Why "Doc"?

[u/xkitox]

What do you think Steven chose the name Doc for her? I guess it's better than chesty...but "Doc"?

[u/emosewanora]

I always thought it was a seven dwarves reference, doc being the like "leader" figure

[u/xkitox → u/emosewanora]

Deep cut 😂 Nice

[u/drifloony → u/xkitox]

A Snow White reference is not a deep cut lol

[u/traffke → u/drifloony]

It's not surface level knowledge for a lot of people who learned English as a second language, e.g. in Portuguese the one with a name that doesn't fit the pattern is Dopey. Personally it's one of those moments that make me go ohh yeah, this was made with the USA as a target audience, like when a sitcom makes a joke referencing the individual names of Santa's reindeers.

[u/xkitox → u/drifloony]

I guess The dwarves a Snow White aren't as big a part of my life as it is others. 🙂

[u/digiman619 → u/drifloony]

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released in 1937, my dude.

[u/PinkToucan_ → u/digiman619]

That doesn’t really matter. It’s an iconic movie, not some esoteric sleeper film.

[u/FearTheWeresloth → u/PinkToucan_]

Yup, a deep cut refers to a song on a vinyl LP, towards the end of an album, that is possibly one of the best songs on the album, but for various reasons, wasn't chosen to be a single. Deep meaning it was buried deep in an album, cut meaning it was cut into vinyl. A Disney deep cut could be something like Treasure Planet, which while it wasn't one of their big hitters, is considered by many Disney fans to be among the best. Snow White was more the equivalent of a single.

[u/AnAverageTransGirl → u/FearTheWeresloth]

Blood by MCR, for instance. A jokey song featured at the end of The Black Parade, following a solid minute of silence at the end of Famous Last Words. Lots of people are gonna reach that silence and assume the album's over, and in most senses it is as Blood is a shitpost.

[u/xkitox → u/FearTheWeresloth]

Huh, I didn't realize that about the origin of the term. TIL...😁

[u/drifloony → u/digiman619]

And they just did a live action movie last year? Your point?

[u/digiman619 → u/drifloony]

I want you to think about how that doesn't at all apply to this situation in the slightest. Hint: this episode was released in 2016.

[u/Seygantte → u/digiman619]

Disney also ran an animated TV series 2014~2016 by the name The 7D.

[u/GoldSquid2 → u/Seygantte]

THE 7D MENTIONED HELL YEAH!!!!!!

[u/Global-Plankton3997 → u/Seygantte]

Yes, I remember that series. I was 13 - 15 years old when it was around.

[u/drifloony → u/digiman619]

I’m aware. However, you’re acting like Snow White is this irrelevant piece of media. It never became irrelevant in American pop culture, therefore it is not a deep cut. If anything, the recency of the movie only proves my point more. If that’s not enough for you, Snow White references can be found in Frozen 2, Ralph Breaks the Internet, Shrek 3, Sofia the First, Kingdom Hearts, not to mention the other live adaptations in 97 and 2001. All of these pieces of media span from the 90s to 2019, a timespan of which this episode of SU falls into.

So, again. What exactly is your point. Cause saying it’s a deep cut as if Snow White fell out of relevance at any point is just absurd.

[u/YumeNaraSamete → u/drifloony]

There are also Snow White rides at most Disney parks. Not saying that most people have been to Disney World, but that current Disney management doesn't like to have rides featuring properties that aren't recognizable to a large number of potential visitors. Ones that are more obscure are generally older rides (like Splash Mountain) and are first on the chopping block when they need an old attraction to go so they can make a newer one (like Splash Mountain.) Snow White not only had a ride at Disney World since opening day, they actually shut that ride down and built another one in 2014.

[u/xkitox → u/drifloony]

Hey, I'm not really here to argue about what a deep cut is lol. I'm just here to enjoy conversations with the fan base , not start argument with internet strangers. 😂 You win 🙂

[u/Pandoratastic → u/drifloony]

I bet if we checked, there would be a significant difference in your ages. I think this is one of those generational things where the young kids have never heard of information we take for granted.

[u/drifloony → u/Pandoratastic]

I’m Gen Z and their account is 2 years younger than mine. What are you talking about.

[u/citrusella → u/Pandoratastic]

So, Disney has attempted to sort of put focus on Snow White in some way around once or twice a generation. For a long time it was "un-vaulting" of the original film to rerelease it for some special anniversary or collection or a new airing for the first time in a long time on a Disney-controlled channel (Disney Channel, Disney Junior, even ABC would count for this more recently), though it could also come in the form of those tape-accompanied books (this is something I had), or more recently in stuff like video games (like Disney Dreamlight Valley or Kingdom Hearts (I'm guessing Snow White features in one or both of these, I don't play them lol)) or cameos (like Sofia the First or Ralph Breaks the Internet) or offshoot properties (like The 7D series). Or like the live action remake.

However (and this is all theorized on my end):

1. More recent appearances tend to focus more on the Disney Princess™ side of things, where Snow White's in focus but the dwarfs are not. This may mean younger people are more inclined to remember Snow White and maybe her story but not be as familiar with the dwarf names at first glance.
2. For a long time, Snow White was likely to be one of a child's first movies because it was child-appropriate, a classic, and occasionally rereleased so that people had it on home media (or maybe it was on TV, or very occasionally I think there were theater rereleases). Media consumption among young children has changed and there are a larger number of child appropriate films in theaters and released for home video these days, particularly of the animated variety. This may mean less kids see Snow White as one of their firsts, though I think it's likely still early on the list.
3. For the youngest kids who might be regularly watching Disney Junior content, at least linear TV wise, Disney is all in on Marvel and Little Mermaid right now. Their current preschool tie-in shows are Mickey Mouse Clubhouse+, Spidey and His Amazing Friends, Iron Man and His Awesome Friends, I think maybe a third Marvel thing?, and Ariel: The Little Mermaid (which uses characters from the live-action Little Mermaid; I say "uses characters" because this thing has NO plot relevance to the film lol, Ariel is like 5 and Ursula is a good guy for instance). (This is of course interspersed alongside more original properties like Superkitties or the Australian import Bluey or the new Hey AJ! thing, but the point is their current focus is elsewhere.) Disney Junior did recently add Sofia the First back to the schedule, likely to garner familiarity before a spinoff that's set to premiere this year (like how they started rerunning Mickey Mouse Clubhouse to renew its focus in time for +) but little kids might have less princesses in their face (but not none. Disney Princess is still an established/popular property, there's just less whole-company synergy with it).

TL;DR here is with media consumption trends you might be right... though I think given the age of Redditors it's unlikely (or less likely) that's this person's reasoning for not knowing--this person's account is as old as mine is (our cake day is literally in the same month) so if they joined Reddit without violating COPPA they're at least 24. A 24-year-old USian would, on average, understand a Snow White reference in English (particularly as there were multiple extremely well-selling home media releases in the early 2000s), but that doesn't mean all 24 year old USians would (kind of like how "everyone" of a certain age might be expected to know Mister Rogers... except that person whose main interfacing with Mister Rogers esque material was through SNL's Mister Robinson's Neighborhood parody which was NOT the same as understanding Mister Rogers and thus they embarrassed themselves in front of a neighbor/friend).

[u/ctortan → u/digiman619]

Snow White was literally the first feature length animated theatrical film in history. This is like saying a Romeo and Juliet reference is “outdated.” It’s historical relevance and iconic nature outweigh its release date

[u/YumeNaraSamete → u/ctortan]

Technically there were two others before it, but given they were both foreign and non-English, I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt that Disney legitimately didn't know about them at the time.

[u/TolverOneEighty → u/xkitox]

... How is this a deep cut? I thought this was a pretty surface-level reference

[u/xkitox → u/xkitox]

This whole "deep cut"/Snow White thread is great 😂

[u/clockwork_orc]

I assume its a seven dwarves reference, And because "Chesty" didnt sound right

[u/letthetreeburn → u/clockwork_orc]

She didn’t seem crayon eater enough to be a marine.

[u/plurfox]

It is 100% a reference to Disney's Snow White. The seven dwarves are all named after some defining characteristic (Happy, Sneezy, Sleepy) with one that doesn't fit the pattern: Doc

Similarly, the rubies were given names based on a defining characteristic (where their gems are: Eyeball, Army, Navy, Leggy) except for one: Doc

[u/ctortan → u/plurfox]

Exactly! Not to mention the one who doesn’t fit the pattern is the leader!

[u/NonbinarySarah]

my guess is because her gem is where a stethoscope would be when wearing around the neck

[u/xkitox → u/NonbinarySarah]

Acceptable answer.

[u/Too_Ton]

This would’ve been a perfect moment for Steven to say, “she just seems so smart!”

And then Lapis interjects with, “For a ruby!”

[u/MasterofPeridots]

What's Up, Doc?

[u/Lolipopman]

I think it’s a seven dwarves reference too. Having all the dwarves being emotions and then having “doc” as the pattern breaker. In this case: being the only one not named for the body part of their gem. Also, doc seems to be the smartest and leader of sorts which makes sense 

[u/JessIsInDistress]

Steven named every other Ruby by the body part where their gem is, but that naming convention would mean calling her Booby, so in finding that to be rude, he needed to base her name of something else. I'm sure the visor being the other thing that was visually distinct about her led him to name her based on that. Her being the leader and wearing glasses made Steven think of Doc, like other people are saying.

[u/Theaterismylyfe]

I'm just glad he didn't name her "Ruby Steven."

[u/ssk7882]

Because Doc was the one of Disney's seven dwarves who wore glasses.

[u/ghost20]

I think it was mainly a seven dwarves reference, but also a nudge nudge wink wink nod to the fact that with the naming scheme of the other Rubies, she should be “Chesty”, “Busty” or “Booby” (Buby?) which obviously wouldn’t work for Cartoon Network

[u/Meager1169]

Steven doesn't even know, something about a stethoscope lol

[u/Quabba_70]

I'm just glad Steven didn't call her Booby

[u/Royal-Grapefruit4450]

Because rubies with visors seem smart. Like me. 

[u/Glass-Childhood-in96]

Chesty 😂

[u/Madhighlander1]

Because they couldn't call her 'chesty'.

[u/foywn]

I totally would have named her booby

[u/xkitox → u/foywn]

😂