#7 Sydney White

FILMS FOR THOUGHT

By: Alex Holzum

 

      Sydney White is a modern Snow White.  Right off the bat this is unique from all of the modern-day Cinderellas that we have now (I think there are four).  Sydney White is a tomboy who is going off to college with the hope of getting accepted into the same sorority that her mother was in.  When she get there, though, the president of the sorority instantly realizes that she does not want her to join.  This irrational hatred is mostly caused by the fact that Sydney caught the eye of the president's ex-boyfriend (the prince, if you will).  A series of unfortunate circumstances leaves Sydney needing a place to stay; of course it was raining when she had to go searching in the middle of the night for a home.  She stumbles upon the Vortex which is student overflow housing where she finds seven "dorks" who let her stay there.  The rest of the movie consists of Sydney shaping up the Vortex as well as her dorks and taking back the school from the oppressive power of the evil sorority president.

 

 



 

I have not encountered any other movies that have put a modern twist on Snow White which is a fun idea and I think they did a great job of including different allusions to the original animation.  For example, each of the dorks hone in on one of the qualities of the original seven dwarfs: sneezy, dopey, doc, grumpy, sleepy, etc.  One of my favorite allusions is when Sydney and the seven dorks are walking down the sidewalk with student government election posters resting on their shoulders (similar to the dwarves' pick-axes) and they walk by the evil sorority president and each of them say, "Hi, ho," as they pass her.  This is what the original dwarfs sing when they walk to and from work (except they are not calling somebody a rude name)!

 

Overall it is a cheesy movie, but it is really fun to watch.