Why not a story of a woman who sees the injustice in the world alike?
It seems that Disney’s campaign to raise awareness for Snow White has begun in the same way other recent awareness campaigns have begun, by the actors saying things that seem designed to help YouTube channels create content. The leaked set photos that were fake, until they were real, were simply an aperitif. Don’t worry, we haven’t even reached a course yet. Rachel Zegler’s most recent comments that Snow White is outdated? That’s just an amuse-bouche. There will be more to come, in all seriousness if Snow White performs as I expect then there will be a host of YouTubers who make more money off the movie than Disney does.
Since I like a good hors d’oeuvre as much as the next guy let’s tuck into the pig-in-a-blanket that is, “The reality is that the cartoon was made 85 years ago and therefore it’s extremely dated when it comes to the ideas of women being in roles of power and what a woman is fit for in the world. And so, when we came to reimagining the actual role of Snow White it became about the fairest of them all meaning who is the most just. And who can become a fantastic leader.” – Rachel Zegler
Personally, I could really get behind the story of a woman who sees the injustice in the world around her and dedicates her life to making things right by leading her nation into a more prosperous future, but every time Hollywood takes a stab at it, they always end up ruining the characterization of Lady Thatcher.
What I would like to know is if Zegler came up with that herself (which is entirely possible; she doesn’t seem stupid, just young and famous) or if some PR team (hers or Disney’s) put that bug in her ear. Obviously, that doesn’t change the words that she said, but an off-the-cuff remark is different than a preplanned talking point. For instance, for an actress to belittle other artists’ work is catty, but common. On the other hand, if Disney’s PR department, producers, or talent handlers are actively denigrating the company’s cornerstone movies to the stars of the remakes then that indicates a rot within the company which will not be fixed by just changing the executives at the top. Since we can’t know that we’ll have to deal with what’s on the plate in front of us.
She accuses Disney’s 1937 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs of having outdated ideas of female empowerment. I want to be honest about something here, I could pitch a big fit about how pedestrian and modern her perspective is, but the Disney movie is my first point of reference too. I’ve read the Grimms Brothers’ telling and know that there are older versions and even regional differences in the story. I think we can all extend a little grace to each other on things like that. That grace does wear a little thin when she describes 85 as extremely dated, it’s a fairy tale for crying out loud, the tradition goes back before recorded history, 85 years isn’t even a blink of an eye in comparison. What exactly is so dated about it’s “ideas of women being in roles of power”? If I’m remembering this correctly, the antagonist is a Queen and powerful witch, and the protagonist is an abused 13-year-old who warms the hearts of some surly miners and inspires their compassion by her actions.
Also, she said it was old therefore outdated. The concept of Justice is a whole heck of a lot older than Snow White, but your movie is supposed to be centered around it. How is that not outdated. Then again maybe justice is outdated, and we need new justices to take its place like climate justice, gender justice, or food justice.
I suspect I know the real problem here; The Prince saves Snow White and that’s not allowed. Remember that the prince is barely a character, he barely even has a face in the 1937 version. He’s such a noncharacter that there is a fun alternative interpretation of the Disney movie that The Prince is actually Death and at the end of the movie he takes her away to his castle because she has died. Maybe that’s not so fun, but even in that interpretation he does love her. This death as a happy release interpretation is not without precedence in fairytales (see Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Match Girl).
Speaking of death, Zegler’s description of “…fairest of them all…” now referring to justice sounds weird. Like killed Snow White and is wearing her as a skin suit weird. If that passes for an innovative idea in Hollywood, then I can’t wait for AI to take over a writer’s room. Is the presumption that because “fair” in once sense means attractive and, in another sense, also means light complexioned, that the two are so intertwined that being beautiful means being light skinned? So, is a fair wind a white people wind? Are people physically attracted to fair play and good sportsmanship? When men describe women as the fair sex are they saying that women have an innate and superior sense of justice? I bet the real answer is that some half-wit thought that play-on-words was really clever.
How is this new focus on justice going to translate in plot? Is the Queen not evil anymore? I don’t think evil queens care that other people are more just than them, they’re probably more concerned with other self-seeking people stealing the throne. Hitherto this point, has The Queen been so good and just that every day she goes to her vanity and asks “Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who’s policies provide for the maintenance of freedom to the people in the land best of all?”, but one day when the mirror responds, “My Queen, the systematic inequalities of an absolute monarchy are inherently antithetical to the preservation of justice and liberty. You should borrow Snow White’s copy of Montesquieu’s The Spirit of the Law and talk with her about restructuring the kingdom with an independent legislature and judiciary.”? Suddenly The Queen, who until now has been the most just person in Queendom, decides to kill a kid instead of devolving power to a representative assembly of the landed gentry. ‘Cause if that’s the case I will definitely see this movie. Sounds like a sketch from A Bit of Fry and Laurie. I think Fry would be the mirror and Laurie would be The Queen.
Hollywood needs to open itself to the possibility that there are some tales that last for centuries because they have timeless messages, like that as people leave their prime of life other people are entering it. How one faces those changes can make them a hero or villain. WDWPro and Jonas J Campbell had a great discussion about that.
Changing Snow White into the girl boss that the abused and overlooked women in Hollywood think they can sell to everyone else is a fool’s errand. Let Snow White be Snow White and go make the movie that you want to make, don’t wear the Snow White like a flesh suit.
Now that that’s out of the way we can all wait for the next course in Disney’s outrage tasting menu.
