Rachel Zegler’s misguided interpretation of Snow White isn’t “woke”.
Snow White deserves better than an amateurish and skewed interpretation by someone portraying her.
Disney was all set to release their live action Snow White in 2024, starring Rachel Zegler as the protagonist, Snow White. The film, however, has been postponed due to the ongoing WGA, SAG-AFTRA strikes and amidst all the tension, the lead actress, decided to stir some more.
Rachel’s interpretation of the character, her statements regarding the character she is set to portray, missed the mark from a mile. Although Disney’s attempt to jump on the “inclusivity” trend with unoriginal and careless characterization has proven to fail multiple times, this time the public’s outrage is concentrated on the actor alone. And I stand with the crowd.
Although I do not condone the bullying, Rachel really needs to understand how women work and how multifaceted we are; no one is less than the other based on the feminine characteristics that align with her beliefs. Her attempt to seem relatable only highlighted her internalised misogyny, deeming her unfit to play the role she was assigned.
The original film was released in 1937 (which she made widely known), and revolves around the story of a princess who was the “fairest of them all”, making her the target of the evil queen who wanted her dead, so she could hold that title instead. The story goes on to unfold how she survives her constant attempts to kill her and finally lives happily ever after. Now, the time this film was made, every woman represented on screen was in fact expected to be more or less similar to Snow White. Throughout the film, she’s seen cooking, cleaning and singing. And she dreamt of falling in love with the prince. She was a clear representation of a woman of her times and probably just another character who wants to fall in love and marry. The film vocalises her beauty to be her most outstanding feature, and although she has things she enjoys doing, she’s not acknowledged for it. We don’t know her as the best cook or the best singer, but surely the fairest on land. Now here’s what we need to understand.
The film fails to acknowledge anything but her beauty, fails to vocalise other qualities she holds and attributes her entire character around her looks. The failure to recognise her talents isn’t Snow White’s fault. She is not a lesser woman for being who she is. And holding the characteristics she had, doesn’t make her any how insignificant.
Pointing out how society has evolved and accepted more diversity in women and their personality while putting down the natural feminine traits, trying to label it as feminist; hating the character so many women grew with, resonated with and loved— Rachel, how did you mess up this bad?
Well, what did she say? “[Snow White] is not going to be saved by the prince, and she is not going to dream about true love, she is dreaming about being the leader she knows she can be.” Feminism is not about being everything but Snow White. It is about being everything, including Snow White, everything that you wanna be. If a princess wants to be a leader, sure she should be, but why does Snow White have to change herself for it?Hardly anyone does everything they know they can do. Isn’t this just a 21st century version of dictating what women can and should be? And about being saved by the prince — no human who trusted a seemingly harmless old woman and consumed poison, with effects that can only be undone if kissed by their love, can save themselves. Man or woman. Old Snow White or Rachel’s version. Blame her magic for it.
“… with a guy that literally stalks her”. The original film shows the prince twice. First, when he duets a song with her, she does run inside, startled not expecting him, but comes back out in the balcony, confirming her interest in him. She blushes vehemently, and goes on to kiss a pigeon who transfers it to him, silently validating his feelings. Second time, when he reaches her coffin and kisses her awake/alive. The film noted before his entry “… the Prince who had searched far and wide, heard of the maiden who sleeps in the glass coffin.” So arguably, he didn’t come knowing it was her. He was indeed searching, but for the woman who he had fallen in love with and who had reciprocated his feelings. He kissed her upon recognising her, maybe as a last kiss of goodbye, but magically she was awoken. So there was no stalking involved. Although I agree the prince was lowkey creepy in the book. We could work on his character.
Comparing her comments to Kristen Stewart’s, who also played Snow White with a twist in the original story, really shows the depth of understanding Kristen had about the role she had partaken in and I think that counts as being not just smart, but also committed as an actor.
“I think everybody knows that [Snow White] is good I think everybody knows that her basic characteristic is that she is very compassionate, and that she cares about people and sort of that. She’s like ultimately selfless and so to put that character that we all know really well, in a dangerous world and see if she can stay that way and obviously not just die, but also not become hardened, really kind of maintain that heart. I think it’s really female to play an action movie that’s really in your face and loud and I think it’s wrong, and I think it’s opposite of girl power. I think that she is essentially female, cause she’s steady through and through.”
Who would say they’re both talking about the same character? Apart from this, Rachel has also said a lot of controversial things which made her all the more unlikely, ultimately putting herself and the film in jeopardy.
If anyone needs a modern edge, I think it’s the evil Queen. She had based her entire self worth on her looks, even though she was the queen. She had no reason to be insecure, but she was intimidated by Snow White’s beauty, of everything. She seeked validation from a talking mirror, a male voice, maybe hinting at the patriarchy that places women’s worth so superficially and pits women against each other. Notice how Snow White never thought herself to be the most beautiful or placed her worth on her looks. Maybe the orginal film is actually feminist because the lesson we could take back from it is to be generous, caring and loving like Snow White, instead of being shallow and evil like the Queen, who died trying to kill an innocent girl due to her own facile insecurities.
I would like to add a few of my observations, things that made me fall in love with Snow White’s character. The first time she could’ve truly died, she didn’t, because the huntsman saw her being kind to a bird. He couldn’t bring himself to kill a person like her. So you need not be a fighter and leader to be able to fend for yourself. She’s an empath who quickly catches on to the mute animals’ conversations and the absent dwarfs lack of care in their lives. She never demands to stay with them because she the princess or a “helpless” woman, but earns her way in the house by offering to cook, clean and take care of them. It was also because of her kind-hearted nature that the birds, animals and dwarfs went above and beyond, on a thundering rainy day, to save her from the Queen, eventually causing her death. To me, Snow White reassures women that we needn’t be someone we’re not, just to fit into the world constantly dictating us who to be. We can survive by being our vulnerable, kind, soft selves and still have our happily ever after, however we want it to be.
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