Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the dumbest of them all?
Right now it has to be Rachel Zegler, the American actress who stars as Snow White in the new Walt Disney live-action remake of her own classic cartoon, itself a version of the famous Grimm fairy tale.
The 22-year-old rising star has given interviews, telling anyone who will listen about the serious flaws of the Disney original.
“It came out in 1937, and that’s obvious,” she snorted in a TV commercial. ‘There is a lot of attention for Snow White’s love story with a man who literally stalks her. Ha ha! Foreign!’
Elsewhere, she has said the new film is “not about the love story at all, which is really, really great” and has suggested that all of the prince’s scenes could be cut.
Rachel Zegler, 22, (pictured) has given interviews, telling anyone who will listen about the serious flaws of the Disney original
“Just because there’s a man in it doesn’t mean it’s a love story,” she said.
But what about Snow White herself? Radfem Rachel won’t let that lying, apple-cheeked, prince-burdening, midget-loving disgrace to feminism off the hook, will it? Of course not.
“I’m just saying it’s no longer 1937. Snow White won’t dream about true love – she will dream about becoming the leader she knows she can be,” she said.
So far, so depressing. Rachel Zegler has shown that she hasn’t just lost the plot – she didn’t even understand the plot in the first place.
And why bother participating in a remake of a beloved story if you feel so bad about it?
‘I was afraid of the original version. I think I saw him once and then never picked it up again. I’m so serious,” she said.
Real? I remember this animated classic as completely magical and I suspect many millions of women would agree.
It’s no secret, even though she wore a little red cape, that Snow White isn’t exactly Wonder Woman. No argument there.
Yet she was not a malevolent influence nor did she hinder female ambition, arguably.
“It came out in 1937, and that’s obvious,” she snorted in a TV commercial. ‘There is a lot of attention for Snow White’s love story with a man who literally stalks her. Ha ha! Weird!’ she said
Generations of women were enthralled by Snow White’s adventures, but that didn’t make us want to live in a cottage with seven little men and spend all day picking up their little socks. . . although Coleen Rooney came close.
The screenplay for this new Snow Woke version was co-written by Greta Gerwig – who just had a big hit with the Barbie movie – and filmed in England last year.
And it’s not just Rachel’s raving – presumably her feelings reflect cast and crew opinion – that suggest it will be so awake you could choke.
For example, there is no handsome prince – royalty smacks of elitism and inherited privilege, so he was canceled. Instead, we have a character named Jonathan played by Andrew Burnap. The Seven Dwarfs have been replaced by seven ‘magical creatures’, and location photos taken in a Bedfordshire field show them to be a melting pot of ethnicities and (I think!) genders, with only one actual little person among them.
Is this progress, tokenism, disparagement of the small human community, or none of the above? Mark my words, trouble is coming,” as Grumpy himself once said.
Part of the problem is that Zegler’s smug wokism not only recognizes the beauty of allegory in literature, the history of Central European folklore, and Walt Disney’s artistry in creating a masterpiece — it also refuses to acknowledge that not every woman wants to be a boss girl or a leader, determined to pursue power and prestige for herself.
Also that it is not anti-feminist to want to fall in love with a handsome prince and to long for a long and happy life.
In fact, what is anti-feminist and condescending is to suggest that those women who desire these things, to become perhaps mostly wives, mothers and housewives, somehow deserve less respect than corporate ballbusters and careerists, just like, well Rachel Zeller. And that’s a shame, because her own life has been a bit of a fairy tale itself.
Rachel was just 17 and still attending school in New Jersey when Steven Spielberg selected her from 30,000 applicants to star as Maria in his recent hit adaptation of West Side Story.
She went on to win a Golden Globe for the role at the age of 20. Everything in her future looked rosy – but it didn’t turn out that way. Since her controversial Snow White comments, there is
been a predictable online response. A clip has surfaced of Rachel crying and talking about the death threats she’s received, all of which would spark a pang of sympathy in the heart of even the wickedest of witches.
The seven dwarfs have been replaced by seven ‘magical creatures’ (photo)
“I signed up for that, didn’t I? But I never wanted to seem ungrateful for the opportunity,” she sobs.
But some say the footage is old and refers not to Snow White, but to controversial incidents or comments Zegler made in the past.
Which? Choose. She once mocked Britney Spears after the troubled pop star sent anguished tweets to a family member.
On another occasion, Zegler openly mocked playing Anthea in the superhero film Shazam! Fury Of The Gods, saying she only took the role because she “needed a job.”
Last week she was criticized again after she performed at the picketlines in New York, where writers’ and actors’ unions are striking against the big studios.
She told news crews, “Standing there 18 hours a day in the dress of an iconic Disney princess, I deserve to get paid for every hour it’s streamed online.”
Perhaps so, but her warm outlook seemed a little insensitive given that the strike is mostly about those creatives and film crew members who are paid exponentially less than actors and actresses.
Who knows what will happen next. Perhaps the new Snow Woke will be a scream and everyone will love it, although the omens are not good. How you long for the innocent days of Disney, when Walt just wanted to excite and entertain people.
Today, entertainment is not complete without audiences being repeatedly battered by the cudgel of correctness, while being told what to think of everything by some slip-up of a girl who wants to elevate her own virtue and status through the reputation and legacy of tear down others.
And maybe Rachel Zegler is learning to handle being in the spotlight better.
I hate to sound condescending myself, but she is very young and this is all very new to her.
But when Rachel embarked on her Disney journey, she couldn’t have imagined that the biggest damsel in distress would turn out to be herself.