Snow White Poster

I saw this and it made me laugh:
SW

Now I thought Snow White was from Germany, but apparently we’ve got Blue Jays, Common Raccoons, and I’m going to go out on a limb and assume those are not European species of deer, rabbits, and squirrels?

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the deer look like white-tailed deer. those squirrels are giants compared to the raccoons. the biggest squirrels in north america are fox squirrels and they could be the squirrels depicted. the rabbits are giants, too. they don’t look like any native species to me. instead, they look like ones from the pet trade – so that one would be derived from European species.

i can’t tell what kind of plants are there. based on the animals, i would put Snow White somewhere in the Eastern United States. there are some places in the East with lots of German settlers from back in the day.

based on the plumpness of the squirrels and the lack of velvet on the deer antlers, the time of the year should be late fall or early winter.

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I’m pretty sure the 1937 one had chipmunks, so this is in good company, but I think the deer in the 1937 movie were at least at the: “if you squint, those could be roe deer” level.

I guess Hollywood still doesn’t employ a naturalist on set.

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I find it surprising that this is an official promotional image. It looks pretty much the same as the now bog standard, AI-generated drivel I see online everyday. Which might also contribute to the generic selection of species.

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i think it’s just as plausible that this is meant to be set in the United States. with dwarfs and magic mirrors and poison apples, i could see this as being the fever dream of somebody who got a little too tipsy celebrating Oktoberfest in one of the German Towns in the USA.

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I think Snow White lived in Connecticut.

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It is surprising that it looks so low-effort considering the studio. I got screenshot of the IMDB page.

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I don’t think they put that much thought into it. However, the more I think about it, going with a Snow White/Alice in Wonderland route might be fun. Bring on the New World fauna, Old World mythology, and royalty for, where ever this is set.

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Considering that Disney also produced many nonfiction nature films, including at least one that used footage contributed by my great-uncle and -aunt, George and Nettie MacGinitie, the expertise to get the flora and fauna correct probably existed, but most likely in a separate silo from the animation people.

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On the top and left side of the picture are what appear to be nice examples of Schefflera (Heptapleurum spp.) and on the left a nice tree fern of some kind!

p.s. I grew up under the influence of Disney’s “Nature’s Half Acre”–which pointed me towards my chosen career–but I’ve never expected the Disney world (lower case “w”) to offer ecologically correct…or even coherent…scenes. Let’s see: Has anyone in Africa ever watched all the animals bow down to a lion cub being hoisted aloft by a baboon on an overlooking promontory?

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I wouldn’t trust the live-action “non-fiction” either – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimpanzee_(film) has large portions that are embellished, including shots filmed ~4000 km away from the main story with chimpanzees who definitely never met.

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that is the Blue Bird of Happiness

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The one that always got me was the owl in Bambi (sleeps in a cavity, but certainly big enough to be a Great Horned), somehow doesn’t see a juvenile rabbit and skunk as perfectly viable prey.

What a dark movie that’d be.

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If only wildlife would flock to me like that when I’m sitting in a forest, I could put away my big clunky telephoto lens.

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They would have to be able to perceive you as innocent and harmless. The mammals can probably smell whether you are a carnivore or a herbivore.

FWIW, the majority of animals shown in the Disney movie “The Emperor’s New Groove” were African, despite the setting being in the Andes.

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Yikes! They really need to hire someone who can help them with that. It’s not hard to get it right. On the other hand it’s not a movie targeting Naturalists. I’m afraid it’s just a repeat of other Disney movies that have portrayed similar inaccuracies.

Well, it is a remake of a Disney cartoon that was sort of a loose adaptation of a fairy tale, so some fantastical elements are to be expected. Given the target audience I’m not surprised they swapped out the fauna for North American animals.

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The original Felix Salten novel, Bambi: a Life in the Woods was set in Austria. Bambi was a roe deer. Obviously, there was no skunk. It’s a good story, and I’m glad I never saw the Disney version.

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Maybe the raccoons are actually really chonky ferrets?

Not always. Disney brought animals into the studios so that the animators could get experience with life drawing and motion studies, most famously for the production of Bambi. What may have been at work, though, was 1) ease of access to North American fauna, and 2) figuring that most of the audience wasn’t likely to know the difference.

sigh Yeah, I’m right there with you. There seems to be a common denominator with the adoring wildlife, though. How’s your singing voice? :grin:

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