Whether you think Disney is being too woke or not woke enough, there’s been no shortage of people more bizarrely upset about a live-action remake of a Disney classic than there has been for “Snow White,” even though they had never seen a frame of it.
Now we have the full trailer of the remake of Disney’s 1937 animated masterpiece, with the Latina Rachel Zegler and Israeli Gal Gadot as the evil queen.
The initial footage should be familiar to anyone who has seen “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” complete with a rendition of “Hi-Ho,” with Snow White laughing and singing along with the seven CGI dwarves Grumpy, Sneezy, Dopey, Sleepy, Happy, Bashful, and Doc.
Disney had to push back “Snow White” because of the writers and actors strikes last year, with the movie now slated to open March 21, 2025. Though it probably didn’t hurt that it bought some time in between some of the culture wars surrounding the movie.
To recap just how crazy the discourse around this movie has been, “West Side Story” breakout Zegler has been facing criticism ever since she was cast in the role, not unlike the backlash Halle Bailey faced when she was cast as the originally red-headed and white Ariel in “The Little Mermaid” live-action remake.
“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,” Zegler previously said. “Blanca Nieves is a huge icon whether you’re talking about the Disney cartoon or just different iterations and the Grimm fairy tale and all the stories that come with it. But you don’t particularly see people who look like me or are me playing roles like that.”
The movie also faced undue criticism when The Daily Mail published some photos that allegedly showed a culturally diverse group of average-height individuals walking through a prairie during filming. The “Disney is too woke” crowd was insufferable after that one, especially since the image Disney eventually released with Zegler in it showed her surrounded by dwarves who were all CGI. The son of the guy who directed the 1937 movie said Walt Disney would be “turning over in his grave” over the new take on the story, and the Daily Wire made its own conservative version of “Snow White” with a white woman just to thumb its nose at the film.
Then there’s been criticism on the other side too, most notably from Peter Dinklage, who wondered why a film with a story considered backwards and out of date would still be re-made.
“You’re progressive in one way and you’re still making that fucking backwards story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together, what the fuck are you doing man? Have I done nothing to advance the cause from my soapbox? I guess I’m not loud enough,” Dinklage told Marc Maron on the WTF podcast. Disney later responded to Dinklage by saying they were taking a “different approach” to the seven characters.
Zegler herself said she wasn’t necessarily a fan of the original story, inspiring backlash from some Disney purists. “There’s a big focus on her love story with a guy who literally stalks her … weird, so we didn’t do that this time,” Zegler told Extra, adding that the new movie is “really not about the love story at all” but is instead about the character’s “inner journey that she goes on to find her true self.”
“Snow White” premieres March 21, 2025 in theaters. Check out the trailer below.
