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Snow White Canceled? Rachel Zegler Is Under Fire

By Orgesta Tolaj

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17 August 2023

rachel ziegler and snow white

© rachelzegler / Instagram, Disney

Disney has announced that they are currently in the works for a new Snow White movie and fans are definitely not impressed.

However, this displeasure is not new in the slightest. Disney has been consistently criticized for providing live-action remakes of their renowned classical movies. While some believe these remakes are unnecessary, others’ have deeper concerns.

The Issue at Hand

Disney is facing controversy over its upcoming live-action remake of the 1937 film “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” The new version, set for release next year, has sparked a lot of backlash on social media. Although this type of backlash is not uncommon for Disney’s remakes, the criticism surrounding this specific remake has been particularly strong. The controversy escalated when Rachel Zegler, a Latina movie star, faced racist trolling on social media after being cast in the title role.

A similar backlash was seen when Halle Bailey was cast in “The Little Mermaid.” Some critics question the casting decisions, expressing racism and discomfort with non-white actors taking on iconic roles. Experts suggest that the resistance might come from a historical lack of representation in Disney films, with people of color not seeing themselves as Disney princesses until the release of Jasmine from “Aladdin” in 1992.

Disney Snow White Rachel Zegler Controversy Explained

The whole issue began when an interview with Rachel Zegler started going viral on the internet. The main actress spoke about Snow White’s story and told the interviewer that her character would not be focused on finding love. Zegler even took it up a notch and claimed that the prince is not even necessary to the story, and could be easily removed as he is just Snow White’s stalker.

snow white kissing scene
© Disney

Zegler added: “She’s not going to be saved by the prince and she’s not going to be dreaming about true love. She’s going to be dreaming about becoming the leader she knows she can be and that her late father told her that she could be if she was fearless, fair, brave, and true.”

So, Why Did this Get Backlash?

Zegler told the interviewer that a strong woman does not need a man to help her and that her only focus is to be brave and fearless. This opened up the discussion for the “feminist” approach that Zegler wanted to convey.

However, the issue at hand is that Zegler enforced the ideal that a woman should not want a man to save her, downplaying the desire to find “true love”. The backlash intensified as people were questioning if she truly knows what being a feminist means and whether the actress realizes that traditional women are also part of feminist activism. This further made the point that feminism deals with allowing women to have a choice for their desired life path.

Talk about getting a movie canceled before it is even released! Rachel Zegler surely got into some heated fire after the claim she made. What do you think? Do you agree that Snow White’s story needs to be changed this way?

Orgesta Tolaj

Your favorite introvert who is buzzing around the Hive like a busy bee!

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