Save Disney’s Filmmaking

In the summer of 2014, I watched my very first Disney movie: Cinderella (1950). While I don’t remember much from my first time watching the film, I do remember feeling the magic of Disney, resulting in my desire to watch all of the Disney princess films. I sang with Ariel, dreamt with Tiana, read with Belle, and fought with Mulan and Merida. I watched these movies again and again until they were ingrained into my very existence. 

The following year, when the live-action version of Cinderella came out, I sat on my brown couch to watch it, unknowingly craving the magic that I remember Disney created for my four year-old self, but I don’t recall anything from that viewing experience. Recently, I rewatched the live-action version. The costumes were mesmerizing, and seeing Cinderella brought to life was temporarily exciting, but it didn’t feel new. 

This film was one of many in Disney’s remake campaign. Cinderella grossed $524.3 million at the box office. Inspired by this monetary success, live-action renditions of Beauty and the Beast, Mulan, Dumbo, Lady and the Tramp, Aladdin, Pinocchio, The Little Mermaid, and eventually Snow White followed suit. Separately, Maleficent, Cruella, Peter Pan & Wendy, and Mufasa kickstarted Disney’s live-action prequel era. As I watched in theaters or at home, the Disney magic that had once enchanted me was nonexistent. It seemed as though, again and again, Disney was able to get away with uninspiring live-action remakes instead of creating new stories and princesses for the next generation to look up to. Their most recent attempt at a new original story, Wish, is estimated to have lost Disney $131 million. As such, they continue along the safer path: remake after remake after remake. 

There is a large decrease in quality among these remakes compared to the old, animated films. Disney’s most recent remake, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, is projected to lose Disney $110 million at the end of its run. With estimates of a $400 million production cost, many people online are wondering where the money went. From poor, inaccurate costume choices to CGI dwarfs, the filmmaking itself was a disaster. The film earned just a 40 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes; the magic and charm of Disney seems to have evaporated. 

The magic of animated Disney reaches far beyond the aesthetics. During the period of animated princess movies, Disney was at its prime. They not only told stories in ways that hadn’t been told before, but they did it with groundbreaking animation technique and precision. During Disney’s Golden Age, it set the standards for all animation in the industry, giving Disney a very important reputation to continue. That’s why, when Disney puts out live-action versions of classics that aren’t of monumental quality, we lose both an original Disney story and the caliber of their work. 

Ultimately, the heart of Disney’s appeal is their storytelling, and their business relies on their quality. When we’re left without either, the magic slowly disappears. When Disney becomes unrecognizable, their profit will disappear too. While their early remakes served as easy cash grabs, recent films like Snow White prove that this aspect of their business is unsustainable for much longer. Change is imperative.

But beyond that, Disney has even changed their remakes into unfamiliar versions of old stories. The Disney remake of Snow White stars the already controversial actress Rachel Zegler as the titular character. In an interview, Zegler claimed that this movie would be different then the beloved original Snow White, explaining that “we absolutely wrote a ‘Snow White’ … [where] she’s not going to be saved by the prince, and she’s not going to be dreaming about true love; she’s going to be dreaming about becoming the leader she knows she can be.”

Zegler went even further to discuss how there will no longer be a love story as many expected.. She stated in a 2022 interview, “We have a different approach to what I’m sure a lot of people will assume is a love story just because we cast a guy in the movie, Andrew Burnap… All of Andrew’s scenes could get cut, who knows?” Zegler insinuated that the main plot of the initial story could simply get cut, and it left people questioning what the point of making a different movie under the same name was. It was clear that instead of honoring the original story of Snow White, a version of her was written that changes who she is. Disney didn’t want to create a protagonist who longs for love, but why? 

This opens up a larger conversation about what feminism means in our generation. If yearning for love is a narrative that needs to be changed, it teaches our youth that there is only one type of princess that exists: the strong, powerful one. By looking down upon the Snow White type of girl, we accomplish the opposite of what empowering women should do in the first place. Truly empowering women through media as important as film should mean showing the brave, the fierce, the quiet, and the shy women. Film is a wealth of power that should be used to show all types of people, and diminishing the story of a woman looking for love is diminishing the story of women altogether. 

We want stories of powerful, strong-willed women. We want stories of women who long for love. We want new stories that allow the old ones to live on. There isn’t one type of woman; one type of person; or one type of story. So, if Disney wants to re-enter their prime, what it needs to give fans is clear—stories that are new, real, and diverse. When we turn on our TVs or settle into our seats in the movie theater, we want magic.