It’s fair to say that Disney’s live-action adaptation of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs has faced intense scrutiny from the get-go. It all started when Rachel Zegler was cast as the titular character, with the 23-year-old actor of Colombian and Polish descent. Disappointingly, the star immediately faced racist backlash from people who argued that the princess should be played by a white actor.
At the time, Rachel responded by sharing a selection of childhood photos of herself dressed up as Disney princesses — including Snow White — and wrote: “I hope every child knows they can be a princess no matter what.” But she continued to be targeted, with the criticism ramping up a gear when Rachel addressed some aspects of the original 1937 animated movie that haven’t aged particularly well. For example, at the D23 Expo in 2022, Rachel said: “The original cartoon came out in 1937, and very evidently so.
There’s a big focus on her love story with a guy who literally stalks her. Weird! Weird! So, we didn’t do that this time.” “We absolutely wrote a Snow White that.
.. she’s not going to be saved by the prince, and she’s not going to be dreaming about true love,” Rachel went on to tell Variety .
“She’s going to be dreaming about becoming the leader she knows she can be, and that her late father told her that she could be if she was fearless, fair, brave and true.” Then, in December of that same year, Rachel admitted that she had only watched Snow White.