Snow White is an iconic Disney princess, and she’s a part of many of our childhoods. One could even even argue that she is one of the most well-known Disney princesses of all time.

Like other Disney cartoons in the past few years, Snow White is supposed to be getting a live-action remake. However, the movie — set for a 2024 release — is not entirely what fans of the princess were expecting. 

The 22-year-old actress Rachel Zegler was slated to play the role of Snow White for the upcoming live-action film. After her public interviews about the role, some fans were upset by statements she made about the role and the re-interpretation of the film.

When watching Zegler’s interviews, fans seemed upset with her lack of enthusiasm about having the privilege to star as such a huge Disney character. In one interview, she even says, “I was scared of the original cartoon. I think I watched it once and never picked it up again.”

As somebody who has the opportunity to play as one of the biggest Disney princesses in history, Zegler was not ashamed to reveal her lack of excitement. She even went to the lengths of talking about how the entire movie would not be at all similar to the original Snow White. Zegler said in one of her interviews, “It’s no longer 1937. She’s not going to be saved by the prince and she’s not going to be dreaming about true love.” 

This is where fans began to have an issue. For as long as we can remember, Disney princess movies have always been about love and putting an even more modern twist on an iconic film likely won’t have many fans thrilled. When watching a movie, especially made for children, you may notice that there is almost always a takeaway message within the film. These takeaway messages are mostly directed towards young girls to encourage them into being “independent” and “brave.” Although this is not a negative thing, it can, at times, be utilized in movies in ways that get misinterpreted. 

It is important to encourage young watchers to realize their power and independence, but those sort of takeaways should be slated for films that aren’t necessarily live-action remakes of older animated versions. Many people, including myself, believe that old movies should be left untouched, especially when entire storylines are changed decades later. 

Disney princess movies are supposed to be full of magic and love, so why would anyone want to take those things away? When re-making an original movie, it is important to have the cast passionate about their job and about the film. Unfortunately, this was not the case here with this live-action Snow White.

Hopefully after the new Snow White movie is released (if it still is), there is enough realization in the world where people can realize that these changes don’t always have positive feedback that they intend to get.