Princess Problems

Some thoughts on SNOW WHITE (2025)

We saw the new live-action Snow White last weekend and to be honest I’m still sorting out my feelings about it. Midway through the film, I had the baffling, somewhat horrifying, thought: Is this movie actually good?

Having sat with it, I’d now say that “good” might be a little strong, but I’m still surprised by how much I enjoyed it. For context, my expectations for Disney live action remakes (or “““live action””” in the case of the Lion King franchise) are subterranean. I tend to find them unnecessary at best, grating and cynical at worst. My favorites are probably Cruella (2021) and Dumbo (2019) because they’re trying something weird and different, and have distinct directorial visions. Most of the others are shrugs, in my opinion.¹

But watching Snow White, I had… fun? I don’t know what to say for myself. The songs are classic Pasek & Paul, and I don’t entirely mean that as a compliment… but they do know how to construct a song (and build on a theme) better than, say, the songwriters for Moana 2 or Wish. I’d argue there’s more energy and passion in this soundtrack than in LMM’s work on Mufasa. I was tapping my toes! Toes were tapped!!! Gal Gadot is genuinely terrible, but I liked the costumes (especially the stained glass crown). You almost have to be impressed by how Disney tried to circumvent the problematic aspects of the dwarf story, only to end up making it worse (and the CGI designs aren’t great, although I acclimated to them faster than I thought I would)... but I also can’t deny that it got to me when [REDACTED] breaks down at a tragic moment, or when [REDACTED] [REDACTED]s for the first time.

Some of this was the undeniable joy of seeing a big, colorful musical on the big screen. Some of it was the effect of sitting next to my nine-year-old daughter who gasped and laughed and clapped through the whole thing. And some of it is, undoubtedly, the sheer star power of Clifton, NJ’s own Rachel Zegler, who is this movie’s saving grace despite what a certain nepo baby says. I am, sincerely, glad that becoming a more serious film writer hasn’t robbed me of my ability to clap like a seal when a movie pushes the most basic emotional buttons in my brain. “We come to this place for magic,” etc., etc.

All of that being said, Snow White does indulge in what I see as an emerging trend in these movies. As you may have heard, the prince is recast as a semi-altruistic bandit/rebel named Jonathan (Andrew Burnap)² with seven comrades (word is that these characters were originally going to replace the traditional Seven Dwarfs; one of them is played by George Appleby, the only little person who appears in a live action role³). This, and Snow White inspiring the people to stand against the Evil Queen, is the latest example of big corporate films coopting progressive politics to appeal to younger audiences (which I’d trace back to the success of The Hunger Games trilogy and its impact on YA storytelling in general; although, of course, rebellion as a broader theme has been a part of stories aimed at young people for much longer).

While that’s nothing new, what I have noticed recently is Disney at least nodding at the inherent contradictions between the progressive, “power to the people” aesthetics of these retellings and their ultimate fantasy of adopting royal power. In a lot of newer properties they avoid it altogether: Moana is, emphatically, “not a princess,” but a community leader; Raya’s princess role is more about being a protector; Asha is a commoner. But in Snow White and last year’s Mufasa, the monarchism is baked in. Mufasa’s a king when we meet him in The Lion King; obviously his movie is about how he inherits that title. Snow White is a princess; her ultimate goal is the throne. It’s reframed here as being for the good of the people – and in the moral universe of these movies we can accept that – but isn’t that what all royals say? One of the taglines for Mufasa was “Kings aren’t born, they’re made”⁴ but that’s hilariously false. Kings derive their power from bloodline, divine right, or conquest – and typically claim all three. If it was government by consent of the governed, they wouldn’t be kings at all.

Which creates a tricky situation at the end of these movies. In Mufasa (spoilers!), our titular lion hero (Aaron Pierre) brings the various species of the Pride Lands together and defeats the villain, and at the end all of the animals bend the knee and swear their fealty to him. Mufasa protests, and tells them they don’t need kings. But Rafiki (Kagiso Lediga) steps in to say that by uniting everyone, Mufasa proved himself worthy of the title. Now, he could have responded: “That’s what a leader does, but we have no need of kings.” But, of course, they can’t do that because this isn’t a prequel to The Lion Prime Minister. Instead, Mufasa silently accepts, looking a little uncomfortable.

In Snow White (spoilers again!), our heroine similarly looks uneasy when people start bowing. But in the end she bows her head in silent assent, and we cut to a triumphant dance sequence where her good rule has brought light and life back to the kingdom.

My issue, here, is that Disney (and other corporate entities) want to pat themselves on the back for mouthing progressive ideas, but have no interest in the actual consequences or demands of those ideas. They say “power to the people,” but inevitably reinforce existing top-down power structures. That’s because those power structures are essential to their brand: if Snow White ended with our heroine abolishing the crown, then they couldn’t sell you on the royal power fantasy that underpins these movies. It’s the fantasy of being someone special, someone who can save the world all by themselves, if only they were in charge. It’s similar to the inherent fantasy of superheroes: what if there was a person with power to force the world into its proper shape? As Alan Moore once pointed out, that’s the same logic that motivates fascism.

This runs counter the populist ideas that Snow White seems to espouse. But Disney doesn’t actually care about the power of the people.⁵ Despite commentators calling movies like this “anti-capitalist” (both as praise and slander) Disney is enthusiastically, fanatically capitalist. Their stories, in the end, will never really advocate for changing the status quo: it’s all about putting “the right people” in power, and that will fix everything. You can see the toxic fruits of that idea in American electoral politics.

Maybe this is me overthinking a movie for children. But I also think it would be disingenuous to wax poetic about the “power of stories,” as I’m prone to do, and not worry about the power of stories to limit or stunt our imaginations. Just like how it’s disingenuous for Disney to cosplay as progressive without telling stories about real societal change (we won’t get into their actual political track record).

I don’t begrudge my daughter stories about brave, competent, empowered women who happen to be princesses. But there are better dreams than a crown. I’d like to see stories about that, too.

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Things Seen & Heard

• I’m on the latest episode of Beyond the Habit talking about nuns in movies, film and spirituality, and the power of stories. It was an honor to chat with the great Sisters Colleen and Erin! Listen to it here!

• In Catholic Movie Club at America Magazine I’ve been reflecting on Lent-appropriate movies. Most recently I covered Robert Bresson’s A Man Escaped (1956), a meditative, meticulous prison break drama that’s very much worth your time.

1. Except for The Lion King (2019), which I found nearly unwatchable.

2. It is a little odd that they chose to reimagine him as basically Eugene Fitzherbert when there’s a live action Tangled in the works.

3. Martin Klebba is also in the film, voicing Grumpy.

4. This tied into the film’s decision to retcon Mufasa so that he doesn’t come from royal blood, which I think is also related to this trend.

5. It’s grimly funny that this message shows up in a remake of Snow White, the movie that made Walt Disney’s career — a man who was enthusiastically anti-labor rights.