Snow White (Live-Action)

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Disney Duster
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Re: Snow White (Live-Action)

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I think casting someone who isn't white in the part of Snow White is really wrong, but it could be worse. UmbrellaFish, Disney did even actually retain the important white skin detail of Snow White in their animated film, along with her red lips and black hair.
Last edited by Disney Duster on Wed Jun 23, 2021 11:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Snow White (Live-Action)

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nomad2010 wrote:My real point of concern is hiring Pasek and Paul instead of Menken who clearly can mimic the sound to perfection like he did in Enchanted.
I agree, Menken and Schwartz would have been perfect for this film, but I'm not surprised they weren't approached. It's a struggle to get Disney to hire Menken for remakes of his own work, let alone offer him one he had nothing to do with. Not to mention, Disney is known for chasing trends and up-and-coming talent and in 2016 when the project was first announced Pasek and Paul were very much in the spotlight.
nomad2010 wrote:It makes me wonder if maybe they aren’t sonically going to rework the sound of the original songs as well to something… poppier.
The songs are definitely getting new arrangements. Pasek and Paul said they were "reworking", "expanding" and "reinterpreting" some of the old songs in the press, so there's no way they're leaving them as is. How much they'll change them and what sound they'll give them remains to be seen.
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Re: Snow White (Live-Action)

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You guys do realize that Rachel Zegler is technically biracial, right? She's both Polish and Colombian. Poor girl can't win. Too white for West Side Story, too brown for Snow White. Smh. I think she looks fine. If you've seen the West Side Story teaser, she (and Ariana Debose) light up the screen.

I, too, am interested in how everything will be reworked. They are taking a 1937 animated musical, based on a 1812 fairy take, and making a live-action musical out of it in the 2020s. That's incredible! I hope they keep all the songs, but I can see I'm Wishing getting cut. Alternatively, I can see Someday My Prince Will Come sung early in the movie and I'm Wishing acting as a lead-in for the song. This quote from Marc Webb about Rachel leads me to believe Snow White will be like a Giselle/Lily James Cinderella, and less Belle/Mulan/Jasmine -- “Rachel’s extraordinary vocal abilities are just the beginning of her gifts...Her strength, intelligence and optimism will become an integral part of rediscovering the joy in this classic Disney fairytale.”
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Re: Snow White (Live-Action)

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Disney Duster wrote:I think casting someone who isn't white in the part of Snow White is really wrong, but it could be worse. UmbdellaFish, Disney did even actually retain the important white skin detail of Snow White in their animated film, along with her red lips and black hair.
Hi Duster! I know Walt Disney left that detail in his version, but this is a new adaptation. I am asking, why should the origin of Snow White’s name be more important than the origin of Cinderella’s name, or Rapunzel’s name? Why is the color of Snow White’s skin more important to the story than the ashes Ella sleeps by, or the rapunzel that Rapunzel’s mother eats? After all, “Cinderella” and “Rapunzel” are much stranger names than “Snow White” but in those movies we just accept those are their names without any need for justification. If in the real world you met someone named “Rapunzel” you might scratch your head, but a black woman named “Blanche White” wouldn’t be so strange at all, would it?
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Re: Snow White (Live-Action)

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I have a feeling one of the biggest changes from the animated film will be giving the prince an expanded role, not unlike how Prince Charming had a lot more screentime in the live-action Cinderella. How they will do that, I don't know, but since he had very little personality, the writers have a lot of room to take him in their own direction.
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Re: Snow White (Live-Action)

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I do wish they'd got Menken for this, but I guess I'm glad for Pasek & Paul over Miranda or even Beyonce (who I didn't even mind as much as the rest of you). I do often like their songs...even if they feel like something more for pop radio, adult contemporary, etc. (The Greatest Showman soundtrack paled in comparison to the re-visited one with pop radio artists, for example, almost as if it was tailor made for them. Only Keala Settle's "This Is Me" felt theatrical.)
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Re: Snow White (Live-Action)

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Apparently, they won't use makeup to make Rachel Zegler look whiter for the role.
Zegler, who is of Colombian and Polish descent, tweeted Tuesday afternoon, “yes i am snow white no i am not bleaching my skin for the role,” presumably in response to a handful of haters who opposed the idea of a Latina Snow White. Her tweet has since been deleted.
Source: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-a ... side-story
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tsom
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Re: Snow White (Live-Action)

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D82 wrote:Apparently, they won't use makeup to make Rachel Zegler look whiter for the role.
Zegler, who is of Colombian and Polish descent, tweeted Tuesday afternoon, “yes i am snow white no i am not bleaching my skin for the role,” presumably in response to a handful of haters who opposed the idea of a Latina Snow White. Her tweet has since been deleted.
Source: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-a ... side-story
Yeah. Do people really think Disney would lighten her skin? That would be horrible. Like that would be the end of Disney.
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Re: Snow White (Live-Action)

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tsom wrote:
D82 wrote:Apparently, they won't use makeup to make Rachel Zegler look whiter for the role.
Source: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-a ... side-story
Yeah. Do people really think Disney would lighten her skin? That would be horrible. Like that would be the end of Disney.

The opposite Of darkening the skin of extras in live action Aladdin eh? Let’s hope this is not a recurring curse that Movies with Benj Pasek And Justin Paul doing the lyrics for have eh?
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Re: Snow White (Live-Action)

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I think it has less to do with Pasek and Paul, and more to do with the far left woke members of the audience being irrational, nonsensical, and easily ready to burn Disney down over anything at all. The irony isn't lost on me that the same excuses being made for a non-White person playing Snow White would not be extended towards a White person playing the Latina Maria in West Side Story. At least I'd be consistent in criticizing that as well as this. :lol:
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Re: Snow White (Live-Action)

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D82 wrote:Apparently, they won't use makeup to make Rachel Zegler look whiter for the role.
I figured as much. It's considered racist for an actor of color to use make-up to change their skin tone whether it's to lighten or darken their complexion. Personally, I think it's unfair to socially prohibit actors of color from doing that. It makes them less flexible and versatile. If Jolie and Stone can use make-up to whiten their skin for a fantasy role, why can't Rachel? In any case, I'm sure people will complain and cry whitewashing and colorism when the first photos of hers as Snow White surface regardless of whether lighter shade of make-up was used or not because Rachel's skin tone often looks different depending on lighting. Disney should be prepared for yet another controversy.
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Re: Snow White (Live-Action)

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Yeah, I don't know how anyone could think they'd "whiten up" one of the actors if Lin Manual Miranda is in a controversy for having lighter-skinned Latinas at the front of his film. That would be even worse.
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Re: Snow White (Live-Action)

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Sotiris wrote:It's considered racist for an actor of color to use make-up to change their skin tone whether it's to lighten or darken their complexion. Personally, I think it's unfair to socially prohibit actors of color from doing that. It makes them less flexible and versatile. If Jolie and Stone can use make-up to whiten their skin for a fantasy role, why can't Rachel?
Come to think of it, it's curious that changing the hair color of a person of color is considered OK, but changing their skin tone is not. Anyway, I think Disney is doing the right thing; whitening her skin probably would've been quite controversial. It's true that Snow White's skin color is an iconic detail of her appearance, but I agree with UmbrellaFish that that element is actually not important to the story and they could give another explanation for where her name comes from.

Personally, I was pleasantly surprised by Rachel Zegler's casting. It's great that Disney is now casting actresses who can sing for these roles and she actually has similar features to Snow White, in my opinion, and is quite beautiful, which is important for this story. The fact that she was chosen among thousands of applicants by Steven Spielberg for the role of MarĂ­a in West Side Story is also probably a guarantee that she's not a bad actress. I also think it's great actors from unrepresented ethnicities can play iconic characters like this one, which they don't usually get to play.

I guess this casting also confirms casting a Black actress as Ariel was Disney's idea from the beginning and not Lin-Manuel Miranda's influence, as I think it was rumored, since he also had a color-blind casting in Hamilton. Disney has been trying to be more diverse in their castings lately, so it only makes sense to me they would want to make their live action princesses more diverse as well. I know there's already a Black princess in the original lineup, but since The Princess and the Frog is such a recent film, it won't be remade in a long time, so it makes sense they decided to racebend one of the other princesses. Same with a Latina princess, since there isn't even an animated one yet.

Speaking of that, I wonder if they announced this casting now, so when they give us our first official look at Encanto next month, it won't be received with too much backlash, given that whether Mirabel ends up being included in the Disney Princess franchise or not, she'll be the first Latina protagonist from WDAS and probably there'll be some people who would've preferred a more typical Disney protagonist and not a nerdy girl.
UmbrellaFish wrote:If in the real world you met someone named “Rapunzel” you might scratch your head, but a black woman named “Blanche White” wouldn’t be so strange at all, would it?
In Spain "Snow" (Nieves) and "White" (Blanca) separately are quite common names for women. I also know of a woman with the complete name (Blanca Nieves), but I guess she was probably named after the character.
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Re: Snow White (Live-Action)

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I didn't know Rachel was biracial, but you gotta have really pale skin to play Snow White!
UmbrellaFish wrote:Hi Duster! I know Walt Disney left that detail in his version, but this is a new adaptation. I am asking, why should the origin of Snow White’s name be more important than the origin of Cinderella’s name, or Rapunzel’s name? Why is the color of Snow White’s skin more important to the story than the ashes Ella sleeps by, or the rapunzel that Rapunzel’s mother eats? After all, “Cinderella” and “Rapunzel” are much stranger names than “Snow White” but in those movies we just accept those are their names without any need for justification. If in the real world you met someone named “Rapunzel” you might scratch your head, but a black woman named “Blanche White” wouldn’t be so strange at all, would it?
Hi Brelly! You do have a good point, but, I actually feel Disney should have given Cinderella her name from cinders. Same for Rapunzel. I think the magic flower should have been magical Rapunzel lettuce in the witch's garden. I feel Disney has been wrong sometimes, and they are being wrong again here. I did actually prefer Cinderella's name really being Cinderella when I was young, but as I've grown up I've changed my mind. But the main reason I want the name meaning kept the same is because the Disney film this is based on did keep it, so that alone makes it important to me. It also has to do with her beauty. The white, black, and red combination is seen as really beautiful. And yes Rachel is also beautiful, but the color combination specified in the original film will be lost now. I see the names as a case-by-case basis and in Snow White's case, her name meaning is important, in my opinion.
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Re: Snow White (Live-Action)

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Funny how you all love Snow White when she's so white passing it's disgusting, and then dismiss actual genuine latino characters. Seems hispanics are only good if they can pass off for white dumb blondes, otherwise boo, go get deported.
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Re: Snow White (Live-Action)

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Disney Duster wrote: Hi Brelly! You do have a good point, but, I actually feel Disney should have given Cinderella her name from cinders. Same for Rapunzel. I think the magic flower should have been magical Rapunzel lettuce in the witch's garden. I feel Disney has been wrong sometimes, and they are being wrong again here. I did actually prefer Cinderella's name really being Cinderella when I was young, but as I've grown up I've changed my mind.
I understand your perspective because it is consistent and I know you tend to be a purist when it comes to all things fairy tale. I still disagree with you but I understand where you’re coming from.
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Re: Snow White (Live-Action)

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D82 wrote:Come to think of it, it's curious that changing the hair color of a person of color is considered OK, but changing their skin tone is not.
Yes, it is, but you can't find sense in any of these faux outrages. It's all just a pack of lies these people are pushing at this point. I remember a few pages back in the TLM thread how people were saying they could change her hair to get rid of the dreadlocks and make the color different, and I always thought they should just leave it alone. They've already decided she wasn't going to look like the character, trying to make it worse by, what, attempting to make her hair look "more White??" would inevitably cause controversy in itself. They've made a devil's bargain trying to cater to a crowd that will find something to criticize regardless, just like in the near future Moana, TP&TF, Raya, etc. will all be termed "racist" the same way Pocahontas is (and, tbh, those films being accused of racism already started a while ago...) despite them being a genuine attempt to feature non-White characters for once.
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Re: Snow White (Live-Action)

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UmbrellaFish wrote:I understand your perspective because it is consistent and I know you tend to be a purist when it comes to all things fairy tale. I still disagree with you but I understand where you’re coming from.
Thank you for you being so understanding, because you make such great points yourself. I wanted to add just one more thing - I like certain things to be very faithful to the original source material. Snow White's physical description that made her the fairest one of all was one of those things, for me. I like faithfulness in certain areas.
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Re: Snow White (Live-Action)

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Disney Duster wrote:I think casting someone who isn't white in the part of Snow White is really wrong, but it could be worse. UmbrellaFish, Disney did even actually retain the important white skin detail of Snow White in their animated film, along with her red lips and black hair.
Yeah, I agree. But she is super pretty and I heard her sing on YouTube. She has an awesome voice, and I think she'll perform her songs beautifully. For the Queen, I really hope they cast either Rachel Weisz or Eva Green.
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Re: Snow White (Live-Action)

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Thank you for letting me know you agree with me Vlad! And it is true, she will probably sing the songs really well. And she may act the part really well.
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