Someday a good Disney remake will come … but this isn’t it. The modern Disney Co. shouldn’t have remade “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” — it has lost the innovative genius, the artistry, and the appreciation for Western classics that made Walt Disney’s original film one of the most iconic and beloved movies of all time.
Yes, I know, everyone is tired of hearing about Rachel Zegler, the Wokest of Them All, but since the original Snow White (still one of the highest grossing films of all time) is a personal favorite of mine and it’s the weekend, let’s examine what used to make Disney movies great, and why they no longer are. The company lost something for which no amount of money and advertising can make up. Bob Iger is no Walt Disney, Rachel Zegler is no Adriana Caselotti, and the Seven CGI Nightmares are as painfully unnatural as the original animated dwarfs were delightful.
After Walt’s premature death, the Disney company struggled, but did subsequently find success with films such as “The Lion King,” “Monsters, Inc.,” “Robin Hood,” and “Tangled.” The movies and theme parks continued to be innovative, the songs were clever, and the characters memorable. Disney collaborated with other successful companies and franchises, for instance Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars.
Then something changed. The company became woker and woker, more interested in promoting LGBTQ ideology (which would have appalled conservative, Christian Walt) and CRT, more dedicated to having certain quotas of weapon-wielding women and minorities, than in producing clever, unique, popular content. Walt Disney was a civil rights supporter — he starred a black man (James Baskett) and lobbied for him to win an Oscar back when that was still taboo, and he was one of the only Americans to have successful goodwill initiatives in South American nations — but he was more interested in stories and characters than in race and politics.
Related: James Baskett: History-Making Actor and ‘Uncle Remus’
That is true no longer. That is why Disney should never have tried to remake Snow White. They haven’t the mindset to do so successfully. Almost all of Disney’s live action remakes have been mediocre or horrible, and one of the few that was excellent, “Cinderella,” was a rare instance of a modern Disney movie putting talent over leftist ideology, and relying on characters and artistic backgrounds rather than checking off DEI boxes. The new “Snow White” seemed likely to be wokeified from the beginning, because Disney bragged about casting an actress who isn’t white skinned. The emphasis was on skin color, not talent. It’s not racist to be surprised that Snow White isn’t snow white, actually — this is one of the rare fairytales with a detailed description of the heroine. In any case, it has since become clear that Disney was bent on ruining its own classic.
And of course, it was all downhill from Zegler’s casting. First, Disney tried to be very woke by having non-dwarf actors; then, when that raised ire, it created CGI dwarfs who look like players in a drunk’s nightmare fantasy; then the star kept making idiotic comments about what a radical feminist she (and her character) was, how she supported jihad-loving Palestinians, and especially how she hoped Trump and MAGA would “never know peace.”
The original voice of Snow White, Adriana Caselotti, not only looked like her character, but acted like her. Adriana seems to have been very generous publicly toward Walt for not treating her well contractually; she was cheerful and bubbly, and she loved to share the joy she had in her role with others. She was Snow White, but Zegler is the anti-Snow White; angry, sour, entitled, whiny, and misanthropic. Nor is Gal Gadot, though beautiful, as talented an actress as the original Wicked Queen, Lucille La Verne. And the prince has reportedly been relegated to a supporting role instead of the climatic hero in the new version. Plus, one look at the CGI dwarfs tells us that the exceptional artistry of the original movie is not equaled by the remake.
The modern Disney Co. has lost its magic touch. And until and unless it is awakened from the cursed sleep of wokeness, it will never create again such classics as once made Disney’s films world famous.
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