Jonah Pappas
Staff Writer
Since Disney began remaking their classic animated films into live-action movies, there has been no shortage of outrage over controversies. Every single live action remake, from Cinderella in 2015 to this past May’s The Little Mermaid has been met with anger, from critics and audiences alike. Proving to be no exception to this, Snow White has faced massive controversies despite not being released yet. The storm of heated discourse around Snow White began on X (formerly known as Twitter) and TikTok when Rachel Zegler was announced to play the titular character. The casting of Zegler, whose parents are Colombian and Polish, as Snow White angered reactionary conservatives who believed that Snow White needed to be portrayed by a white actress. In an interview with Variety, Zegler responded to the racist comments, saying that “Snow White is really a big deal in Spanish-speaking countries.” In that same interview, Zegler described the changes made to the story, stating that “it’s no longer 1937” and that she is “not going to be saved by the prince. And she’s not going to be dreaming about true love. She’s dreaming about becoming the leader she knows she can be.” X and TikTok once again blew up, with radical conservatives on the platforms calling Zegler a “walking PR disaster,” and the movie “woke” and “at odds with the original film’s values.” However, the debate over the movie was not restricted to Rachel Zegler. Peter Dinklage, an actor diagnosed with dwarfism, expressed concern over the use of dwarfs in the film while on Marc Maron’s podcast, “WTF”. He called the remake a “backwards story,” and “was a little taken aback when [Disney] was very proud to cast a Latina actress as Snow White, but [still told] the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” However, other actors with dwarfism disagreed with Dinklage. Dylan Postl, Katrina Kemp, and Jeff Brooks have all asserted that more roles for dwarf actors are better, especially in a mainstream Disney movie. Although the movie was originally set to release in February of 2024, it has been delayed to an unspecified date in early 2025. It is speculated that Disney delayed the release to wait for the controversies to die down, but Disney has not spoken on the reason for the delay.