It is no secret that Rachel Zegler and her promotion of the live-action remake of Snow White have been controversial. She and Gal Gadot, who plays the evil queen, are the main promoters for the movie. As described in their interview on Variety, the new Snow White is all about empowerment and how “she’s not gonna be saved by the prince and she’s not gonna be dreaming about true love, she’s dreaming about becoming the leader she knows she can be.”
If you haven’t already watched the original Disney version, it details the story of a beautiful young princess who dreams of finding her true love in life—a handsome prince who will sweep her off her feet. While singing, she meets her prince, and they immediately fall in love. The same day, the queen asks her Magic Mirror to tell her who is the fairest of them all, and the mirror replies, “rags cannot hide her gentle grace, alas, she is more fair than thee… lips red as a rose, hair as black as ebony, skin white as snow.” Infuriated, the queen orders her to be killed and for her heart to be brought back as proof. Snow White flees and bolts through the woods, where she later befriends animals and meets the seven dwarfs, who provide her with shelter and a loving environment while she treats them with absolute kindness and assists in keeping the house in order. One day, when the dwarfs go off to work in the mines, the evil queen comes to the cottage in an old woman’s disguise and manipulates Snow White into eating her poisonous apple. After doing so, Snow White immediately falls into a deep sleep, and the dwarfs think that she has died. They can’t bring themselves to bury her, so they build a glass coffin and surround her with beautiful flowers. At last, the charming prince finds her and kisses her, breaking the curse, and they live happily ever after.
The classic Disney film highlights the beauty of staying strong during uncertain times and how love will always prevail. Despite the inspiring idea of the original, the entire fantasy is being rewritten to fit the new Hollywood ideal: everyone is a “girlboss” who doesn’t need love. Zegler and Gadot are constantly found repeating the same monologue: “She’s not gonna be saved by the prince!” as the main appeal for the remake. Additionally, Zegler’s argument is very inconsistent when it comes to sharing how she feels about her role. In one interview with Jimmy Kimmel, she says that Snow White and Disney “[was] a part of my upbringing, it’s my favorite thing,” but in another on Entertainment Weekly, she says, “I was scared of the original cartoon, I think I watched it once and then never picked it up again […] I went on the ride in Disney World, was terrified, and never revisited Snow White again.” Zegler seems to not care at all about her important role as Snow White and simply uses her privilege as a way to push her personal beliefs.
When I was little, I would always watch Disney movies. Whether it was Sleeping Beauty and Snow White or Toy Story and Wall-E, there was always a representation of love. Out of all of the important things in this world, love is truly the most important, because without it, there would be no happiness. If we continue to follow the ideas the new Snow White and Disney are pushing, we are going to end up with a disconnected world that will be difficult to resolve. The problem with the modern Disney remake is that they push being a “girlboss” and not having anyone. The truth is, girlbosses need connection, too. The right people will not hold you back from becoming the best version of yourself; they will only motivate you to continue on your journey and keep your best interests at heart.
Nothing is wrong with following your dream, but it shouldn’t be considered wrong or less empowering if that dream includes falling in love. If Disney is taking a classic and rewriting everything that makes it original, then what will they do when no one wants to watch it? Disney is supposed to be built on fostering curiosity and dreams for impressionable minds, since Walt Disney’s entire empire started with a dream. Instead of using the platform he created to try to push a new idea, we should prioritize keeping fairy tales that allow kids to dream big, because as Walt Disney said, “if you can dream it, you can do it.”