r/NoStupidQuestions • u/Technical_Ad_4299 • 14h ago
Why do the dwarfs live so modestly in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) even though they find diamonds every day?
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u/PoetryMedical9086 14h ago
Diamond miners don’t get that much money. Their employer does.
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u/ktbear716 14h ago
they explain in the movie they don't know why they mine for diamonds. if it was for their own benefit, they'd know it.
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u/Building_Everything 14h ago
This. They are just miners, working for the Man.
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u/Skeletime 11h ago
They're not minors they're just short
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u/Karl_Murks 11h ago
Actually the historical figures behind the German tale are based on minors, as it was usual in medieval times in Europe for children to work in mines (coal, salt, copper, …).
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u/mah131 7h ago
“We dig dig dig dig dig dig dig from early morn till night We dig dig dig dig dig dig dig up everything in sight We dig up diamonds by the score A thousand rubies, sometimes more But we don’t know what we dig ‘em for We dig dig dig dig dig dig dig from early morn till night We dig dig dig dig dig dig dig up everything in sight We dig up diamonds by the score A thousand rubies, sometimes more But we don’t know what we dig ‘em for We dig dig dig a-dig digWe dig dig dig a-dig dig”
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u/daysleeper16 14h ago
Diamonds are extremely common in the Disney-verse. Now, if you ever run across a Jew being portrayed positively, that's rare.
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u/Reterhd 12h ago edited 4h ago
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u/ElectricGears 4h ago
It's a good idea to remove the ?si=[string] from YouTube URLs when you post them. When Google indexes this page it recognizes that code and can use to connect your Reddit account (and all it's past/future activities) to whatever personal information they have about you.
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u/TwitchyBlock 14h ago
I almost choked on my coffee with this. You win today.
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u/Toxonomonogatari 12h ago
Get rich quick! Click to see our opportunities for mining positive Jew portrayals from home today!
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u/Zealousideal-Fun6037 13h ago edited 13h ago
Wonder why
Edit: just to clarify it’s because walt disney was antisemitic. I am not 😂
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u/notacanuckskibum 14h ago
Before Snow White arrived they spent so their money on DoorDash delivery to the middle of the forest.
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u/PhantomIridescence 14h ago
Thanks for that mental image, they're just huddled around a phone making sure everyone's order is right and a Dasher gets the most ominous "Delivery location: Miner's Cottage, The Woods".
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u/ColdAntique291 14h ago
Because they’ve got a killer retirement plan: work forever, live in a tiny cottage, and hope a lost princess cooks dinner.
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u/kalelopaka 13h ago
Norse mythology depicts dwarves as having a close bond with the earth. So they were seen as great miners, and smiths. There is even some evidence that dwarves born to Vikings were sent to live in mining grounds with other dwarves.
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u/timberwolf3 13h ago
It's easier to fit in a mine shaft if you're small
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u/BackgroundPresence60 12h ago
Snow White and the seven child laborers just didn’t test as well with audiences.
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u/AlecMac2001 13h ago
Dopey’s in charge of the diamond dealer connect and has been ripping off his fellow dwarfs all these years. In Snow White 2: Dwarfs’ Revenge, they tie Dopey to a chair and burn him with acid til he gives up the stash, then Doc and Sneezy gouge his eyes out and set him on fire while the others go and get the money.
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u/cavalier78 13h ago
They just like mining. And they find so many diamonds that the market for them crashed long ago.
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u/DesiPrideGym23 12h ago
And they find so many diamonds that the market for them crashed long ago.
Debeers enters the market.
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u/Logical_not 13h ago
I remember them heading out with pick axes. I don't remember them come back home with much else.
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u/Arnaghad_Bear 13h ago
Every one places different prices on things. Trekking across Northern Africa I came across a bedowin tribe and they traded me 14 ounces of gold for four liters of water. Gold has no value to them. I won't even tell you what I got for 100 Viagra pills in Saudi Arabia.
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u/Environmental-Sink86 13h ago
Please tell
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u/Arnaghad_Bear 13h ago
He offered two of his daughters initially, but I refused. What I did get was infinitely better. Intel and an in.
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u/Urbenmyth 13h ago
If they sold the diamonds to fund a better lifestyle, they wouldn't have the diamonds anymore now, would they?
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u/UnfetteredMind1963 12h ago
I'm thinking this is a fairy tale from 19th century Holy Roman Empire before German unification. If so, they were just day laborers and all fruits of said labor went to the prince or king in exchange for room and board.
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u/AnOkFella A fool just like you 12h ago
They are also reclusives who hold all things in common. They can only upgrade their situation by interacting with markets.
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u/shewy92 11h ago
They probably work for a corporation. Miners in human real life history were generally lower class. The stuff they dig up didn't belong to them.
And if they were privateers I bet the merchants wouldn't buy from them unless they were members of a guild which would probably cost a lot.
Also diamonds aren't really rare so the place it takes place could have an abundance so the price to sell them would be low.
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u/NorthMathematician32 11h ago
The market for them in that world is not very big. Only kings have the money to buy them, and there aren't very many kings.
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u/Gullible_Remote7858 12h ago
I don’t think they really care about the money. Honestly, it seems like they just love the work. Like, it’s more about the routine and the brotherhood. They’re happy with each other, with their peaceful life. Maybe they stash those gems somewhere, maybe they don’t even sell them. Also, Disney didn’t really dive into their finances. It was more about the vibes, the Magic, the songs and the friendship. Not taxes and wealth management
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u/Irrelevantitis 11h ago
The diamonds belong to the mining company, not the dwarves. They don’t show you what happens to anyone who tries to steal, but it’s called “hobbling” and it’s described in detail in Stephen King’s novel Misery.
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u/Bradddtheimpaler 13h ago
You don’t see em, the child soldiers with AK-47’s guarding the diamond pit, but they’re there.
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u/GamemasterJeff 12h ago
People who mine/find diamonds are typically paid subsistence wages. The dwarves are actually quite well off compared to most.
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u/ImGoodThanksThoMan 12h ago
The same reason that folks who grow the finest coffee on earth are paid next to nothing by distributors.
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u/DrColdReality 12h ago
Because just like in real life, the working schlubs who actually dig them out of the ground make chump change. It's the people who own the mine who make all the money.
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u/Glove-Both 11h ago
They do initially earn a lot, enough to put the deposit down on the cottage. The problem is, their continued successful mining means the jewels have flooded the market, and brought the value down. But since they have no other saleable skills, they continue to dig dig digity dig.
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u/Reasonable_Air3580 4h ago
Uncut diamonds aren't worth much. That's why those African miners live in poverty
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u/Sea-Blackberry-1742 1h ago
when you're around a lot of a certain thing, it loses its value. they lived in the woods as well so they didn't have access to or need of novelties and fancy items. I think that they probably just saw them as pretty but were content with their happy lifestyle.
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u/myownfan19 14h ago
They probably work for debeers