The Cultural Insanity Isn’t Over: ‘Snow White’ Edition
How Disney execs keep burning themselves
I keep hearing how the madness is behind us, but that message hasn’t reached many influential institutions. It hasn’t reached Harvard, Sundance, or the Oscars. Apparently, it hasn’t reached Disney either.
The studio can still summon some of that storied magic from time to time. Inside Out 2 was a huge hit. But these days Disney delivers a declining Star Wars franchise as well as plenty of titles that range from underperformers (Guardians of the Galaxy, The Little Mermaid) to flops (Strange World, Lightyear). After a disappointing opening weekend, the Snow White live-action remake seems poised to end up as another Disney dud.
As is so often the case, Disney execs keep burning themselves.
Once again, a Disney movie ignited another culture war skirmish. It probably wasn’t the smartest move for lead actress Rachel Zegler to rip the original movie’s plot or suggest that the prince was a stalker.
Then after October 7, the pro-Palestinian Zegler and her Israeli co-star Gal Gadot emerged as antagonists both on screen and off. The new Snow White has delivered so many dustups, but let’s focus on one — the dwarf controversy.
It’s emblematic of how today’s Disney dooms itself by making the same simple mistake over and over.
Snow White vs. the Seven Dwarfs
Peter Dinklage had already gained fame and fortune from performing in movies such as The Station Agent and Elf, but Game of Thrones cemented his status as the world’s most famous dwarf performer. So it’s no surprise that Disney execs paid attention when Dinklage called them hypocrites for casting a Latina actress in the lead role of a movie that he thinks infantilizes dwarfs. “You’re progressive in one way but then you’re still making that f—ing backwards story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together?” Dinklage said on Marc Maron’s podcast in January 2022.
Filming had yet to begin, and Disney suits quickly shifted into damage-control mode. They worked behind the scenes to try to mollify Dinklage and released a statement that declared, “we are taking a different approach with these seven characters and have been consulting with members of the dwarfism community.”
In an attempt to sidestep any gathering rage, execs opted for CGI dwarfs and began shooting at a studio outside of London. Then came a second blaze of controversy. After an on-set photo leaked, outrage erupted from the other side of the culture war:
The Snow White character walking through a verdant field trailed not by the dwarfs of tradition but by seven people of various heights and races and genders. The British press gleefully spread it far and wide. No matter that the seven were actors playing a crew of bandits from a separate plotline, the damage had been done. Observers reached an incorrect conclusion that Disney’s Snow White had traded in her dwarfs for a Benetton ad.
Disney tried to extinguish that fire by releasing an image from the film showing Zegler standing with the seven computer-generated dwarfs—see, no Benetton ad! But that move ignited another fire. Now Disney had enraged dwarf actors.
By choosing CGI over flesh-and-blood performers, Disney had erased a huge and rare opportunity for them. “This could have been a life-changing opportunity,” said Dylan Postl, a dwarf actor and WWE wrestler. “All of these dwarfs have separate personalities, distinct personalities,” he said. “It’s not ‘Snow White and the Seven Kinda Normal-Sized Humans.’”
We see the same story all over the entertainment industry.
In the name of progress, executives and casting directors routinely deny some of the most coveted roles to performers from minority groups. Never mind that all actors love to play villains, we can’t have black people play bad guys because we must champion positive representation!
With “allies” like those, who needs enemies?
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Dooming Themselves
So how did Disney execs get themselves into this mess?
Let’s start with the issue where they were the least culpable. Remember that misinterpreted “Benetton ad” photo that caused so much fury? Yes, Disney had already given critics many reasons to suspect that the company had been corrupted by social justice groupthink. But the phony photo controversy was manufactured by an anti-woke echo chamber that was more eager to rip Disney than report the story accurately.
Can’t blame the suits for that one, but you can blame them for other blunders.