Oh how did we ever come to this? The 2020s had a bad start, and so does cinema. Amidst the SAG-AFTRA strike, Disney is receiving backlash (again) for allegedly making their upcoming live-action adaptation of Snow White too woke (at least for some people). With a lot of unwanted changes, the internet is accusing the entertainment company of many things such as improper portrayal, wokeness, political correctness, feminism, inclusivity, diversifying beloved characters and more.
“It’s no longer 1937. She’s not gonna be saved by the prince”, says Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot
During an interview with Variety a few months back, Disney’s Snow White stars Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot gave the viewers about a brief synopsis of the upcoming live-adaptation of the beloved Disney princess. According to them, the movie will not be depicting the run-of-the-mill “Prince charming saves the princess”. The first animated movie was released in 1937, and as per Zegler, their new project will not be the same as that one.
That, has sparked wildfire on social media for allegedly being ultra feminist and anti-man. People just got a lot of opinions about this, but that won’t be the first time Snow White or any other Disney movie will be getting dissed.
Casting choices for “diversity”
It’s going to be a tough pill to swallow for some, but Hollywood has always been accused of white-washing their films. There were even rumors that MCU (now owned by Disney) won’t be casting Black actors anymore. Since then, movies have tried to be more “diverse” by casting people of color. But, just like The Little Mermaid (2023), people think there are exceptions. One of which, is Snow White.
“Skin as white as now, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony”. Everybody remembers this line, don’t you? Well, the new Snow White movie seems to have forgotten that bold description of the Disney princess. The upcoming adaptation chose Columbian actress Rachel Zegler to portray the titular character. In all fairness, she is a wonderful and beautiful actress despite not looking the part (at least from the original one). Despite that, many believe she is already perfect and are defending her online. Zegler could also be another embodiment of the phrase “anyone can be a princess”.
Seven Dwarves no more
As kids, we all loved Snow White’s little helpers namely Grumpy, Dopey, Sneezy, Happy, Sleepy, Doc, and Bashful. Unfortunately, that would be changed in the new Snow White film. Yes, that is right. No more dwarves protecting the princess this time around. Disney is changing The Seven Dwarves to Seven Magical Creatures.
A filming photo that was leaked during the weekend went viral and obviously, would be a target of sensitive fans. The photo, as shown above, featured only one little person while the other six were just normal persons of varying stature, race, and gender. We’ll just leave it here before everything else becomes more controversial.
As expected, people from the internet would quickly react
Obviously, Disney and Snow White, including the actors/actresses would receive a lot of hate following their attempt of being inclusive. This isn’t the first time, and probably will not be the last time that the studios will suffer a similar fate. The movie is expected to bomb in the box office, but at what cost? This could potentially lead to millions of losses for Disney with the kind of hate they are getting.
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