Snow White: Scapegoating, Scandal, and the Death of Art Under Capitalism
When I was little, I was Disney-obsessed. I loved the songs, the stories, we had an endless stack of VHS tapes of all the classic movies. But my favourite Disney films were the princess stories, and my favourite princess? Snow White. To this day, I’m not sure why I resonated with her so much, but I do remember being enamoured. It’s a story I rarely return to as an adult, but Snow White still holds a special place in my heart. I was less than thrilled when I heard there would be a live-action reboot of the classic Disney film. It seemed to be another symptom of a dying arts and culture scene under capitalism. As the press for the film began, the movie became increasingly mired in scandal, with Rachel Zegler, the actress playing Snow White, being the target that the public directed their fury at.
Today, I want to offer a different perspective.
In 2022, the actress playing Snow White (Rachel Zegler) came under intense media scrutiny and was the target of social media hate trains due to comments she made about the original Disney film. Keen to show how the new, live-action Snow White is more feminist due to its straying away from dated tropes about women, Zegler described her iteration of Snow White as a fearless leader who doesn’t need a prince to save her. In other interviews, she talked about how the original film frightened her, so she had only watched it once before taking on the lead role.
People immediately labelled Zegler as ungrateful, bratty, entitled, a Snow White hater, amongst other labels typically thrown at young women in the spotlight. From my feminist perspective, I don’t think an updated version of Snow White is the feminist win Zegler postures it as. I think there is a problem of equating hyper-independence and leadership with liberation, when in reality, this is just another version of hollow, liberal, capitalist feminism.
Besides this, it's clear that what Zegler said was extremely innocuous and raises fair points that a film made 80 years ago is not in line with modern thinking. But of course, she became the target of the Conservative ‘anti-woke’ backlash. Pundits who despise feminism were jumping on the tired bandwagon of “why can’t anything just be traditional? Why did Disney have to go woke?” Exhausting, yet similar to how Halle Bailey was treated when she was cast as Ariel in the live-action The Little Mermaid, Zegler was subjected to large amounts of racism because she, as a Latina woman, was not ‘white’ enough to play Snow White, according to these right-wing reactionaries. It should go without saying that diverse representation in the media is of the utmost importance. It allows people from all backgrounds and communities to identify with strong, beautiful, funny and interesting characters, and the more diversity in the media we consume, the better.
However, along the lines of representation, there has been valid criticism raised by the disabled community about the filmmakers’ decision to make the seven dwarfs CGI instead of casting actual actors. Peter Dinklage said, “It makes no sense to me. You’re progressive in one way, but then you’re still making that fucking backward story about seven dwarves living in a cave together?... Have I done nothing to advance the cause from my soapbox? I guess I’m not loud enough.” Furthermore, Fats Timbo, a comedian, model and activist for those who have achondroplasia (a condition that inhibits growth) said of the live action remake: “Our representation is already small as it is - no pun intended. It's already limited. To erase that and use CGI, like we're mythical creatures or people that could be made on computers, it's disregarding us in general. Let's say kids have never seen somebody that has my condition, and they've seen a CGI version of me. It's going to be a bit baffling to children. It could have been a real educational piece to have actors that have the condition and give them the role they deserve.” These are, of course, very valid and real concerns, and added even more to the media frenzy regarding this film before it was even out of production.
And then there’s Gal Gadot, who portrays the evil queen in Snow White. Gadot is an Israeli actress who first gained recognition by playing Wonder Woman in the DC Extended Universe films. Gadot was the winner of Miss Israel in 2004 and served in the Israeli Defence Forces as a combat trainer for two years in the early 2000s. Gadot also appeared on the cover of Maxim magazine in 2007 as the poster girl for a new Israeli branding campaign.
Of this campaign, pro-Palestinian Israeli historian and political scientist Ilan Pappe wrote:
In 2007 a poster of an almost naked Miss Israel, Gal Gadot, and a poster of four fit young men, equally barely dressed, were the faces of Israel in a campaign named Brand Israel, commissioned by the government and the Jewish Agency for Israel. The young woman (Miss Israel 2004 and a recent star in the Hollywood blockbuster Fast and Furious) was meant to attract the heterosexual young American to a rebranded Jewish State, while the young men became the faces advertising Tel Aviv as the gay capital of Israel. One wonders how Theodore Herzl or even David Ben-Gurion and Menachem Begin would have regarded this presentation of Zionism as a soft-porn wet dream. But policymakers had decided that anything and everything was appropriate in the struggle to fend off Israel’s negative image.
Epilogue of Pappe’s 2014 book, The Idea of Israel: A History of Power and Knowledge.
Clearly, this was propaganda aimed at ‘Western’ audiences, meant to portray the IDF as a group of hot, attractive people to boost Israel’s ‘brand’ and distract from their incessant war crimes, and Gal Gadot was the face of it. Gadot herself is an ardent Zionist. Since the Hamas attacks of October 7th and the subsequent genocide of the Palestinian people committed by Israel, Gadot has only become more vocal in her support of Israel. In an interview with Variety, Gadot said of her pro-Israeli stance, “When your compass is clear, your conscience is clean. I know what I’m advocating for, and I know what I wish for the world.” If that’s the case, here is what she is comfortable supporting: collective punishment, the internment of children, apartheid, illegal settlements, the destruction of people’s homes and schools, Israel’s complete control over Palestine's water, electricity and essentials of life, war crimes, famine, ethnic cleansing and genocide? And that's not even half of it. Her 'compass' is pointing to the erasure of the Palestinian people.
I bring this up because Gal Gadot is a deeply political figure who has been allowed to express her views freely as this film has been rolled out. Yet, when Rachel Zegler said ‘Free Palestine’ in a thread of tweets thanking audiences for watching the trailer for Snow White, she was chastised by the film’s producer, Marc Platt. In an Instagram comment made by Jonah Platt, Marc Platt’s son, it became clear that Zegler was going to become the scapegoat for the movie’s inevitable flop:
The Platts are also staunchly Zionist, with Jonah Platt hosting a podcast called ‘Being Jewish with Jonah Platt,’ in which he regularly discusses why he supports the state of Israel. As a note, it seems that Ben Platt, another of Marc Platt’s sons, is more open to criticising the state of Israel and separating Zionist ideology from the Jewish religion. Zegler being the scapegoat was less about her expressing political beliefs, but more about expressing a political belief that Marc Platt does not like. It’s unfair that Zegler is being blamed for Snow White’s failure when she has consistently been the one thing that critics like about the movie. Take, for example, Tyler Taing of DiscussingFilmsaid, “Aside from Rachel Zegler’s powerhouse performance, there is little else to enjoy from this clumsy, poorly conceived and cynical live-action Disney remake. Even Gal Gadot’s hilariously bad line reads are not worth the trip to the theatre.”
As previously stated, this film’s entry into the world has been coloured by its own unique set of scandals and controversies. But, looking at the broader picture, I want to question why this film had to be made in the first place. I’m sure you’ve noticed it too, but it feels like the film industry has become so stale over the last decade or so, with only one or two big-budget films a year being genuinely creative and interesting.
Here are the highest-grossing films of the last decade:
Avengers Endgame (2019).
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015).
Avengers: Infinity War (2018).
Jurassic World (2015).
The Lion King (remake) (2019).
The Avengers (2012).
Furious 7 (2015).
Frozen II (2019).
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015).
Black Panther (2018).
Do you notice a trend? All of these films were distributed by either Disney or Universal, emphasising their almost monopolistic hold over the film industry. There is nothing inherently wrong with any of these films, and they were all extremely popular. But, increasingly, it seems that film creation (for these already gigantic corporations) is no longer about art or telling a story, but more about creating what will generate the most profits. Regardless of whether they are good films or not, I think we are better served by questioning why these are the main types of films being made: endless spin-offs from ever-expanding universes or live-action remakes of old, beloved films. Capitalism is motivated by one thing only: what will maximise shareholder profits. That’s it. Every decision under capitalism is made to maximise shareholder profits, and any negative or positive consequence of those decisions is just a byproduct. To me, and it sounds cynical, the live-action version of Snow White was made with the sole purpose of making money, as were all the other live-action reboots of Disney classics (Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, The Lion King, Mulan, Aladdin, The Jungle Book, The Little Mermaid…) I really enjoy some of these movies, but at their core they are low-risk, high-reward investments from these production companies who bank on the fact that people know these stories, they love these stories, and they have a nostalgic, childhood tie to these stories which in turn ensures packed out cinemas on release day.
Creatively, a live-action reboot of a beloved tale is a safe bet. But is it good for art? I would say no. A key component of art is the fact that it is divisive; some people may not like it, and it may ‘fail’ (not produce enough money). All this to say, my view would be that capitalism stifles true artistic expression as so many stories, whether they be told through movies, music, the theatre or physical art, will never be heard because independent artists are increasingly pushed aside in this capitalistic climate in favour of blockbusters the studios are certain will be a smash hit. There is no longer artistic risk, thus diminishing ingenuity and creativity, and without those, our society will continue to be stuck in a monotonous loop where the same style of art gets made over and over again.
