▲Disney is at it again. After having given us a black Ariel–Halle Bailey–instead of the red-haired, white heroine of our childhood in the 2023 remake of The Little Mermaid, it has now announced a Snow White of Latina descent. Her name is Rachel Zegler, who rose to fame in her iconic role of Maria in West Side Story (2021) and has since gone on to attain major roles.
Fans of the original movie are upset that Disney has cast a tanned actress for the role of beloved Snow White, who is depicted as having “skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony.” The initial, and most widely accepted, screen adaptation by Disney also gives us a Snow White that is pale as–well, snow. It is not as if cinemagoers were saying, “Black people out! Only white is allowed!” or holding boycotts fueled on by white supremacy. Fans of the Disney classics simply want the live-action remakes to be synchronized with the original versions from their childhood. The way they pictured it, they would be laughing, pointing out the similarities and familiar scenes from the originals while watching the remakes. They really were not asking for much.
The larger problem at hand, however, is that certain viewpoints are asserting that anyone who opposes the cast in these live-action remakes is blatantly, derogatorily racist. It is a dangerous leap of thought to label non-supporters as discriminators. This is an important subject of debate: what is happening is that we are silencing free opinions and criticism about cinematography, ironically, in the process of harboring racial diversity.
Zegler, our future Snow White, told Variety’s Actors on Actors series how taken aback she was to have been cast as this now almost century-old Disney princess. “You don’t normally see Snow Whites that are of Latin descent. Even though Snow White is really a big deal in Spanish-speaking countries.” Then she went further as to bring up the buzz surrounding her aptness for the role. “When it was announced, it was a huge thing that was trending on Twitter for days, because all of the people were angry.
Andrew Garfield, who was her interviewer, labeled the opposers as “the people that we need to educate. The people that we need to love into awareness.” Zegler agreed that “we need to love them in the right direction.”
This alone has so many problems. Since when has it become such an easy feat to group a huge crowd of people as racist and lacking “awareness?” This is an overgeneralization. While it is true that many people found problems with this cast simply because the leading actress was not white, the prevailing opinion was that Disney should remain faithful to its original depiction of the princess. It is a sad phenomenon. Extreme political correctness has gone so far as to exclude anyone who does not go with its flow.
Zegler topped the cherry by saying that “It’s no longer 1937.” These three words perfectly encapsulate what Disney is pushing towards us right now. That the values of the old movies are outdated, and that the new standards Disney is creating are all-accurate. It is an enforcement of values and societal norms, and those who support them refuse to accept any form of criticism whatsoever. This division and adversity between supporters and non-supporters: is this what we really want?
A matter of equally large controversy is that Disney is switching the seven dwarves in the movie to the “seven mythical creatures.” This major change was spurred by actor Peter Dinklage’s opinion on the film’s self-contradictory nature. “It makes no sense to me,” vented the 54-year-old Game of Thrones actor, who has dwarfism. “You’re progressive in one way, but then you’re still making that backwards story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together… All love and respect to the [Latina] actress and all the people who thought they were doing the right thing. But I’m just like, what are you doing?”
It is true that Snow White has received backlash for depicting dwarfs as having low intelligence and childlike tempers. Representation in one area, and backwards values in the other. Responding to this piece of criticism, Disney has announced an end to the seven dwarfs and decided on a cast of seven mythical creatures, all of different ethnicities and heights.
What I am trying to argue in this article is not that change is bad. Not every word that gets past Rachel Zegler’s lips is misguided. She has put forth many opinions on diversity and the improvement of working conditions that make a lot of sense. And Peter Dinklage was completely justified in saying that people with dwarfism find incorrect depictions in Disney’s Snow White. We should be adapting to the times, adjusting details that no longer suit the contemporary narrative.
Moreover, it is a widely accepted fact that white people have been overrepresented in the movie industry up till recent times. Films depict the social trends of an era in part, and they represent what the norms are and where the lines are drawn. It is an important matter to have representation for diverse ethnicities and minority groups in the industry, and I do not argue in this article that black people, or people of any other race, for that matter, should not become heroines of major movies. Disney is not wrong in harboring these new thoughts and changes in ideology.
However, it is a matter of great importance to draw the line of political correctness. It is not politically correct to label any sort of criticism as racist. Nor is it politically correct to disparage princesses from earlier times as passive damsels in distress. We are letting ourselves become blind to the other good qualities a female character has because we are too busy pointing out the outdated values of the movies. And maybe we have lost the ability to simply view artwork as artwork. It’s from 1937, after all–what does one expect?
We need not become divided over the small details that political correctness allows or does not allow. Unfiltered accusations will simply cause more public anger, and this is not the direction we want to go. Disney fans are not hating on all races other than white. What they are suggesting is: why not just let old movies exist in peace? Why not create new Disney movies, separate from the classics we are familiar with, with heroines of diverse ethnicities? Why the need to change around the old movies?
And frankly, I believe that Disney should give these opinions a consideration, at the very least.
Bok Gahyun (2-7)¹ | Staff Reporter
1) karenbok0801@gmail.com
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