When it comes to adaptations or “re-imaginings” of older work, there is always a line to be drawn between a faithful adaptation or a complete departure from the source material. For every Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. which tries to stay true to the source material, you have dozens of adaptations such as Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Netflix’s The Witcher, Thor: Love and Thunder’s female Thor, and The Woman King that completely veers away. For Disney’s live action Snow White movie, the latest uproar revolves around actress Rachel Zegler’s comments about how Disney’s live action movie differs from past iterations.
When asked to clarify what she meant by the movie bringing a modern edge to the classic fairytale actress Rachel Zegler replied,
“…It’s no longer 1937. And we absolutely wrote a Snow White…She’s not gonna be saved by the prince and she’s not going to be dreaming about true love. 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. And so, it’s just a really incredible story for young people everywhere to see themselves in.”
When listening to what Zegler has to say, it doesn’t sound like a Snow White story at all. It sounds like a new intellectual property (IP) that is relying on the well-known name Snow White to make money. A common tactic in the entertainment industry that doesn’t like to take chances or risks.
Given Disney’s track record of live-action remakes, it comes as no surprise at this point over the questionable decisions made at the House of Mouse. Yet, Zegler’s casting as Snow White is not just the latest questionable casting choice from the company, but one of the more egregious ones. The biggest reason being that the name Snow White is derived from the physical attributes of the character which Zegler doesn’t appear to emulate as seen from leaked photos that caused social media to blow up.
To be fair, Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) differed from “Grimm Fairy Tales Little Snow-white”. For example, in Grimm’s version the Evil Queen makes three attempts to kill Snow White compared to Disney’s one attempt. Instead of digging for gemstones in Disney’s version, the Dwarves dig for ore. The Prince appears earlier on in the story for Disney while the same character appears towards the end of the story. Another difference is that Disney’s prince kisses Snow White to wake her while Snow White wakes up when the piece of apple she bit is dislodged from her mouth as her coffin is jostled.
Despite what Leftists say about the story, it wasn’t some random, forced-upon kiss that woke up Snow White. In the Disney version, Snow White and the prince meet and she falls in love with him before the Huntsman takes her from the castle, and, when the Prince sees her asleep, kisses her and breaks the spell. In Grimm Fairy Tales she wakes up, he confesses his love for her, and asks her to come with him and be his queen.
No force or coercion in these stories. But a logical progression of events leading to the story’s climax.
Yet, Snow White is constantly propped up by the Left as an example of “not consenting to something.” Even if there is a build-up or series of actions that would explain why the Prince would kiss Snow White. Whether as a final farewell or a last, desperate hope of saving her it doesn’t matter. For the Left, this is evil and cannot be true love’s kiss if Snow White didn’t give her consent to the Prince.
Even if she was in a deep sleep and couldn’t wake up…
If anything, it’s the Left’s argument that true love’s kiss isn’t true love if the kiss was given without consent that raises eyebrows. Especially in the context of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in which both characters are in love with each other. Or, you know, when men and women engage in dating and courtship. After all, nothing kills the mood more than when, after she is giving all the signals, you still have to stop and ask, “do I have your consent to kiss you?”
Imagine if, in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back when Han Solo is going to be frozen in carbonite he asks Princess Leia,” Do I have your consent” before they kiss. That would have just ruined the entire scene and taken away the impact when, after the kiss, Leia tells Han, “I love you” and he gives his iconic reply, “I know.”
Which brings up the themes and messages when it comes to the story of Snow White. Overall themes such as good always triumph, true love conquers all, and that evil is always vanquished are easy to grasp. But there are also other topics that are more gender-specific. That boys wish to be the dashing prince who saves the princess. That girls want to find their true love who is handsome and brave (also the precarious nature of being vain, prideful, narcissistic, and jealous).
Sadly, in 2023 these concepts are declared by the Left as sexist, misogynistic, oppressive, and outdated. That boys wanting to be like the Prince are being “toxically masculine” and that girls who dream about being married are “oppressed by the patriarchy.” Instead of dreaming about having a family, girls should focus on getting the bag, an education, having a career, that they don’t need a man, that they shouldn’t marry, and that it’s perfectly fine to have children without a father involved. Or, even worse, the lie that women can still have it all: the money, the education, the career, and still being able to have a family.
“FREEZE YOUR EGGS, GIRL!” shouts the feminists.
While there is nothing wrong with the first two , the last four are highly problematic and a discussion for another time. Though, to be clear, this is dependent on whether or not the woman wants to have a family at all.
Finally, when it comes to being “the fairest one of all,” even that is being changed for the movie. According to Zegler, it doesn’t mean that Snow White or the Queen are more beautiful than each other. But that they are fair and just. At least, that is what seems to be implied by Zegler during an interview who said,
“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.”
Given the reinterpretation of “the fairest one of all” could mean that Snow White’s stepmother, the Evil Queen, might turned into a misunderstood figure. One only needs to look at Disney’s Maleficent to see how the company turned a cool, evil villain into a protagonist that the audience was supposed to sympathize with. And shout out to English_Lady who brought up an interesting plot point for the movie on Twitter,
“…I bet the Disney version will be Snow White’s stepmother is just misunderstood, was actually good all along, and her kiss restores her to life.”
The possibility of a kiss from the Stepmother waking up Snow White is certainly probable. Though would Disney really reuse that plot twist again after doing it in Maleficent when her kiss awakens Aurora?
Ponder that question as I ramble on.
So it comes as no surprise that Disney’s live action Snow White movie eschews everything that makes the story of Snow White appealing. Aside from the original themes of the story, characters such as Prince Charming (which Zeggler sees as a stalker) and the Huntsman are no longer a part of the story. Instead, a new male character has been created for the movie and will be played by actor Andrew Burnap.
What this new male character will be like, one can only guess as to what Disney has planned. But it wouldn’t surprise me if it was just like all of the recent movies produced where the men are effeminate, bumbling idiots who have to be saved by the woman who is obviously smarter and stronger than them. One need only look to Thor: Love and Thunder in which Thor was turned into an emasculated high-school girl who didn’t know how to act around Jane rather than the strong, confident, and experienced warrior he is. That Thor was now this bumbling idiot rather than a competent leader.
In the wake of Thor: Love and Thunder, this is what I would surmise the new Snow White character to be more like. To be a departure of the typical, male archetype and more like the modern caricature of masculinity that feminism has been trying to force onto society. To the ever-increasing failure of Hollywood and entertainment in general with Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe underperforming in 2023 as an example. Despite what the shill media says, the MCU isn’t failing due to “superhero fatigue” but because the general audience is tired of this shift. It’s why Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny failed. Because Disney took a great, male character and turned him into a joke and side character in his own movie.
To summarize everything.
Disney’s woke live action Snow Woke, I mean White, movie doesn’t stick to the original theme and messages. Snow White is being played by an actress who doesn’t fit the story’s description of the character. Nor does this Snow White dream about true love, or finding her prince. Instead she wants to be a leader and nothing else (so far as we have been told). There is no Prince Charming or the Huntsman. And the seven Dwarves aren’t really dwarves. At least, it doesn’t appear to be that way when it comes to their stature, nevermind the various ethnicities of the dwarves themselves in this movie.
So how is Snow White (2024) anything like the original Snow White fairytale or even Disney’s original animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs? Why didn’t Disney just create a new intellectual property that centered around a Columbian princess who had to follow in her murdered father’s footsteps by becoming a leader in order to save her people from an Evil Queen?
The latter sounds far more interesting than Disney’s faux woke Snow White self-insert fanfic. Is this happening because there is an agenda behind all of this? Personally, I think so. But that’s another topic for another time.
Meanwhile, I’m going to challenge myself. I am going to write a synopsis of my own re-telling of the classic Snow White fairytale and see if I can come up with something far more interesting than what Disney is doing.
Think I can do it?
Let me know in the comments below or on social media (or with a thumbs up or thumbs down)!
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