The live-action film of Disney’s first princess is once again going through controversies. This time, it isn’t about a new statement or casting but the list of previous behaviors. The center of this backlash is Disney’s Snow White, Rachel Zegler. A few weeks ago, her past statements about the film, original story, and more resurfaced on TikTok, which is slowly spreading over other media platforms. Here’s an explanation of the complete story.
Rachel Zegler’s controversial statements regain backlash
Ever since Disney announced the live-action adaption of Snow White, the movie has been making headlines for various controversies. At first, netizens commented that casting Rachel Zegler was a forced woke move as the 22-year-old Columbian-American actress isn’t similar to the original Snow White, who is German.
rachel zegler as snow white <3 pic.twitter.com/jDqxtWatKp
— alex (@zeglerapp) June 17, 2023
- Later, the backlash against the casting grew as Zegler, famous for her blunt speech, shared her two points about Disney and the original Snow White. The comments appeared offhand and mocking. This ignited sparks of criticism, accusing the actress of allegedly hating Snow White and having a pseudo-feminism view of the film.
What did Rachel Zegler say?
During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the star shared her experience watching the original animation and feeling scared. Due to this, she saw it once and never picked it up again. In the Variety interview, Zegler shared that the live-action brings a change, emphasizing ‘it is no longer 1937.‘
- She further talked about the cinematic changes, stating that Prince Charming is not going to save Snow White. The princess is also not going to dream about true love. Instead, she will aim to become the leader she knows she can be. The West Side Story actress added that the makers are reimagining ‘the fairest of them all’ as being just rather than being of fair complexion.
- In another interview, she called the Prince Charming stalker-ish for waking Snow White with a kiss. She shared that that part of the story is weird, and they are not going to do it. She also joked that the live-action can also cut the scenes of Prince Charming as “it’s Hollywood, baby.”
Netizens react
The fans of Disney and anti-woke netizens severely criticized the actress. They accused her of hating Disney, Snow White, family values, and more. The actress also once shared two clips from Lady Gaga fan account where the singer enters a bathroom and shouts ‘F***, God! F****ing Men!’ This led people to accuse Zegler of hating men. Read some of the reactions below.
Meet your new “Snow White”
– hates Walt Disney
– hates Snow White origin story
– hates men
– hates capitalism
– hates family values
– hates the paying customer
– unfriendly militant feminist
– toxic social media past
– hyper political
– polarizing narcissistGreat job @Disney pic.twitter.com/egAglDLZXp
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) September 6, 2023
Rachel Zegler admitting she didn't like Snow White growing up, saying she had only watched it ONCE before getting the role is so sad to me. Out of MILLIONS of women who loved the character, care about the story and yet this is who we get. 🤡🤢 pic.twitter.com/IVKQN4FIHc
— Vara Dark (@Vara_Dark) August 10, 2023
Hey @Disney,
Drop Rachel Zegler from Snow White, as matter fact, recast the whole crew, but most importantly, drop Rachel Zegler.Sincerely,
We the People— Chris Moreno (@ChrisMoreno27) August 31, 2023
On the other hand, some netizens believe that the hate is extreme. They criticized the haters for going overboard and defended the actress by saying that she was doing her job excellently. The fans also noted that an actor doesn’t always require to like the role that they are playing, and the reimaging of Snow White isn’t that bad.
Where are you seeing her hating Snow White? 😭 It's just a fact thay the movie needs a little modernisation💀 and she is not the only actress to say so about their movie #RachelZegler 🍎 #SnowWhite https://t.co/DU2ODI9ypV pic.twitter.com/bsblN4ZVLI
— Vee🍎 (@remakesbydisney) September 7, 2023
“rAcHeL zEgEr hAtEs sNoW wHiTe”
rachel zegler when she got cast as snow white: pic.twitter.com/VPhNJYnD9z— fran 🩶 saw r+j (@cjcreggswife) September 1, 2023
harrison ford and robert pattinson actively hate star wars and twilight and yet it’s hehe funny and all rachel zegler did was say snow white scared her as kid https://t.co/wG33WDX64b
— alex (@blueromanticss) August 14, 2023
Why are people hating the live-action Snow White and calling it pseudo-feminism?
The term pseudo-feminism refers to actions that seemingly support feminism, but actually, they do not support gender equality. As the live-action changes the thought of a princess who isn’t particularly ambitious and dreams of love as something outdated, the fans believe it isn’t genuinely feminist.
The Snow White live action discourse made me realize that pseudo feminism is just repackaged misogyny. Just because a woman has different choices than you doesn’t make her any less of a woman. SO WHAT if she dreamt about true love???
— 🧚🏽♀️ (@wobblebottle) August 15, 2023
- As per them, gender equality doesn’t necessarily mean that all women should have ambitions to rule the kingdoms; instead, it means having the freedom of choice to lead and/or to pursue true love. As the original Snow White dreamt of love changing, it is deemed anti-feminist or pseudo-feminism.
- Many believe the changes are necessary as the original animation is outdated. However, the pacifists among the netizens believe that the live-action Snow White can alter the story to make it better for the changed society without changing the original thought.
- Disney’s live-action will be released worldwide in cinemas near you on March 22, 2024.
What is your opinion about Rachel Zegler and Disney’s live-action Snow White? Share with us in the comments below. For more content, stay with us here at Spiel Times. Make sure you subscribe to our push notifications and never miss an update. You can also follow us on Spiel Anime, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Until next time!
