Unimaginative reimagination

• 15.08.2023 10:44 UTC+02:00
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As Disney's reimagining of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, now just Snow White, comes under criticism for tokenised race-swapping of the titular heroine; re-characterisation of the dwarves; rewriting the story for modern audiences; and Rachel Zegler running her mouth in interviews, the BBC's very own entertainment and arts reporter, Emma Saunders asks: Has the fairy tale already gone sour?

Now, for anyone going into this expecting a balanced assessment of the pros and cons, where the adaptation goes right and where it doesn't stick the landing, remember this is the BBC. And this is a puff piece for Disney's production. A one-sided uncritical fluff piece from the it's all good, h8rz-b-h8n perspective, overlooking the fact that the Grimm brothers' story was a thing. Naturally, Emma's article is not open to comment; so here we are.

Firstly, there's nothing wrong in changing characters' racial identity, when the work is done to make it make sense. West Side Story, for example, takes the Italian Houses of Montague and Capulet, relocates them to mid-'50s Manhatten, and turns them into ethnic gangs; and it makes sense within the new story frame. On stage, Orson Welles transposed Macbeth from Scotland to the Caribbean, with an all-black cast and voodoo in place of witchcraft, in what became nicknamed Voodoo Macbeth. In comparison, Zegler's role is a simple brown-wash of a famously white-by-name, white-by-nature character without accommodation; it's lazily uncreative race-swapping for signal credits.

Then there's the question of removing the dwarves because flap‑flap‑flap and Peter Dinklage pulled the ladder up behind him. According to research conducted by Dr Erin Pritchard, senior lecturer in disability studies at Liverpool Hope University: a lot of abuse people with dwarfism experience in society is influenced by Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I have to take her views at face value, since I'm unfamiliar with her research, but a little context doesn't go amiss.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was originally written by the Brothers Grimm, of course, in the early 19th Century. Dr Pritchard adds: "How the dwarfs are portrayed in the animated classic differs significantly from the original Brothers Grimm version. They are infantilised and constructed as figures of fun, which were influenced by the freak show.

Emma Saunders, entertainment and arts reporter, BBC News

The dwarves were portrayed in the Disney classic, at least in part, as light comedic relief in an animation aimed at adults and children alike. As with much of the comedy relief added to films of the time, it comes across as pretty heavy-handed slapstick, almost cringeworthy now, and certainly something that's ripe for updating. The dwarves in the Grimm's original fairy tale were not humans with dwarfism though, but a folkloric humanoid race of short stature; not unlike their portrayal in Snow White and the Huntsman, or Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. So it can be done, it just takes the vision and will to do so.

As for Snow White not being a simple love interest waiting for her prince to come, but instead becoming the great leader that she's destined to be, wasn't that done in Snow White and the Huntsman already? It's hardly new and revelatory. Besides, when Dr Robyn Muir, lecturer in media and communications at the University of Surrey, opines that there doesn't always have to be a relationship in it. It's not the be-all and end-all, then substantiates this with the amount of war epics that don't include romance for any of the male titular characters, she seems to overlook that they were written from the ground-up from a specific story-telling perspective, rather than changing a classic fairy tale having true love as one of its elements. (It should be noted, however, that in the Grimm Bros telling, she wasn't saved by the prince or true love's kiss as such, but by one of his retinues who dislodged the poisoned apple from her throat.) Personally, I don't have a problem with girl boss who don't need no man—apologies for the double-negative; it's a meme, not my fault—but it's one of the changes that should be cause for stopping the pretence that this is related to the story of Snow White, in anything other than name taken in vain.

There's nothing wrong with adapting prior works, changing characters and story beats; passing off is disingenuous though. If you want to recreate a classic story, but not really because it offends you, or you want to put another spin on it, at least put the work in to make it work. That, however, takes real creative imagination, rather than by-the-numbers reimagination. The sort of creativity that's given us the likes of Forbidden Planet; Ever After; Frozen; My Own Private Idaho; and The Lion King, which were variously adapted from, or inspired by, classic works. Let's face it though, this Snow White isn't about bringing the Grimm brothers' story to life, it's about representación!(representación!) and gender politics under the guise of noble cause. No wonder Hollywoke writers fear AI, they bloody well should.

So, yeah Ems, just take the blue pill, and go back to Disney's marketing narrative. (whatever)

Scratching the surface: undeclared disclaimers, conflicts of interest

Saunders' interviewees only support one view on the upcoming film, and criticism towards it, framed within the hegemony of PaTriArchY aNd MisOGyNy™. And racism. And ableism. And Saunders takes this all at face value, regurgitating it without critique. (poop)

But there's always another perspective, and it doesn't have to be malicious; yet she's hardly sought to strike the balance. I wouldn't be at all surprised if her article was motivated by Disney's marketing machine, rallying the mainstream media to run cover for the film and its lead, in the face of social media backlash and a great deal of humour at their expense.

Still, at least I've learned that there's an International Journal of Disney Studies, First published in 2025 no less! One of Saunders' other interviewees, Brittany Eldridge, is its commentary editor. What Saunders doesn't declare is that the journal editor is none other than one Dr Robyn Muir, University of Surrey, who is also founder and director of the Disney, Culture and Society Research Network—yes, that is a thing. Curiouser and curiouser. (thinking)

Of course, that Dr Muir is the editor of a journal, and director of a research network dedicated to the House of Mouse, isn't incontrovertible evidence of bias per se; it simply shows us that she's attracted to Disney magic as a subject of academic study. Nevertheless, the fact that what could be seen as potential favour towards TWDC isn't openly declared in the article, is a mark of the BBC's standards and integrity.

Eldridge is also the DCSRN's head of communications, which might explain her unapologetic defence of Disney's changes: the whole point of fairy tales is to adapt and evolve. Unlike her, I haven't a research background in fairy tales, adaptations, culture, Queer representations, and literary theory; but I suspect that that's a view held by a fairly coddled, academic minority, and most people who grew up with fairytales in their childhood expect little or no change. For comparison, Disney's 1937 classic held true to the Grimms' version from over a century earlier—within the context of extending a short story to the 83 minutes runtime of a theatrical feature film.

Dr Erin Pritchard is a dwarf; dwarfism activist; and consultant to TWDC, who reviewed the film script to remove some of the problematic stereotypes.* Obviously no conflict of interest there then, either. (rolleyes)

So, three principal opinionists, all having a potential or actual vested interest in supporting Disney's Snow White project. None of this is openly declared in Saunders' article, which more or less amounts to nothing other than an advertorial in context. It's ironic that BBC Verify has been established to check the veracity and impartiality of its information sources…and yet doesn't.

I guess you know you can trust the world's most trusted international news broadcaster™…as long as you too swallow the blue pill, and don't think about it too much.