Is Disney's "Snow White" Worth Being Slammed?
"A nightmare fuel," said The Guardian.
The latest trailer for Disney’s Snow White just dropped on November 4th. It might not come as a surprise anymore since the trailer was leaked all over Twitter/X months ago, but still, the public couldn’t help but frown: “Disney has done it, again.”
Snow White and the Seven Dwarves came out in 1937, and ever since, the iconic “hair as black as ebony, lips as red as the rose, skin as white as snow” depiction of Snow White has been carved into our core memory. This also applies to other Disney characters in a way that it gradually becomes an unwritten standard, by which we determine whether someone is cut out for the role. And I guess that’s mostly the reason why people were enraged when Disney announced Halle Bailey being the new Ariel in The Little Mermaid or recently, Rachel Zegler as Snow White.
However, Zegler isn’t the only reason the movie is facing such a negative reaction; Disney itself has a lot to do with it.
1. What Went Wrong?
Before we immediately jump at how bad the Snow White trailer is, we’ll start from some of Disney’s previous live-action princesses to the most recent ones, just to see how rough of a roller coaster it’s riding.
Disney has attempted to make live adaptations. Starting from 1950 with Treasure Island based on a book written by Robert Louis Stevenson to 2014 with one of the most favorite Disney princesses comes to life - Aurora in Maleficent, featuring Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning.
Just as its name suggests, instead of taking Aurora as the protagonist of the movie, Maleficent revolves around Maleficent herself and further broadens the story behind this infamous villain. The major changes as well as the focus shift in storytelling were a bold departure from the original tale. Yet, the movie wasn’t exactly appreciated by the critics, the audience still loved it.
Just one year after the success of Maleficent, Disney released another live-action movie, Cinderella.
Well, the movie was pretty much well-received, despite being considered “a rote recitation” of the original animated version, the movie managed to rack up 84% Fresh Tomato with 78% positive on the Audience Score on Rotten Tomato [1]. The story that the film tries to tell isn’t something new, it’s the same Cinderella who falls into the envious grasp of her stepmother and step-sisters and manages to find her happy ending, with the help of the Fairy Godmother. However, the movie is new in terms of being brand new to the audience. It offers them an opportunity to relive their magical childhood memories through a fresh lens, coupled with the allure of modern cinematography and music. That’s why the movie was praised by both critics and viewers worldwide.
In the next few years, Disney continued to introduce more princesses to the cinematic world such as Mulan, Jasmine, and Belle. It looks like Disney was still roaming in its safe zone with these movies, or in other words, it kept using the same tactics that it knew would work in retelling the old stories. However, things started to change with The Little Mermaid.
As soon as Disney dropped its announcement of an upcoming The Little Mermaid live-action starring Halle Bailey, the world was not so thrilled. In fact, the public seemed to be divided by the news. On one side, people believed that Disney just made a mistake casting Bailey, they took it as far as condemning Disney for changing Ariel’s race; on the other side of the fence, many were excited to see what Disney had up its sleeves with this bold choice. They felt that Bailey would provide a fresh representation of a different Ariel to which young brown and black girls could relate.
Honestly, I have never watched any movies that Halle Bailey was featured in prior to The Little Mermaid. I only know of her as a singer rather than an actress. When I first heard of the news, I had high hopes for her, knowing how beautifully she could sing. There was no doubt in my mind that she would be a great Ariel. Yet, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed as I prepared myself to accept a totally different depiction of my “ideal” Ariel, which I had held onto since the early days of my childhood.
And apparently, some people just didn’t like the idea of keeping their disappointment to themselves, they started to express their anger everywhere possible. The hashtag #NotMyAriel was trending all over Twitter/X, and hatred was sprung in every debate regarding Halle Bailey at the time. I’m pretty sure that they did gang up on Halle’s Instagram like an angry mob in a witch hunt, dragging her down at every post visible on her feed. Finally, Halle had to speak up about the hate she received, yet, her words failed to calm the crowd and somehow made them even angrier.
Despite all the boos surrounding the film, Disney still released it without making any changes in its casting decision. And the consequences? On the bright side, Halle Bailey did pull off a stunning performance, she managed to showcase a more daring and braver side of Ariel that demonstrated an even stronger message to the younger audience. And the bad news is the movie resulted in an approximately $4.9M loss for Disney, according to Forbes [2].
The same thing happened to Paramount Pictures and their Sonic The Hedgehog live-action released in 2020. The movie is based on a popular video game of the same name, which revolves around a blue hedgehog called Sonic. Sonic the game has long become an indispensable part of people’s childhood since 1991 when it first appeared, so apparently, people have already formed their opinions of how Sonic should look like if there are any movie adaptations in the future. However, when Sonic The Hedgehog the movie finally announced its official character designs, the public was… laughing.
The reaction might not be as harsh as what Bailey got, the movie was ridiculed in a more passive-aggressive and sarcastic way. Memes and jokes emerged and were shared across the Internet. So what did Paramount Pictures do? Did they ignore the boos and just go ahead with what they already had created? No. They listened to the negativity and changed the design. And the outcomes? The audience welcomed it with open arms, the movie was a box office success and became a notable example of how Internet backlash could save a movie from being a cinematic disaster. Sonic The Hedgehog will soon return with the third movie which will hit theaters on December 20th, 2024.
Even though The Little Mermaid was quite a success to some extent, Disney could hardly recover from the negativity that the movie has brought on itself. Well then did Disney learn its lesson? I’m not sure if it did but shortly after The Little Mermaid, it marked on the calendar another live-action movie, Snow White. But things started going downhill from here.
2. The Controversial Snow White
Like I said at the beginning of this article, the controversy surrounding this movie doesn’t stem from the casting of Rachel Zegler for the role of Snow White only. Disney has a part in it, but Zegler seems to be the one that pushes the movie off the cliff.
Anyway, let’s talk about what we know so far about the movie first.
No Prince, No Dwarves, Just Snow White.
Just a year ago, a video featuring a short interview with Rachel Zegler was circulating on the Internet, in which Zegler gave us a little glimpse of what would happen in Disney’s Snow White debuting in 2025, quote:
“[…] She's dreaming about becoming the leader she knows she can be and the leader that her late father told her that she could be if she was fearless, fair, brave, and true.” [3]
So basically, what we can expect from this upcoming movie is that the whole storyline on which Disney’s Snow White live-action is built will be a complete detachment from the original tale.
She needs no prince to save her, she needs no love to strive for, and she’ll be the hero of her own. This sounds like a beautiful message indeed, but it still gives me the impression that Disney is, once again, roaming in its safe zone where it changes the story in a predictable direction. Even with the major changes to the characters and the storyline, we can almost guess how the story will turn out in the end. To be honest, it somewhat resembles Snow White and the Huntsman (2012) in the way that both movies try to picture Snow White as an independent woman, a warrior of swords and shields against the Evil Queen.
I guess the audience has no problem with such changes in the movie since what Disney did in Maleficent was amazing. What seems to be the problem here is how Disney underrepresented the dwarfism community.
In one of the leaked photos of Snow White, in which she was seen trekking down a hill with a merry band of men and women. Judging from her outfit in the latest trailer, I presume this should be the part where she leaves the dwarves’ house and gets the townspeople to join her on the venture against the Evil Queen. When this photo was first made public, people just went ahead and presumed that the very band of townspeople might also include the dwarves. Because we could see a person with dwarfism in the photo, so this theory might be correct?
No. It turns out that, after the latest trailer of the movie finally came out, none of them were the dwarves. As a matter of fact, the dwarves are completely computerized characters. Yep, they’re not even real.
While I’ve never explicitly complained about the quality of any CGI characters or effects in any movies, this one is bad enough to make my jaws drop. The dwarves are horribly made, they look either like a group of mountain trolls or something coming straight out of Ghibli’s Spirited Away. Unlike the original animated version where the seven dwarves were drawn in a way that aligns well with their distinctive characteristics, these CGI dwarves make you pinch your forehead and guess their names based on the colors of their costumes (except for Dopey, he’s the only one without a beard.)
And just hours after releasing the official trailer, comments start pouring in. You can already tell, people are not too happy with the dwarves.
And the reason why Disney came to this decision was, perhaps, because Peter Dinklage remarked on the movie as a “backwards story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together”, stating that he was “a little taken aback that they were very proud to cast a Latina actress as Snow White, but you are still telling the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” [4] Basically, he believed what Disney was doing with the dwarves was an insult to the dwarfism community.
In response to Dinklage’s comment, Disney released its official statement that means nothing but sugarcoating their bitterness:
“[…] to avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film, we are taking a different approach with these seven characters and have been consulting with members of the dwarfism community.” [5]
It was soon revealed that the film would use unidentified "magical creatures" to fill the roles of the dwarves [6]. And voila, now we have the CGI of, uh, the unidentified magical creatures?
The whole situation led the other actors with dwarfism to object to Dinklage’s statements, saying that he took away their jobs. But the damage has been done. Meanwhile, Disney finalized its polarizing decision by casting Martin Klebba to play all seven dwarves. [7]
I still cannot wrap my head around the fact that Disney is combating dwarfism stereotypes by refusing to give little people a chance to break the stereotypes at all. It makes me feel like they were about to scrap their initial idea of having seven actors playing the dwarves, and Dinklage’s comments simply gave them the justification they needed to go through with it.
And I doubt if Disney would ever reconsider their decisions with the movie like how Paramount Pictures did with Sonic. We can only hope that this movie has an impactful storyline to compensate for the horrible CGI and the problematic Rachel “Snow White” Zegler.
Oh right, speaking of Rachel...
“The Prince Is A Stalker. Weird, weird.” Said Snow White.
How the people are reacting to Rachel Zegler playing Snow White is almost the same as when they first heard of Bailey becoming Ariel. Is it about her race though?
Back when the audition for the role of Aladdin was open, Disney turned down Avan Jogia because he is not of “Middle Eastern descent” [8]. Indeed, Aladdin is an Arab, meanwhile, Jogia is half English half Indian. So Disney was praised for making the right choice, which was to cast Mena Massoud for the role.
But why did fans keep suggesting Avan Jogia for the role, despite knowing he’s Indian? His looks. Most people thought he “got the right looks” for Aladdin, therefore, he was perfect for the role. Now you see, there’s nothing about the race that makes people cancel the movies, it’s all about looks.
The audience has formed their pre-determined standards of a particular character. Both Bailey and Zegler simply don’t have the looks the audience is looking for, so it’s a no for them. To better demonstrate this point, let’s circle back to when The Little Mermaid was released. There was a fake rumor about another black actress who failed to get the role of Ariel, and the people were stunned.
This unconfirmed rumor somehow stirred quite a debate among Disney fans, especially in Asian countries such as Korea. Most people agreed that she could be the perfect Ariel just by looking at her face card. Especially after they found out this girl could sing and dance, they all nodded their heads in unison that she deserved the role.
So what’s the difference between Halle Bailey and this young actress that makes some people think one was better than the other? Apparently, it’s not about Ariel being black or white, it’s mainly about her looks.
Therefore, I don’t consider the criticism Rachel is facing simply because she doesn’t fit the traditional image of Snow White to be a “controversy.” While folks believe that she’s not cut out for the role due to her race or her skin color, I just don’t think this is a valid point that’s worth discussing.
What I’m focusing on is how Rachel Zegler handled her interviews regarding the movie and her role. And oh boy, this girl lacks media training.
It all started when Rachel Zegler had an interview with ExtraTV in September 2023 at the Disney Fan Club’s D23 Expo. Upon being asked about the Snow White movie, Zegler described why the new version of Snow White is better than that of the original:
“I mean, you know, the original cartoon came out in 1937 and very evidently so. There is a big focus on her love story with a guy who literally stalks her.
Weird, weird.” [9]
These wise words were coming out of the mouth of the very actress who claimed to have watched the original film only once because she found it scary as a child.
The whole Internet turned upside down when Zegler said that the prince was a stalker in the 1937 version, and further added the remark “Weird, weird” with a sarcastic undertone. Ironically, her biggest “stalker” in the movie should be the Evil Queen, who just couldn’t stop asking the mirror about Snow White.
In the same interview, when the interviewer asked Zegler if there would be any prince in the movie at all, she left an even more “interesting” comment:
“We have a different approach to what I'm sure a lot of people will assume is a love story just because we casted a guy in the movie, Andrew Burnap, great dude […] but, uh, it's really not about the love story at all which is really really wonderful.
[…] All of Andrew's scenes could get cut, who knows? It's Hollywood, baby!”
How cruel it is to give a quick shoutout to your co-star, referring to him as a “great dude”, only to throw him under the bus just 15 seconds later.
In case you are unaware, Disney has reimagined the prince and turned him into a fellow peasant who is played by Andrew Brunap. According to Zegler, it looks like this guy is destined to stay in her “friendzone” and there would be no romantic relationship between them at all. By concluding that all of Andrew’s scenes might get cut from the movie, is she trying to downplay the significance of his character as well as the actor’s contributions?
People just couldn’t believe that the very actress who’s going to play Snow White just admitted she didn’t like watching Snow White growing up and that she thought the prince was an ill-mannered character. Rachel Zegler was quickly engulfed in the backlash after the interviews.
Things get even worse after the Presidential Election.
In my opinion, the entertainment industry and politics are two different territories that should never collide with one another, we all know it’s the recipe for disaster if they do. Celebrities who crossed the line mostly end up alienating parts of their audience, drawing unnecessary backlash, or diluting the message they aim to convey. Rachel Zegler is not an exception.
On the day that Trump was elected over Vice President Kamala Harris, Zegler decided to rant on Instagram about the event. I don’t know if she thought it was a good idea to do so or if she just did it in the heat of the moment, but it was a wrong move for her.
“[…] May Trump supporters and Trump voters and Trump himself never know peace.” [10]
Personally, it’s your choice of who you’re supporting after all. However, I just don’t think openly discussing political points of view as a public figure is a good idea in general. Especially when your movie is about to drop next year and you have already generated enough bad publicity, this is a big mistake.
And well, after getting tons of hate comments and threats from the Internet, Rachel posted another Instagram story to apologize for letting “my emotions get the best of me.”
But people aren’t planning to stop anytime soon. And after the official trailer came out recently, her past controversies resurfaced on every news outlet and social post. Seeing how bad the movie looks in its latest trailer, people are even more certain that Rachel is not the right Snow White.
Final Words
Watching the official trailer gave me mixed emotions. I honestly don’t know how I should react to it — seeing Snow White coming to life on a big screen is amazing but it’s hard to ignore the ongoing debates surrounding Disney and Rachel Zegler.
Well, there’s nothing to say for certain just yet, especially when the movie is months away from its release in March 2025. So I guess we all have to see if Rachel and Disney could honor the magic of the original story while bringing something fresh to the table — or it’s gonna be another “flop” for the Micky Mouse house.
Thank you for reading this article, I know it’s a bit long since I tried to cover every aspect of the situation.
If you love getting updates about movies or simply want to know what other people have to say about this whole Snow White situation, please visit:
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Guardian’s article on the Snow White trailer here.
A quick report that covers Snow White and other movies by
Reference:
[1] https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cinderella_2015
[2] https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinereid/2024/09/15/disneys-little-mermaid-plunges-to-5-million-loss/
[3]
[4] https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/jan/25/peter-dinklage-disney-remake-snow-white-and-the-seven-dwarfs
[5] https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/disney-vows-approach-snow-white-peter-dinklage-criticism/story?id=82487821
[6] https://www.thewrap.com/snow-white-peter-dinklage-disney-response/
[7] https://thedisinsider.com/2022/07/03/martin-klebba-casually-confirms-role-in-disneys-live-action-snow-white/
[8] https://www.teenvogue.com/story/avan-jogia-auditioned-aladdin
[9]
[10] https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/rachel-zegler-trump-instagram-megyn-kelly-b2647872.html