Disney’s live-action remake of Snow White has been a surprisingly controversial film even though it’s a Disney remake and despite the fact the movie hasn’t been seen by anybody yet. There’s been a significant backlash against the film, and star Rachel Zegler specifically. Now the star is taking on the comments that have been taken out of context.
The narrative from some online has been that Rachel Zegler has some sort of disdain for the character she’ll be playing in Snow White. This comes from comments the actress has made that pointed out the original movie from 1937 is fairly dated, and indicating that the remake would be changing or updating elements of the story. In response to the backlash, Zegler told Variety…
In all honesty, it made me sad that it was taken in such a way, because I believe that women can do anything. But I also believe that they can do everything.
The biggest issue was Zegler’s statement regarding the romance in Snow White. At 2022’s D23 Zegler said her character “would not be dreaming about true love.” Some people took the statement to mean that the film's romantic elements had actually been removed. This would certainly indicate a radical new version of the film since that’s essentially all there is in the Disney original.
Zegler clarifies now, that the love story isn’t gone from Snow White. It’s simply that it isn’t the only story being told. The whole idea is that women, including Snow White, don’t need to limit themselves to that. The actress continued…
I would never want to box someone in and say, ‘If you want love, then you can’t work.’ Or ‘If you want to work, then you can’t have a family.’ It’s not true. It’s never been true. It can be very upsetting when things get taken out of context or jokes don’t land. The love story is very integral. A lot of people wrote that we weren’t doing [that storyline] anymore — we were always doing that; it just wasn’t what we were talking about on that day.
While Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is still one of Disney's best animated movies for its historical significance alone, it’s difficult to argue that Snow White isn’t exactly the most proactive protagonist in Disney's history. In an era where the women of Frozen or Moana are going off on adventures of their own choosing, Snow White is a character whose story happens to her. It’s little surprise that there would be an update to the character to some degree.
Of course, the other reason that there has been a significant backlash to Snow White happened before Rachel Zegler ever said a word. The fact that a non-white actress was cast to play a character named Snow White is another issue for the loudest critics. However, Zegler says part of the reason she, and her mother, love Snow White is she’s actually the character that looks the most like her. Zegler said…
She was my mom’s favorite princess. When she was growing up, there weren’t a lot of dark-haired princesses, and that was the one she could relate to.
The first Snow White trailer debuted at D23 this past summer, giving audiences a chance to see some of the film. And while there was still plenty of controversy coming from that, most of it was focused on the CGI dwarfs, and not Zegler herself. We'll be able to judge the final product when Snow White comes out next year.
