The live-action version of Disney's classic animation Snow White is fast approaching its release. Long before its premiere, Snow White sparked considerable controversy due to Rachel Zegler’s casting in the lead role. In the original version of the fairy tale, the princess’s name directly relates to her skin color - "white as snow". And that’s the one feature the new Snow White won’t have. Zegler, who is proud of her Latina heritage, maintains her pride in her background. Disney, meanwhile, decided to explain the origin of the princess’s name in a completely different way.
Why Snow White Will Still Be "Snow White" - Disney Explains
The skin color of this fictional fairy tale character has proven to be a significant issue for audiences of the new adaptation. Halle Bailey, the Black actress who played Ariel the mermaid, faced backlash, and so has Rachel Zegler as Snow White. While Ariel is a completely fictional creature whose skin color doesn’t play a role (though it still ignited fierce online debates), Snow White’s case is different. The description of the princess from the Brothers Grimm appears in the very first lines of the story.
I wish I had a child white as snow, red as blood, and black as the wood of this frame
- wishes the queen.
Her wish comes true, and soon a "daughter white as snow" is born. "And so, they named her Snow White," write the Brothers Grimm. This literal description of the character was honored in Disney's first animation from 1937. Over the decades, Snow White, with her pale skin and dark hair, was the unquestioned standard. Although Rachel Zegler is not the first to break this trend (in smaller productions, Snow White has had red or blonde hair), she seems to have stirred the most controversy. It’s now clear how Disney solved the issue of the princess’s name origin. The connection to snow remains, but the context changes:
In one version of Snow White, there’s a story where the princess survives a snowstorm as a child. The king and queen then decide to name her ‘Snow White’ to remind her of her strength and resilience. This is also one of the key points in our film - that every young woman and person should remember how strong they truly are
- Zegler explained in an interview with Variety.
The actress also mentioned that Disney’s first Snow White was one of her mother’s favorites. This was due to the character's dark hair - dark-haired princesses were, to say the least, a rarity among Disney’s lineup of new princesses. After Snow White, Disney introduced four fair-skinned and blonde heroines: Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, and Belle. It wasn’t until Princess Jasmine in Aladdin that this pattern was broken, starting a series of films featuring non-European beauties. Before that, girls with darker hair and skin tone only had Snow White to relate to. "She was the only one my mom could identify with," Zegler recalls in the interview.
