Live-Action ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’

[TP2000]

I am very happy for your nephew, but what does this have to do Disney making a movie they say is a live action remake that does not resemble the classic.

All Disney needs to do is give this new movie its own unique title, and if they must, add "inspired by Snow White and the Seven dwarfs", that's all.

Bingo.

I came up with the lame title "The Fairest" a few days ago for that scenario.

Or maybe, seeing how great Gal Gadot looked in some of those preview clips, they should have focused this new story on her character arc and background instead? I thought Maleficent did that wonderfully.

And that "Apple???..." scene in the Disney dark ride scarred so many American children that it would've been an obvious hook for the marketing.

But the movie is already shot and in editing and headed to theaters next March. It's too late to redo it. Their best bet now is to simply retitle it and not call it "Snow White".

 

[LittleBuford]

To ask explicitly something I only alluded to earlier: Did people have a problem with the remake of Alice in Wonderland being thus titled when it strayed so far from the cartoon?

 

[TP2000]

To ask explicitly something I only alluded to earlier: Did people have a problem with the remake of Alice in Wonderland being thus titled when it strayed so far from the cartoon?

I doubt it. That was a movie vehicle for both Johnny Depp's and Tim Burton's signature styles, not the girl.

It was Johnny Depp starring in a Tim Burton film, from conception to marketing. Who even was the actress who played Alice in that film? Can anyone even remember? Mr. Depp got top billing and was clearly the star of the show.

 

[LittleBuford]

I doubt it. That was a movie vehicle for both Johnny Depp's and Tim Burton's signature styles, not the girl.

It was Johnny Depp starring in a Tim Burton film, from conception to marketing. Who even was the actress who played Alice in that film? Can anyone even remember? Mr. Depp got top billing and was clearly the star of the show.

Your argument appears to be that people were accepting of the identical name because they were already primed to expect something very different from the original. In other words, no-one went to the cinema with the notion that they would see a faithful remake of the animated feature whose name the film had borrowed (and it is borrowed directly from the cartoon, since Lewis Carroll's story is titled Alice's Adventures in Wonderland).

Why doesn't the same apply to Snow White? It's already out there that the film will be taking an approach unlike that of the original, so why are people so hung up over the title, which is, in fact, different from that of the 1937 film anyway? Put another way, if the things that are supposedly objectionable about the remake would be neautralised by a simple name change, perhaps they're not that objectionable to begin with.

 

[TP2000]

Your argument appears to be that people were accepting of the identical name because they were already primed to expect something very different from the original. In other words, no-one went to the cinema with the notion that they would see a faithful remake of the animated feature whose name the film had borrowed (and it is borrowed directly from the cartoon, since Lewis Carroll's story is titled Alice's Adventures in Wonderland).

I really can't speak for how people reacted 13 years ago to the Johnny Depp Alice In Wonderland remake. I don't remember anyone even talking about it, to be honest. I don't even remember a movie preview for it in the parks.

Thinking back to 2010, I remember us being really annoyed with the ugly new fall-protection fencing on the exterior of the Alice In Wonderland ride at Disneyland. But chatter about that movie? No clue. My guess is that because it was marketed as a "Johnny Depp Movie", no one cared who the girl playing Alice was or if she was now on a Leadership Journey instead of just a pretty girl who fell down a rabbit hole into Wonderland.

What was the new plotline for that remake? I assume Johnny Depp got most of the new plot's attention? He was the star.

Why doesn't the same apply to Snow White? It's already out there that the film will be taking an approach unlike that of the original, so why are people so hung up over the title, which is, in fact, different from that of the 1937 film anyway? Put another way, if the things that are supposedly objectionable about the remake would be neautralised by a simple name change, perhaps they're not that objectionable to begin with.

Who knows how or why things go viral like this? Would it have gone differently if Rachel Zegler hadn't been so smirky and immature with her "Weird, WEIRD" commentary on Walt's work that plays well in Faculty Lounges and DEI Workgroups but not in the actual fanbase of paying customers?

However it got started, it has clearly caught the attention of many people as those critical TikTok videos commenting about Zegler and Disney have racked up tens of millions of views now. It's a thing. It happened. Now Disney has to figure out how to respond to it by next March.

 

[LittleBuford]

I really can't speak for how people reacted 13 years ago to the Johnny Depp Alice In Wonderland remake. I don't remember anyone even talking about it, to be honest. I don't even remember a movie preview for it in the parks.

Thinking back to 2010, I remember us being really annoyed with the ugly new fall-protection fencing on the exterior of the Alice In Wonderland ride at Disneyland. But chatter about that movie? No clue. My guess is that because it was marketed as a "Johnny Depp Movie", no one cared who the girl playing Alice was or if she was now on a Leadership Journey instead of just a pretty girl who fell down a rabbit hole into Wonderland.

What was the new plotline for that remake? I assume Johnny Depp got most of the new plot's attention? He was the star.



Who knows how or why things go viral like this? Would it have gone differently if Rachel Zegler hadn't been so smirky and immature with her "Weird, WEIRD" commentary on Walt's work that plays well in Faculty Lounges and DEI Workgroups but not in the actual fanbase of paying customers?

However it got started, it has clearly caught the attention of many people as those critical TikTok videos commenting about Zegler and Disney have racked up tens of millions of views now. It's a thing. It happened. Now Disney has to figure out how to respond to it by next March.

You wrote all that and still didn't really respond to my post!

I think it's pretty apparent at this point that the "They should have called it something else" argument does very little to explain all the anger and outrage that people are expressing, especially given that they did call it something else.

 

[TP2000]

You wrote all that and still didn't really respond to my post!

I think it's pretty apparent at this point that the "They should have called it something else" argument does very little to explain all the anger and outrage that people are expressing, especially given that they did call it something else.

Anger and outrage are human emotions that are triggered naturally, and I doubt there's a scientific formula for them.

Two things angered and outraged Disney fans about this new Snow White movie; it started with that hilariously cringey photo of the Seven Hipsters, and then took off into viral-land with Rachel Zegler's smug and dismissive comments from last year's D23 Expo that she made about Walt's original 1937 work.

Why are fans of Walt's original Snow White story angered and outraged at it? Because... they are. It happened.

Disney needs to figure out how to fix this. They have six months. Perhaps one of the ways they fix it is by not calling the movie Snow White. According to Rachel Zegler, this new movie has a plot and character arcs that are very different from the 1937 movie that she herself finds so distasteful. So maybe don't call it Snow White?

If it's as new of a story as Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot said it is, perhaps it should have a new name?

Or... just barrel ahead without changing course, call it Snow White and claim in PR that it's the upgraded version, and when it flops blame the audience for being ists and phobes. But that seems like the riskier option, especially financially.

 

[LittleBuford]

Anger and outrage are human emotions that are triggered naturally, and I doubt there's a scientific formula for them.

Two things angered and outraged Disney fans about this new Snow White movie; it started with that hilariously cringey photo of the Seven Hipsters, and then took off into viral-land with Rachel Zegler's smug and dismissive comments from last year's D23 Expo that she made about Walt's original 1937 work.

Why are fans of Walt's original Snow White story angered and outraged at it? Because... they are. It happened.

Disney needs to figure out how to fix this. They have six months. Perhaps one of the ways they fix it is by not calling the movie Snow White. According to Rachel Zegler, this new movie has a plot and character arcs that are very different from the 1937 movie that she herself finds so distasteful. So maybe don't call it Snow White?

If it's as new of a story as Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot said it is, perhaps it should have a new name?

Or... just barrel ahead without changing course, call it Snow White and claim in PR that it's the upgraded version, and when it flops blame the audience for being ists and phobes. But that seems like the riskier option, especially financially.

Were they to change the title, the reaction would be only be further anger and outrage: "They hate the original movie so much that now they're erasing its name!"

Nothing Disney does will win over those who have chosen to feel this way (and it absolutely is a choice). All they can hope to do is minimise the bad PR among the larger cinema-going public, for whom this "controversy" is not nearly as emotionally charged.

For my part, all I'm hoping for is a film that's enjoyable to watch, regardless of how it does at the box office (and I don't think it'll do well).

 

[TP2000]

Were they to change the title, the reaction would be only be further anger and outrage: "They hate the original movie so much that now they're erasing its name!"

Well, that's a valid point. The horse seems to have left the barn on this one, so perhaps there's nothing they can do to fix it.

Still, I think changing the movie's name is still an available option for them. But, as you say, it could trigger further anger.

Nothing Disney does will win over those who have chosen to feel this way (and it absolutely is a choice). All they can hope to do is minimise the bad PR among the larger cinema-going public, for whom this "controversy" is not nearly as emotionally charged.

And that's the silver lining here, and reminds me that this was not some big conspiracy planned in advance. It was a viral sensation that was purely organic, like all real viral things are on Social Media. When you've got hundreds of millions of people involved on Social Media, you can't plan that or guide it. It's something that just goes all on its own.

They've got six months to recover, regroup, and relaunch this mega-budget movie next March. I wish them luck.

 

[Tha Realest]

Were they to change the title, the reaction would be only be further anger and outrage: "They hate the original movie so much that now they're erasing its name!"

Nothing Disney does will win over those who have chosen to feel this way (and it absolutely is a choice). All they can hope to do is minimise the bad PR among the larger cinema-going public, for whom this "controversy" is not nearly as emotionally charged.

The inherent problem is they want it both ways.

They want the benefit of a century’s worth of awareness and love for a certain IP, but then want to shoehorn in a modernist approach that some of the creators themselves view as a way to improve on the story that changes some of the fundamental aspects of the Disney film.

Will the end product balance this potential tension well? Who knows? Again, Disney owns Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.. That’s fine. They can do what they want with it. Based on how it’s potential audience perceives these changes, it too can make its own decision whether or not to pay to see it.

If WB decided to make a Batman film where his parents were never gunned down and he instead develops superpowers…cool? But you could see how audiences may not respond well.

 

[LittleBuford]

They want the benefit of a century’s worth of awareness and love for a certain IP, but then want to shoehorn in a modernist approach that some of the creators themselves view as a way to improve on the story that changes some of the fundamental aspects of the Disney film.

Which is no different from how they've framed a number of their other remakes, none of which have provoked this kind of reaction.

 

[Tha Realest]

Which is no different from how they've framed a number of their other remakes, none of which have provoked this kind of reaction.

I don’t believe many of their remakes were filmed out in the open, or had the sort of production leak that set them up for this sort of ridicule. Hard to get those photos in a green screen warehouse.

 

[HoustonHorn]

To ask explicitly something I only alluded to earlier: Did people have a problem with the remake of Alice in Wonderland being thus titled when it strayed so far from the cartoon?

My problem with Alice in Wonderland is that it was absolutely atrocious. Went with my wife and a buddy, and we walked out and each one of us wanted to leave half an hour in, but we all thought the others were enjoying it. It was a cathartic moment for all of us, and now if we hate something, we just leave.

 

[LittleBuford]

My problem with Alice in Wonderland is that it was absolutely atrocious. Went with my wife and a buddy, and we walked out and each one of us wanted to leave half an hour in, but we all thought the others were enjoying it. It was a cathartic moment for all of us, and now if we hate something, we just leave.

I didn't like it either. My point was only that I don't recall anyone criticising it for retaining the name of the film it (very, very loosely) remade.

 

[TP2000]

Which is no different from how they've framed a number of their other remakes, none of which have provoked this kind of reaction.

That seems to be where Rachel Zegler comes in and makes this story go viral.

Miss Zegler is simply not established enough or tenured enough in her industry to be so dismissive of Walt's original work. She's a recent high school graduate who has been in two mega flop movies so far, and that's not a solid enough resume' to take on Walt Disney and his 20th century team of artistic geniuses.

That she also made her little smirky faces and mugged for the camera as she rolled her eyes about how ancient and out of touch Walt must have been back in some mysterious year called 1937 didn't help her messaging. It made her unlikable.

There was plenty of anger and bafflement about this Snow White movie when that first photo of the Seven Hipsters dropped on Social Media already. Rachel Zegler's own formal interviews sent the story into overdrive in the following weeks. Now Disney needs to fix it. Somehow.

 

[erasure fan1]

Your argument appears to be that people were accepting of the identical name because they were already primed to expect something very different from the original. In other words, no-one went to the cinema with the notion that they would see a faithful remake of the animated feature

Well it's Tim freaking Burton. No one on the planet expected it to be anything but a Burton film. It's what he does.

so why are people so hung up over the title, which is, in fact, different from that of the 1937 film anyway?

Really they're not. It's the other stuff that caused the issues. People are talking about the name as something they should have done similar to Tangled.

Were they to change the title, the reaction would be only be further anger and outrage: "They hate the original movie so much that now they're erasing its name!"

Because at this point, too many dominoes have fallen. The only thing left for this film, is to hope that it's actually really good. They've lost a sizeable portion of the fan base, and they won't change their minds. When people talk about the name change it's not about doing it now. It's about what they should have done from the start so we wouldn't be having this issue. It was just a bad marketing plan.

And realistically, there isn't a scenario that I can think of that doesn't involve a large chunk of the fan base hating on the film. People are sick of these remakes. Even a lot of the positive verified top critics who gave mermaid positive reviews, questioned the need for the remake. I would fully expect a lot of negativity when any of the pending remakes come out.

 

[GimpYancIent]

I doubt it. That was a movie vehicle for both Johnny Depp's and Tim Burton's signature styles, not the girl.

It was Johnny Depp starring in a Tim Burton film, from conception to marketing. Who even was the actress who played Alice in that film? Can anyone even remember? Mr. Depp got top billing and was clearly the star of the show.

Mia Wasikowski.

 

[LittleBuford]

People are sick of these remakes.

You say that, but 2019 saw the release of two of the most lucrative remakes to date. Perhaps the tide has turned, but we don't yet have enough evidence to that effect.

 

[LittleBuford]

I can’t wait for the teaser - so many closeups of the witch, an apple, Snow White’s dress, and no mention whatsoever of no dwarves in the movie.

Why would they mention characters that aren't in the movie?

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

To ask explicitly something I only alluded to earlier: Did people have a problem with the remake of Alice in Wonderland being thus titled when it strayed so far from the cartoon?

You keep mentioning how different the Alice movies were and I'm struggling to remember what was so different about them, I haven't seen either in probably a decade so my honest recollection of both is Alice follows a rabbit, falls down a hole into a fantasy world, meets a bunch of strange characters (hatter, cheshire cat, smoking catterpiller, tweetle dee and dum, etc), has a run in with the queen of hearts, plays mini golf, drinks potions that make her big and small, has a tea party... I'm sure I'm missing a bunch of plot points but both movies seem to have shared all the big memorable scenes.

My memory of Snow White is probably equally as clif notes... the queen asks the mirror who's the fairest of them all, she wants to kill Snow because it said she is, Snow runs away and hides in the dwarfs house, she can speak with animals through song, the queen finds her and poisons her with an apple, the dwarfs battle the queen and she falls to her death, the prince kisses Snow and true loves kiss awakens her.

From what we've heard so far I'd be shocked if the new Snow movie even touches on 25% of the memorable plot points.

Both are very old movies so most people memories are probably going to be limited to the most memorable scenes, maybe my memory is worse than most but I thought the new Alice movie was very similar to the original.