Heigh-Ho Marx!

Disney's Snow White presents a magical story of friendship, goodness, and love. However, even in the middle of these fantastic qualities, it is possible to uncover a few capitalist ideas.

The seven dwarfs spend their days mining for diamonds, rubies and other expensive stones. These stones can be seen as a commodity, which according to Karl Marx is "an object outside us, a thing that by its properties satisfies human wants of some sort or another" (Marx 665). Although it is not shown in the movie, it is safe to assume that these men then give the commodities produced to a person in a higher position who gives them some sort of wage. Judging by their patched clothes and the tiny cottage they live in, the dwarfs make just enough money to survive. The diamonds they dig up, however, are sold for incredibly high prices, none of which they receive. This is exactly what Marx declares makes a capitalist economic system: "the appropriation from workers of more value than they are paid for" (Marx 665).

In the clip above, another aspect of capitalism is portrayed. Marx states that "[in] production, men not only act on nature but also on one another. They produce only by cooperating in a certain way and mutually exchanging their activities. In order to produce, they enter into specific, determinate connections and relations with one another and only within these social connections and relations does their action on nature, does production, take place" (Marx 662). Each of the dwarfs has a specific role in the process of attaining the diamonds. Four of them are in charge of actually digging up the stones, while another one transports the discovered stones to be examined. The job of examining every diamond belongs to another dwarf, while the seventh, less-intelligent dwarf has the responsibility of throwing away the defective diamonds. In this manner, the workers have created their own "working" system that helps them achieve their final product. Without one of the dwarfs, the fluidity of the process would be interrupted, resulting in a slower production of the commodity.

Next time I watch this movie, this scene will no longer be just a catchy tune.

Works Cited

Marx, Karl. "Capital". Literary Theory: An Anthology. Ed. Rivkin, Julie and Ryan, Micheal. Blackwell Publishing 2004: 665-672. Print.

Marx, Karl. "Wage Labor and Capital". Literary Theory: An Anthology. Ed. Rivkin, Julie and Ryan, Micheal. Blackwell Publishing 2004: 559-664. Print.