Promotional Image // Disney
By: Sam Simons
Media Writer
Disney has been busy at work with the newly released adaptation of “Snow White.” Before the film premiered, it left a trail of controversy that it still can’t shake. From disputes over casting decisions, comments from the cast members and overall changes to the original story, the film has not been deemed the fairest of them all.
Our first order of business is the casting choice for Snow White. In the original tale of “Snow White,” the whole reason behind her name is that her skin is as white as snow; however, in this adaptation, Snow White is portrayed by Rachel Zegler, who is of Polish and Colombian descent. This created multiple debates that the casting choice of Zegler makes the film too “woke”, but Snow White falls asleep in the movie, so.
To approach this, the live-action film took inspiration from a different telling of Snow White, where her name was created based on a snowstorm that she survived when she was a baby. Thus, her parents named her Snow White to remind her of her resilience. As a whole, what she looks like really doesn’t matter. The movie has far more actual problems to discuss.
Way before the film was released, a variety of interviews came out of Zegler where she discussed her disapproval of the contents of the original story. Specifically, she noted how it focuses on Snow White’s love story with a guy who is more of a stalker than a lover and said this adaptation will be a refresh of the 1937 tale.
Some took this as unappreciative bashing on Zegler’s part, which got her some backlash. In her defense, I think she just might need a little more media training.
Zegler is also not the first person to critique the nature of her work. For instance, Mr. Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) has been known to make jabs at the “Twilight” series on various occasions, and people generally found his comments accurate and funny, earning him praise.
So, is Zegler right about the original prince being a creepy stalker? In the original, we hardly learn anything about him or his backstory, so it seems like an unfair judgment call.
The adaptation also changed the prince’s name from Florian to Jonathan. So, there’s that.
There was also a double-edged backlash against both Zegler and Gal Gadot, cast as the Evil Queen. Zegler was criticized for an openly pro-Palestinian stance after tweeting “free palestine”, but at the same time, Gadot – who is Israeli – expressed that she stands with Israel, prompting some to call for a boycott of the film and others to speculate about potential tension between the co-stars because of their views.
Moving into the next storm, the portrayal of the dwarves has earned the film some major criticism. The main problem is that the dwarves aren’t played by real actors – instead, they are CGI, referred to as magical creatures. Disney stated that the reasoning behind this choice was so that they didn’t reinforce any negative stereotypes against those with dwarfism, which audiences criticized for alleged “political correctness.”
Actors with dwarfism also expressed disagreement, saying at the end of the day, opportunities that could have been given to human actors were given to CGI. This discourse kind of chases its own tail – if Disney did cast actors with dwarfism, would they come under fire for that, too?
The new “Snow White” is a reminder of how much media now is just a remake or adaptation. There isn’t anything wrong with bringing an original story to life or rethinking a tale for a new audience, but the execution doesn’t always meet the vision. Audiences seem annoyed that instead of solving any potential problems the original story had, the adaptation just created more issues. Additionally, it feels more like nostalgia bait – a cash grab by Disney from the pockets of grown-up Disney kids.
There have been many negatives regarding “Snow White” but one positive thing that can be said about the film is that Rachel Zegler does have the pipes, so if you are suffering through it, at least the soundtrack can carry you. Emilia Pérez couldn’t even do that. If you’re giving this one a pass, just sleep it off until the next inevitable Disney remake.
