Is Disney Finally Getting the Picture?
Studio's backpedal on live 'Snow White' images suggests precisely that
Artists are addicted to re-imagining classic stories, but that isn’t always a bad thing.
We didn’t know we needed another take on the Founding Fathers until “Hamilton” rocked the pop culture world. Creator Lin-Manuel Miranda shot the country’s founding through an aggressively diverse lens, giving us a fresh look at America’s origins.
Other re-imaginings have been far less successful.
Disney has been criticized for being too faithful to its classic tales, like 2016’s updated “Jungle Book” film.
The Mouse House shook up a few elements for this year’s “Little Mermaid,” leaning hard into the company’s woke brand in the process.
Now, what might be Disney’s most aggressively woke move is getting mocked on social media. The big surprise? The company indirectly acknowledges that audiences have had enough of its virtue signaling.
.@piersmorgan: The woke mob’s assault on Snow White and her seven dwarfs is far worse than anything Prince Charming did to her https://t.co/YJoDucl2AZ pic.twitter.com/t80WzXs2TL
— New York Post (@nypost) July 17, 2023
A few days ago images from the upcoming “Snow White” live-action update hit the web. The film stars Latina actress Rachel Zegler of “West Side Story” fame as the title character. We’re expecting to see the film sometime next year unless dueling Hollywood strikes alter those plans.
The film drew early headlines for a stunning decision by the film’s casting team. They feared hiring seven dwarf actors to play the story’s little heroes would be … problematic. They appear to have reacted to LP actor Peter Dinklage, the star of many hit projects like “Elf” and “Game of Thrones.”
Dinklage praised casting a Latina actress in the “Snow White” update but suggested using LP actors for the seven dwarfs would be insulting.
“It makes no sense to me. You’re progressive in one way, but you’re still making that f***ing backward story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together. Have I done nothing to advance the cause from my soapbox? I guess I’m not loud enough.”
Disney agreed.
“To avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film, we are taking a different approach with these seven characters and have been consulting with members of the dwarfism community.”
Some LP actors seethed at Dinklage taking away potentially plum roles for them, but the studio sided with the Emmy-winning actor.
Now, we’re seeing our first glimpse of Zegler’s character and her seven “friends.” The images inspired instant social media mockery. The figures include several people of color and two women. Only one appeared to be an LP actor.
The original “Dwarfs” from the classic 1937 movie were bearded male figures with names like Doc, Grumpy and Happy. The film’s IMDB.com page either doesn’t list the full cast or shows actors who don’t go by those classic, comical names.
‘Snow White’ Producers Circumvent Actors’ Strike By Casting 7 Random Hobos From San Francisco https://t.co/FpKRt6DauW
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) July 16, 2023
Disney brass immediately cried foul, saying the unauthorized images weren’t from the film in question.
Asked for comment on the brouhaha, a Disney spokesperson initially told The Daily Beast “the photos are fake and not from our production” and added that the Mouse House wanted a correction from the Mail.
Then, very soon thereafter, the Mouse House admitted the much-derided images are actually from the film’s production but weren’t official.
Studios routinely supply still images from movies, either near their release date or during the production process, for publicity purposes.
HATE ALL THINGS WOKE? YOU’LL LOVE THE HOLLYWOOD IN TOTO PODCAST
Why would Disney deny the photos were real in the first place? The mega studio realized the lack of dwarf characters generated scorn from potential movie goers. They wanted to deny the truth, to tell consumers the images they were laughing at weren’t tied to the upcoming film.
They lied, but they couldn’t deny reality for long.
The right-leaning New York Post’s editorial board piled on, mocking the company for wallowing in woke.
Finally, our corporate overlords have taken on the scourge of racism against magical creatures!
…It’s not stereotyping; rather, like all fairy tales, it uses the unreal to illuminate the far-too-real world we do inhabit.
This comes on the heels of the reeling Mouse House suffering yet another body blow. Its showcase summer film, “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” will cost the studio millions before all is said and done. The film will likely top out around $160 million at the U.S. box office, and overseas results haven’t been what they needed to make up for modest stateside sales.
Add that to the company’s slumping stock prices, theme part attendance woes, streaming sub losses and previous flops like “Lightyear” and “Strange World.”
Disney is in trouble.
Company CEO Bob Iger recently seemed to regret diving head first into the culture wars, another sign the company is beginning to understand the mess it’s made for itself.
It just might be too late to reverse the trend.
Is there any part of this that isn’t absurd? This is the dumbest remake idea I have ever seen, LOL
What part of this says to you , a complete moron, that they “ARE FINALLY GETTING THE PICTURE”? They literally made the film and then LIED about it.
Don’t expect folks to listen to you when you label them ‘moron.’ Would you?
Disney’s biggest problem isn’t that they’ve gone woke (although that is a BIG problem). Forty percent of the country is fine with woke. Disney’s biggest problem is that the content they’re producing is artistically bankrupt. What was the last unequivocally great movie that Disney or Pixar produced? By my estimation it was “Coco”. That was six years ago. Since then, Disney has been busy strangling Marvel and Lucasfilm to death, and can’t produce a decent film under its OG brand or it’s animation studio formerly famous for some of the most beloved animation franchises of the last 25 years. So their answer is to bastardize their timeless IP’s with divisive messaging, tedious storytelling, and dubious casting. Disney’s implosion will be the fodder of Business School case studies for generations once the full extent of this ongoing collapse is clear. Going woke means you’re alienating a huge swath of your audience. Making unwatchable movies means alienating everyone.
We used to be huge Pixar fans. I’d take my kids to the theater to see the newest film, and we usually fell in love with the stories and characters. I’d buy the DVDs, toys, t-shirts. So many lines from their early movies have become part of our normal family dialogue.
Sadly, we haven’t seen a Pixar movie in years. Why bother when they’ve chosen a woke agenda over good storytelling?
When they canceled Gina Carano, I canceled Disney forever. They make it really easy to walk away when they pull this kind of garbage. I’m glad they’re hurting.
If Disney wants to avoid stereotypes, Snow Whiteout and the 7 Mistakes should be Batgirled out of existence. Take a loss. The worse thing is another compromised movie remake that neither celebrates the original or finds a new creative approach for modern audiences. The rumored ending is pretty bad. She just hugs her merry men. No kisses. No longer with the prince, a random cad will go with her back to the castle. The Snow boss girl leads the way.
The problem with the “reimagined” remakes aren’t just that they’re insulting to those who loved the original movies and stories, but even if they weren’t insulting the original story, they’re just terrible movies on their own. Disney has become a shadow of it’s former self, with no real writers or producers. Just a hodgepodge of wokeism berating everyone who disagrees with them.
Yep! They should! They’re big on abortions at Disney, and, in this case, it would be considered A mercy… Abort, rat, abort!
Ah the problem is that they didn’t cast a black male, one legged, accordian player as snow white. As for the seven dwarfs they should have recruited the Harlem Globe tROTTERS TO STAY AUTHENTIC. dISNEY IS SO WOKE.