Some individuals seem really grumpy in the teaser for Disney’s live-action “Snow White” version.
Heave ho, heave ho, let’s get to the internet commotion factory. The first teaser trailer for the soon-to-be live-action Snow White remake from Disney has arrived.
With a release date set for March 21, 2025, the highly anticipated teaser was unveiled Friday evening at Disney’s D23 Expo by Rachel Zegler, who plays Snow White, and Gal Gadot, who plays the Evil Queen. In addition to showcasing seven CGI dwarfs, the trailer included first looks at Zegler performing “Whistle While You Work” and Gadot conversing with her reflecting image.
Directors Marc Webb ((500) Days of Summer, The Amazing Spider-Man), and writers Greta Gerwig (Barbie) and Erin Cressida Wilson (The Girl on the Train) have noted that this most recent version includes several’modern’ twists in addition to new songs by the duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (Dear Evan Hansen, The Greatest Showman).
Is this 1937 classic’s makeover the most, er, fair of them all? Disney devotees and other ardent online critics, whose examination of the most recent adaptation started years before today’s trailer release, might find it difficult to sell.
Here’s a quick rundown of their complaints along with an explanation.
An insufficiently white Snow White
Following the announcement in 2021 that Zegler—who made her breakthrough as Maria in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story remake—would be tackling the title role, racist remarks on social media surfaced. Some questioned the casting of a Latina woman for a role requiring “skin white as snow.”
In response to the remarks on X, Zegler—who is of Polish and Colombian descent—stated that she didn’t want to get drawn into the “nonsensical discourse” around her casting.
“I really, truly do not want to see it,” Zegler stated in a post that featured pictures of her looking like a princess when she was younger.
A reworking that some critics thought was too “woke”
Zegler and Gadot discussed how the Snow White story was being rewritten with a “modern edge” in another interview with Variety in 2022. This adaptation would eliminate the scene where Snow White is saved by a prince.
Gadot remarked, “She’s the proactive one.” “She establishes the conditions. These elements are what give it such contemporary relevance.”
Her late father told her that she could be a leader if she was brave, fair, fearless, and honest, and that’s what she’s dreaming of becoming,” Zegler added.
In a different interview, Zegler called the prince a “stalker” and claimed the message would be changed to highlight the strength of women in the contemporary society.
Social media users took to the comments with great venom, particularly from “anti-woke” accounts. The Daily Wire, one of the conservative media sites that was affected, responded by announcing that it was rewriting the classic “in line with the values in which it was written.”
Others, such as @reubenwoodall on TikTok, attacked Disney’s attempt to make Snow White a “girl boss.”
In a video that received over 1.3 million likes, Woodall stated, “The point of Snow White’s fairytale isn’t that she’s going to try and become a leader.” She isn’t meant to be this feminist symbol, ruler, queen, or leader of a female. And I’m not sure why, but in every reinvention, a woman in a position of authority is required; otherwise, it’s not feminist.”
David Hand, the son of the original director of the 1937 cartoon, expressed his opinion to The Daily Telegraph in a 2023 interview that he thought it was a “disgrace”.
“What Disney accomplished and what my dad done are not respected… Hand stated, “I believe Walt [Disney] and he would be turning in their graves.”
A “backward” tale involving seven dwarfs
Actor Peter Dinklage chastised Disney in a 2022 interview, saying he was “taken aback” by the studio’s celebration of casting Zegler as a Latina lead while revisiting a narrative that featured an ugly image of dwarfs. Disney was planning to film a live-action adaptation.
I don’t understand it. Dinklage, who has achondroplasia, a kind of dwarfism, stated, “You’re progressive in one way and you’re still making that f—ing backwards story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together, what the f— are you doing, man?”
Disney issued a statement stating that it has chosen to take a “different approach” with the seven characters in response to Dinklage’s remarks. A Disney representative informed Variety, “We have been consulting with members of the dwarfism community to avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film.”
