Jennifer Sparks 
A screengrab from 2025 'Snow White' film/Photo credit: Disney
Disney just dropped the official trailer for its upcoming live-action remake of Snow White, and fans are not having it. The infamous question posed, “Who’s the fairest of them all?” may be better suited as “Who thinks this film will break even?”
Faced with strife from the beginning of the film’s announcement, Disney may have an uphill battle with this new release. Multiple issues arose, starting with the choice of the actress to play the titular character, Snow White. Based on the 1937 animated classic, this version cast an actress of Latina descent rather than the fair-skinned German princess. Its star, Rachel Zegler, made waves when she supported a drastic change to the character, the original storyline, and even the beloved dwarves.
When the film was announced during the D23 Expo, Disney was not ready for the backlash. Zegler said, “The 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.”
This was not the first time Zegler slammed the film, claiming Snow White won’t be saved by her prince and won’t be dreaming of true love. Fans reacted calling the film “Snow Woke.” On Youtube, fans trashed Zegler, “How dare she think she can just change a timeless classic.” And, “Can someone fire her off this movie already? She clearly doesn’t want the job.”
To add further to the drama surrounding the film, fans viscerally reacted when they caught a glimpse of CGI dwarves, claiming they looked like technology from the early 2000s and borderline scary. Disney defended their decision to digitally cast Sleepy, Sneezy, Goofy, Bashful, Happy, Dopey and Doc rather than hire human actors to play the parts. Peter Dinklage, who has portrayed many characters with dwarfism including Game Of Thrones and Elf, expressed his dislike of the notion of hiring actors. Disney instead called the 7 dwarves, “magical creatures” in an effort to calm the concerns of Dinklage.
But Disney fans pushed back, commenting on the company’s YouTube page, “I’ll give Disney some credit. They are brave enough to leave the comment section open.” And another, “Disney: We are a diverse and inclusive company. Also Disney: We don’t hire dwarves.” And a third comment, “I’m rooting for the [poison] apple.”
Some fans struggle with change, as this movie is not the first to face criticism for updating a character or story. In 2023, fans didn’t appreciate a change to the main character in The Little Mermaid live action remake. Casting Hailey Bailey, who is Black, as Ariel, who is Caucasian in the 1989 animated film caused online backlash. Bailey handled the drama with ease, “I really don’t let that affect me. I mean, I grew up in Georgia. I’m from the deep south. Being a Black woman, in general, you just know the way things are and how people sometimes are just blatantly racist.”
Snow White opens in theaters on March 21, 2025. It also stars Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen.
Alex Tisdale 
Demanyé 
Dalila Benmakhlouf 
