Opinion Express View on a latest Disney princess: A new Snow White
She is brown-skinned and not a damsel in distress. While she might upset a section of fans, her story might resonate with many more
Controversies have erupted frequently as Hollywood finally addresses demands for greater diversity. If the fairytale princess known as Snow White — so called because her mother had prayed for a beautiful daughter with “hair as black as ebony and skin as white as snow” — is played by a brown-skinned woman, can she still be Snow White? This question has gripped many fans of the 1937 Disney animated feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, ever since the production company announced a live action update featuring a young Latina actor in the title role. The furore resulted in racist trolling of actor Rachel Zeglar — reminiscent of what African American actor Halle Bailey encountered in 2019 for being cast in the lead role of Ariel in the live-action Disney film The Little Mermaid.
Controversies have erupted frequently as Hollywood finally addresses demands for greater diversity. Backlash has come in the form of online abuse, boycotts and review bombing (flooding websites with negative reviews of a film in order to bring down its rating). Given that fond childhood memories of family movie nights and Halloween costumes are involved — as in the case of Disney’s films — the response is especially severe.
The power of fiction, whether on the screen or the page, lies in its licence to reinvent, accommodate and expand. Recent film and television productions, such as Bridgerton, Star Wars and Ghostbusters, have shown how familiar stories can be enriched, and their pleasures deepened, by eschewing the artificial restrictions of race and sexuality. The updated Snow White — not only brown-skinned, but also an aspiring leader and definitely not a damsel in distress — may have upset a section of fans. But her story might resonate with many more.
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