The film is set for release next year. But Zegler, who stars as the title character, has been the subject of online discourse after several interview clips from last year emerged.
Disney’s live action remake of the 1937 cartoon “Snow White” isn’t scheduled for release until March. But its lead actress, Rachel Zegler, is already at the heart of a social media controversy over comments she made last year.
Interview clips of Zegler from September have resurfaced on social media, where people are criticizing her comments about the film, the title princess and the Prince Charming character.
In a sound bite that has gone viral, Zegler suggested scenes featuring her co-star Andrew Burnap, who plays Prince Charming, could be cut from the film. In another sound bite that has become the center of discourse, Zegler described her version of Snow White as a leader who doesn’t need a prince to save her. She also told an interviewer that she saw the original film only once before she was cast because she found the film scary as a child.
On TikTok, some users said they think that in an effort to make Snow White more feminist, Zegler inadvertently assigned antifeminist sentiment to the character. Others used the viral discourse to bash Zegler, a Latina actor who has already faced racist backlash to her casting in the live action remake.
Representatives for Zegler and Disney didn’t respond to requests for comment Monday.
What exactly did Zegler say in the interviews?
The clips that have been shared to social media show tightly edited segments of Zegler’s interviews, which don’t always include all of her thoughts about the film.
In an interview with Variety in September at the Disney Fan Club’s D23 Expo, where fans got a first glimpse of the new “Snow White,” Zegler said she cried and was overwhelmed when she saw herself on the screen as Snow White. She then praised crew members who helped make the film possible.
But on social media, people zeroed in on her response to being asked about bringing a “modern edge” to the story of “Snow White.”
“I just mean that it’s no longer 1937,” Zegler said. “We absolutely wrote a ‘Snow White’ that … she’s not going to be saved by the prince, and she’s not going to be dreaming about true love; she’s going to be dreaming about becoming the leader she knows she can be and that her late father told her that she could be if she was fearless, fair, brave and true.”
Another interview at the D23 Expo was also scrutinized on social media. In the sound bite, Zegler told Extra TV that there’s a big focus on Snow White’s love story in the original film “with a guy who literally stalks her.” She called that part of the story “weird” and said they “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,” she said. “It’s really not about the love story at all, which is really, really wonderful.”
She joked that all the scenes featuring Prince Charming “could get cut,” adding: “Who knows? It’s Hollywood, baby.”
In a third interview, which Entertainment Weekly published in September, Zegler said she was frightened by the original 1937 film and didn’t revisit it until she was cast as Snow White.
“I think I watched it once and never picked it up again. I’m being so serious,” she said.
Why are people saying Zegler’s comments aren’t feminist?
In a TikTok video that has been viewed 9.5 million times, a user said criticizing Disney princesses is “pseudo-feminism.”
“Criticizing Disney princesses is not feminist. Not every woman is a leader. Not every woman wants to be a leader. Not every woman wants or craves power,” said the user, who goes by the handle @CosyWithAngie. “And that’s OK.”
She didn’t respond to a request for comment. In her video, she said she believes it isn’t antifeminist for a woman, fictitious or real, to want to fall in love, get married, stay at home or be soft.
Another user’s video got almost 3 million likes. The user, who goes by the handle @ShikaLord, argued that Disney princesses don’t have to be turned into “girl bosses” and that their original stories didn’t intend them to be.
