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Snow White is fine as is: why stretching a movie to make it widescreen isn’t the solution
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Technologies purpose - to do something and also provide a benefit - sometimes gives us things we don’t really need; for example having voice control on an iPhone or cell is useful, but who really needs that in leu of using a remote to change channels on a TV? It’s the same with Blu-ray. The technology for this better-than-DVD (which was better-than-VHS) technology in use for home viewing is really about more than just the picture or sound - after all how many times can you watch the same movie in a month or year anyway? So where the technology comes into play is in the extras that can be brought to the process and which help to make what is being watched “go father”. But it only happens when the movie studio putting out the disc conforms the technology to the movie, not the other way around.
Fortunately Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment seems to have picked up on all of this with their upcoming Blu-ray release next October of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Diamond Collection. Obviously time and attention will have been paid to insure that the transfer from film to video is done right as befits the first full length animated film ever made. And no surprise in that the depth and richness of the colors will be preserved, or that the experience will more closely approximate what was seen in the theaters at the time (keeping in mind that I’m not referring to a local Bijou but a really good theater of the time, like Hollywood’s Carthay Circle theater where Snow debuted in1937).
As expected Disney is including a wealth of added features to make repeat viewings worthwhile: for example a “Magic mirror” that recognized viewing patterns so as to know where the audience has left off and be able to suggest (with a voice!) where to navigate next. Or by creating a digital recreation of Hyperion Studios, the original studio where Walt and the boys created and worked on the animation. And of course interactive features - like being able to upload your headshot photo and placing it onto one of the seven dwarfs in the film, or finding a hidden Princess and having her call and read a personal message to you on the phone.
But there's one element of the film that by its very nature shouldn't be changed or updated by the "new" technology. Sound isn’t what I'm talking about - it’s not a stretch (pun intended) to turn monophonic audio into stereo or as in this case, 7.1 surround. I’m referring to the physical format of the film as it’s in the then standard 4:3 “square” format (you know, like those ancient cathode tube Zenith TVs and all).
Now certainly it’s possible to “stretch” the film to make it widescreen and in fact there’s controls on TVs and DVD players to do just that. But even if done correctly, and often the resulting look is far from that, it does change the appearance of the film from what the creators as well as the director intended. So Disney decided to go the more intelligent and thoughtful route to not update the aspect ratio and instead do something much more time consuming and original. So the film continues to have its original sizing but the visuals “extend” out from both sides to create the widescreen aspect ratio. This “space” beyond the original borders now has original/custom artwork created by Disney artist Toby Bluth filling in the otherwise dark edges of the screen (for those interested there's information about Bluth on the disc). And so provide the home audience with a new view of the classic without mutilating it in the name of it becoming "modern". And since this imagery can be turned on/off at will, it’s the best kind of technology there is because it lets you choose to see it or not, rather than being forced on you.
As a proponent of HD discs, I’m well aware of their higher costs and the fact that it’s only now that the players for same have become affordable for the average consumer (of which I consider myself one). Disney’s Blu-ray outings have tried to engage on many levels but I find what Bluth is doing for Snow White not a compromise for today’s audiences. It's a way to create and expand on what Walt Disney was really all about with his animated films - creating a work that didn’t bow to the cultural conventions or prejudices of the time. Sure Disney would have been happy with how Snow White will now look for viewings at home, but more so with how its “heart and soul” is preserved for those viewings. And treated with a respect that doesn’t bow to technology, just because something new can be done to it. I'm sure Walt would have been pleased.
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