What is the controversy behind the Snow White film? Everything explained

Disney's live-action films have rarely been immune to criticism and controversies at the hands of fans and the media. Even then, hardly any film comes close to the intense scrutiny Snow White has been under, with less than two weeks to release.

Starring Rachel Zegler as the titular princess, Gal Gadot as the antagonist Evil Queen, Andrew Burnap as the Prince Jonathan and CGI enhanced dwarves, the film has been a part of multiple controversies as fans have consistently expressed their disapproval with the project. The backlash has even resulted in Disney going for a low profile premiere for the film.

Snow White is one of Disney's most beloved works, as it was the first ever animated film the studio worked on. The titular princess was also the one to kick off the Disney Princess phenomenon. Here's how the film found itself at the crux of severe scrutiny.

Rachel Zegler's casting

Many expressed disapproval at Rachel Zegler's casting as Snow White. Opinions on Zegler, who is of Colombian descent, not fitting into the description of the Disney Princess' 'white as snow' skin surfaced online as she continued to fight back.

Speaking to Variety in October, the actress talked about the relevance of Snow White's name and said:

“It fell back to another version of ‘Snow White’ that was told in history, where she survived a snowstorm that occurred when she was a baby. And so the king and queen decided to name her Snow White to remind her of her resilience. One of the core points in our film for any young woman or young person is remembering how strong you actually are.”

However, in the original Grimms fairytale, the story starts with Snow White's mother pricking herself with a needle as she wishes for a daughter as white as snow with lips as red as blood. The original quote says:

"How I wish that I had a daughter who had skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood and hair as black as ebony."

Controversy surrounding CGI made dwarves

Disney did not cast any real life actors with dwarfism and instead used CGI to create the seven dwarves for the film, leading to even more backlash. This even caught the attention of actor Peter Dinklage who criticized the project for not being inclusive. Talking on Mark Maron's podcast, the actor said:

“I was a little taken aback by [the fact] they were very proud to cast a Latina actress as Snow White. but you’re still telling the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”.

He further added:

“You’re progressive in one way but you’re still making that f*cking backward story of seven dwarves living in the cave. What the f*ck are you doing, man? Have I done nothing to advance the cause from my soapbox? I guess I’m not loud enough. They were so proud of that, and all love and respect to the actress and the people who thought they were doing the right thing but I’m just like, ‘What are you doing?’”

This criticism was responded to by Disney, who claimed that they refused to cast actors for the roles to avoid any stereotypes from the original animated film.

“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. We look forward to sharing more as the film heads into production after a lengthy development period.”

Rachel Zegler's criticism of Snow White

The most dominant factor in the film's controversy lies in Rachel Zegler's statements about the original 1937 film where she criticized it for being weird and also told fans that the Princess' love story will not be a prime factor of the story, even jokingly adding that all of Andrew Burnap's scenes could get cut. Talking at the D23 Expo in 2022 she said:

"The original cartoon came out in 1937 and very evidently so. There's a big focus on her love story with a guy who literally stalks her. Weird! Weird. So we didn't do that this time. We have a different approach to what I'm sure a lot of people will assume is a love story just because we cast a guy in the movie, Andrew Burnap, great dude. [...] But it's really not about her love story at all, which is really, really wonderful. [...] All of Andrew’s scenes could get cut, who knows? It’s Hollywood, baby!"

Intense backlash followed as the film was branded as a woke project that flipped over the much-loved classic. Zegler later clarified herself and added that her statement was taken out of context and that the love story is an integral part of the film. Talking to Variety in 2024, the actress said:

" It can be very upsetting when things get taken out of context or jokes don’t land. The love story is very integral. A lot of people wrote that we weren’t doing [that storyline] anymore — we were always doing that; it just wasn’t what we were talking about on that day.”

The actress has also directly responded to the criticism the film has been getting as she spoke to Vogue Mexico about feeling honored to be a part of a project that people are so passionate about. Zegler said:

“I interpret people’s feelings about this film as a passion for it. What an honor to be part of something that people feel so passionate about. We’re not always going to have the same feelings as everyone around us, and all we can do is give the best of ourselves.”

Snow White is all set to release on 21 March, 2025.