Entertainment
How some Disney fans are treating Rachel Zegler makes me sick-Tori Brazier-Entertainment – Metro
The actress is being pulled apart for daring to voice criticisms of the original film, released 86 years ago.
Rachel Zegler has been subjected to a tirade from ill-informed social media users and Disney fans (Picture: Getty/Rex)
‘The internet is absolutely destroying Rachel Zegler, and rightfully so. Her hypocrisy, narcissism, and poor attitude are disgusting and unbecoming.’
That’s the caption one X (formerly Twitter) user wrote alongside a video blasting the 22-year-old actress’ views on the upcoming live-action Snow White remake she stars in, and suggesting she was contradicting herself – which she wasn’t.
‘She is NOT Disney princess coded,’ complained another person on TikTok underneath a clip slamming her comments in interviews about Snow White.
‘That girl gets uglier the more she talks,’ added another.
Her crime? Daring to criticise the original 1937 Disney animation, raising some perfectly valid points in the process, as well as revealing she had only seen the film once before landing the role after finding it ‘frightening’ as a child.
Those perfectly normal comments led to a storm on social media trying to bring the actress down. As a long-time Disney fan, it makes me – quite frankly – ashamed to be associated in any way with this group, as well as the online trolls fanning the flames of anger without any proper context.
With the Disney ‘fan’ community there is often a sense of gatekeeping, and apparently the actress does not meet their standards (Picture: Arturo Holmes/Getty)
The star’s comments on updating the 1937 version of Snow White have been interpreted by some as though she hates it (Picture: Snap/Rex/Shutterstock/Disney)
The West Side Story star – who already received some horrendous racist reactions to her initial casting – revealed in a since-resurfaced interview she gave back at the D23 Expo in September that the reimagining was updating the storyline concerning Snow White being rescued by the prince because it’s ‘no longer 1937’.
She also told a separate journalist that the original love story was ‘with a guy who literally stalks her’, which she branded ‘weird’ – again, I’m failing to see what the big problem is.
While I’m not sure I’d term what he does ‘stalking’, it’s a long-held view that their whole storyline is problematic by modern standards, seeing as he wakes her up from a magical slumber with a non-consensual kiss after she hasn’t seen him in a year.
Also, Snow White *is* scary, especially that sequence when she runs though that terrifying forest, filled with twisting, howling trees that are heavily influenced by the darker aspects of German Expressionism.
Zegler gave a handful of interviews at the D23 Expo in September 202, which are circulating on social media and taken hideously out of context (Picture: The Walt Disney Company/Getty)
There are a few factors at play here in fans’ reaction to Zegler’s remarks, but first let’s talk about the gatekeeping aspect. Many fans have been moaning online about the fact that Zegler is not a ‘true fan’ of Disney or Snow White and so therefore shouldn’t have been granted permission to star in the movie.
Apparently, how many times you’ve seen a film or how many facts you can reel off about it has become the most important factor when it comes to casting now, rather than talent or things specific to the part, such as age or looks.
‘Urgh… she’s only watched it TWICE in her life?! Nah… you gotta be a fan to even THINK about being this iconic character,’ moaned one fan online.
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Well, if I’d known that, I’d have been cast in one of these Disney remakes years ago (or maybe I’ll throw my hat into the ring for the upcoming Hercules). The point is, it’s ridiculous – and it also shows the Disney fandom at its gatekeeping worst.
The way some fans are whining, I doubt they’d be satisfied if Zegler somehow hopped into a time machine so she could claim she’d been a fan of the 1937 film *before* it came out.
The Disney community can sometimes feel like a game of one-upmanship – who knows the most, who’s seen the most, who’s been to the parks the most? Just grow up.
Secondly, the mean-spirited pile-on shows social media at its absolute worst too.
One of the most head-scratching reasons for this is an interview with Entertainment Weekly, where she said: ‘I was scared of the original cartoon. I think I watched it once and then I never picked it up again. I’m being so serious.’
That, to me, does not read as anything to hate on. But God forbid that should get in the way of a sniping article or pithy TikTok.
In one video, TikTokker @cosywithangie argues that ‘criticising Disney princesses is not feminist’ in response to Zegler saying that Snow White is ‘not going to be saved by the prince and she’s not going to be dreaming about true love – she’s dreaming about becoming the leader she knows she can be’.
There is now criticism for Disney moving the story away from Snow White being rescued by a prince (Picture: GTV Archive/Rex/Shutterstock)
Just to remind everyone, Zegler is starring in Snow White, she didn’t write or produce it and so therefore has no control over the storyline (Picture: Karwai Tang/WireImage)
Yes, the fact that Disney has opted to modernise the story away from its dated origins is now a problem apparently – despite it being so trendy not that long ago to moan that Disney was promoting dated ideals? I’ve got whiplash.
At this stage, it appears the studio is damned if they do and damned if they don’t. Also, Zegler is purely the mouthpiece for the movie in these interviews – she’s appearing as Snow White, but she is not producing the film, nor did she write the script.
I also don’t remember Disney scrapping the love story in The Little Mermaid in order to give Ariel more agency in the remake earlier this year – lead actress Bailey even said it had been altered so it’s not just her ‘wanting to leave the ocean for a boy’. She and Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King) still got their happily ever after though.
Of course, we must remember that social media doesn’t really have space for nuance, let alone taking into consideration the context of a complete interview – in all of them Zegler also talks about her emotional reaction to hearing people watching a sneak peek clip at the D23 Expo, or that she ‘wanted to throw up I was so happy about it’.
Halle Bailey made similar comments regarding Ariel and Prince Eric’s relationship in the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid (Picture: Giles Keyte/Disney)
Yeah, it really sounds like she hates Snow White.
People are entitled to their opinions when it comes to films and actors, but there’s something particularly cruel about what Zegler seems to be experiencing from parts of social media – it’s truly got out of hand.
To those participating in the pile-on who purport to be Disney fans – please stop it. You don’t speak for me, and I suggest waiting to actually see the film before coming to a decision on it.
At this stage, all I can say is I hope that Zegler is taking a life lesson from Disney herself in this situation, and that she will just keep swimming through this absurd storm in a teacup.
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