No, Disney Did Not Cancel Its Upcoming Live-Action Snow White Adaptation
When Disney finds a trend that makes money, the company will more or less run it into the ground. If the Marvel Cinematic Universe is doing well, it will continue to churn out feature films and TV miniseries until the market is oversaturated. If "Pirates of the Caribbean" is successful, it will try out all the sequels, "Lone Rangers," and "John Carters" they can to emulate the same success. Over the last several years, Disney has struck gold with a series of big-budget remakes of its well-worn animated classics. "Aladdin," "The Lion King," "Beauty and the Beast," "The Little Mermaid," "Dumbo," and multiple others have been remade to the enthusiasm of audiences and to the indifference of critics.
Due for release on March 22, 2024 is Marc Webb's "Snow White," a live-action remake of the 1937 film "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," originally directed by David Hand, Perce Pearce, William Cottrell, Larry Morey, Wilfred Jackson, and Ben Sharpsteen. The exact plot of the new "Snow White" has not yet been released to the public, but it has been announced that Rachel Zegler from "West Side Story" and "Shazam! Fury of the Gods" will be playing the title character. Gal Gadot will be playing the film's Evil Queen, and the character of Grumpy will be played by Martin Klebba.
The casting of Zegler, a Latina actress, has sparked a dismayingly predictable "backlash" from internet racists. There is a tendency by fringe groups and conservative TikTok users to use the presence of non-white actors in Disney remakes as a springboard for racist observations, white supremacist talking points, and the "evils" of diversity. Some fringe-dwellers have tried to foment rumors that "Snow White" was so hated that Disney, in fear, canceled the film entirely.
Disney did not cancel the film. It's opening as planned.
Snow White is not canceled
The word "woke" has become a buzzword in extreme conservative circles as an indicator of anything objectionably left-wing. The original meaning of the slang term was meant to imply being awakened and hence open-minded, aware, and sensitive to the many racial and political injustices in the United States. It didn't take long before the extreme right-wing reappropriated the term as a slur, however, and henceforth expanded its pejorative meaning to include anything they might object to. It got pretty bad pretty quickly.
Any sort of compassion or helpfulness toward non-white people, the queer community, or the teaching of America's history of slavery has been branded as "woke" by bigots. According to their twisted logic, "woke" things are worthy of censure or just outright criminalization.
One might see conversations about "Snow White" including the term a lot, and it will look familiar to anyone who was paying attention to the fringe when "The Little Mermaid" was released a few months ago. Many have also dogpiled on Zegler for several recent interviews wherein she criticized the 1937 film for being dated. Zegler admitted she wasn't a fan of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," saying that it was most certainly ready for an update. The son of one of the 1937 film's directors lambasted the actress for her comments and his perceived "wokeness" of the 2024 film.
Rumors about a potential "Snow White" cancelation began to swirl a few days ago thanks to a satirical article written on the Disney-critical, right-wing comedy website Mouse Trap News. That site, openly making up the story, announced that there were too many controversies surrounding the film and that Disney had finally given up on "the appearance of being progressive," choosing to shelve a completed picture.
It was a joke.
Peter Dinklage's criticisms
There were other criticisms of a new "Snow White" film besides. Actor Peter Dinklage pointed out that the original "Snow White" story, written by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812, depicted people with dwarfism as fantastical beings that only existed in fairy tales. Dinklage said on a podcast, transcribed in The Wrap, that "Snow White" can't really be made in a progressive fashion as the original story is so regressive at its core. "You're progressive in one way and you're still making that f***ing backwards story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together, what the f*** are you doing man?" Dinklage said. "Have I done nothing to advance the cause from my soapbox? I guess I'm not loud enough."
Dinklage made his comments, however, before set photographs revealed that the "seven dwarfs" characters had been reimagined as one dwarf character and six non-dwarf characters. Naturally, those on the extreme right, in a 180-degree opposite standpoint from Dinklage, began to complain that the excision of dwarfs from "Snow White" was another sign of poisonous progressivism.
Rumors one might hear about the cancelation of "Snow White" are 100% untrue. Disney has made no statements to that effect, and no one working on the film has provided any information to any legitimate or illegitimate press outlet about "Snow White" being shelved. This has been verified by Snopes. Anyone claiming to have "the inside scoop" is merely lying, and those who claim that the bulk of the planet hates Disney's progressive tactics are merely expressing their own personal opinion.
The most frustrating element in all of this is that no one has seen "Snow White" yet, and all of the above opinions are based on assumptions. No one will know the politics or the quality of "Snow White" until March 22, 2024. Until then, maybe everyone can chill out.