White 1994 GoodTimes Entertainment video movie[15] Sunbeam, Toadstool, Fawn, Hedgehog, Robin, Cricket, Tadpole
Snow White: The Fairest of Them All 2001 TV movie Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday
7 Dwarves – Men Alone in the Wood 2004 German comedy film Brummboss, Sunny, Cloudy, Tschakko, Cookie, Bubi, Speedy
7 Dwarves: The Forest Is Not Enough 2006 German comedy film Brummboss, Sunny, Cloudy, Tschakko, Cookie, Bubi, Speedy
Sydney White 2007 film Terrence, Gurkin, Spanky, Embele, Jeremy, Lenny, George
Schneewittchen 2009 TV movie Gorm, Knirps, Niffel, Quarx, Querx, Schrat, Wichtel
My Fair Godmother 2009 novel Reginald, Percival, Cedric, Edgar, Cuthbert, Ethelred, Edwin

Modern music

David Bowie's Little Wonder on the Earthling (1997) album lists the individual names of the dwarves.[16]

The music video for the 2001 single Sonne by German rock band Rammstein is a parody of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, depicting the band members as the Seven Dwarfs mining gold for Snow White.

Taylor Swift mentions both Snow White and the seven dwarves in her song "The Best Day", a track about her mother.[17]

References

  1. ^ Williams, Melanie; Harper, Kathryn (2012). Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Pearson Education. ISBN 978-1-4082-8855-9.
  2. ^ Watson, Keri (2020). ""With a Smile and a Song": Representations of People with Dwarfism in 1930s Cinema". Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies. 14 (2): 137–153. doi:10.3828/jlcds.2020.7. ISSN 1757-6466. S2CID 219053794. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  3. ^ Salam, Maya (2022-01-25). "Peter Dinklage Calls Disney's 'Snow White' Remake 'Backward'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-02-24.
  4. ^ Shoard, Catherine (25 January 2022). "Peter Dinklage criticises Disney for 'backwards' remake of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  5. ^ Treisman, Rachel (2022-01-26). "Disney defends its 'Snow White' remake after criticism from Peter Dinklage". NPR. Retrieved 2022-02-24.
  6. ^ "Peter Dinklage's Snow White Criticism Draws Ire from Actors with Dwarfism". MovieWeb. 2022-01-31. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  7. ^ Seokwang, Lesego. "Dwarf actors slam Peter Dinklage for saying Snow White should ditch the dwarfs". You. Retrieved 2022-02-24.
  8. ^ "Dwarf actors label Peter Dinklage's 'Snow White' criticism as "selfish"". Newsweek. 2022-02-01. Retrieved 2022-02-24.
  9. ^ "Brad Williams Pitches His Fix for Controversial Snow White Remake". MovieWeb. 2022-01-27. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  10. ^ "Brad Williams Weighs in on Peter Dinklage's Snow White Dwarf Concerns". Movies. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  11. ^ a b c Armstrong, Josh (August 14, 2013). "Mike Disa and The Seven Dwarfs: How the Snow White prequel became a Dopey movie". Animated Views.com. Animated Views. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
  12. ^ "Battleship Nelson" by Ronald Careless. Orion Publishing 1985.
  13. ^ Productions, Walt Disney (1993). Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Mouse Works. ISBN 978-0-453-03166-0.
  14. ^ Dwarfs threaten '100-midget march' over Snow White and the Huntsman film, Guy Adams, The Independent (UK), Thursday 07 June 2012
  15. ^ Daly, Steve (November 25, 1994). "Good Times Entertainment copies Disney". EW.com. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  16. ^ Thompson, Dave (2006). Hallo Spaceboy The Rebirth of David Bowie. ECW Press. p. 166.
  17. ^ Garrabrant, Beth (24 August 2020). "The age of princesses and pirate ships and the seven dwarfs - TAYLOR SWIFT'S "SEVEN" MARKS THE END OF INNOCENCE".