Disney yet again announced another live action revision for one of their princess stories, and fans have had various mixed responses. Between being accused of going “too woke” and also shamed for making, what seems like hundreds of new live action movies, rather than just coming up with their own ideas with new princesses. So, what’s the deal with all these controversial remakes?
Image credits to Richard Nebens, The Direct
If we look back a few months, I’m sure we all remember “The Little Mermaid” live action that took the internet by storm, in both good and not so good ways. I believe, following this announcement, is where the live action boom started.
If you look at the facts, when they revealed live actions such as “Cinderella” or “Aladdin,” nobody seemed to care much, they didn’t get as much online attention as it’s unknown upcoming predecessor.
However, that might not be such a bad thing. They say all publicity is good publicity, but openly racist remarks and derogatory statements don’t leave you with the best feeling. I’m sure lead actor Halle Bailey can agree after she was declared to be playing Ariel in Disney’s upcoming little mermaid live action.
Despite the undeserving hate the movie got pre-release and it turned out extremely successful, with a 94% audience approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and breaking a platform record on Disney+ following its streaming service publish.
If this is the case, does the internet have such hope for the freshly declared “Snow White” live action said to come out in 2024?
The short answer is no, and that is for a magnitude of reasons.
To start out, we can look at the most surface level change, the title itself. The previously called “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” is being changed to just “Snow White.” Disney claims this name change is due to “taking a different approach to avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original film,” and of course this angered a number of people, calling out Disney for being “too progressive.”
The most contentious thing about this upcoming film that has people of every party angered with Disney has to be the actress revealed to play Snow White herself, Rachel Zegler.
First, it’s safe to say one of the biggest critiques is again race. Rachel is of Colombian and Polish heritage, leaving her with a Latina appearance, which has, for some racist reason, left Disney enthusiasts fired up. They claim the princess is described to have “skin as white as snow,” so the darker brown pigment Zegler possesses is simply too much for them to handle.
However, Rachel isn’t as innocent as she’s set out to be, and this is due to the extremely tendentious comments she has made regarding the original story itself. She claims in this reboot Snow White 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.” In other interviews, she calls Prince Charming a creep and weird, also joking about scenes of him getting cut out all together.
Of course, this absolutely set off the internet, and claimed she was “shaming anyone who liked the original film” as well as criticizing Disney for again going too “woke” and “feminist.”
Tiktok user @CosyWithAngie states, “Criticizing Disney princesses is not feminist. Not every woman is a leader. Not every woman wants to be a leader. Not every woman wants or craves power. And that’s OK.”
That video getting over 1.7 million likes seems to be a sign that others definitely can identify with this view as well.
The main problem with these remakes is the fact that they are never going to be exactly like the original, it’s impossible to turn a cartoon to real life and have it as a carbon copy. As well as turning an older film into today’s society, there are different views and beliefs, however the internet will always claim it as “woke” if you try to accommodate this and add in fresh ideas.
Disney is trying to nostalgia bait and rake in more money by making a new twist on ideas they have already used, rather than spending the energy and resources it takes to come up with a new project, and until they start doing that again for our new generation to enjoy, they will receive backlash for their projects, because they are capitalizing off of the adults who originally enjoyed these stories, instead of the kids who should be now.
On a more positive note though, there is one new live action that has recently won over the hearts of thousands of fans, contradictory to the worried outcry the trailer gave viewers; the One Piece live action.
One piece is an original manga made by Eiichiro Oda, which has gotten an anime adaption with over a thousand episodes and numerous movies. The newest installation to this series being a live action reboot to the original story.
First announced in July 2017, a trailer only came out several months ago, and it left many manga lovers in despair and unsatisfied. With the live action being produced by Netflix, it already gave fans a negative look on it, with Netflix being notorious for its disappointing abominations they called live action anime adaptations.
Despite the criticism it received, when it was released it immediately shot to the #1 spot on Netflix’s TV show charts and got overwhelmingly positive reviews from all different viewers. Both original manga lovers and new fans that had never watched or read the series before it was praised from all sides on how amazing it truly was. I myself have watched it, and I can say first hand it exceeded my expectations.
With this, that leaves us on a more positive live action note, and let’s hope whatever new adaptations come out in the future can leave us as satisfied as One Piece or The Little Mermaid did.
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