With final exams over and still time for the next academic year to commence, Angel has a ready list of things to do that require immediate attention. From shopping at Linking Road to a trip to the Museum of Solutions, there’s a lot of interesting stuff that I am also looking forward to. Incidentally, the Snow White trailer dropped during her exams, and although quite excited for it, the unexpected unpromising look spilled cold water on our hopes. We decided to wait for the reviews before catching a show and it seems like a good decision.

This isn’t a review since I haven’t watched the movie and don’t intend to. However, growing up on a heavy dose of fairytales I find it slightly unfair that the magical element and stories of true love that lend them the dreamy vibes have been all but forgotten of late. To find out if I was overreacting, we watched the 1937 Disney Snow White movie, which instantly made me nostalgic. The world is changing but does that mean we have to let go of everything that makes us believe in the power of hope and happily ever afters?

Fairy tales like Snow White have all the cliché elements; an evil witch/stepmother, adorable supporting characters (dwarves/animals/fairies), a damsel in distress, a knight in shining armour and so on. These aren’t different from the bachpan wali Raja Rani ki kahaniyaan that our dadis and nanis narrated to us as we listened with rapt attention. The underlying theme was often “good wins over evil” and taught us life lessons like being kind, believing in ourselves, standing up against injustice, and taking care of our loved ones.

Did Snow White need to be changed according to our times? When did being a fair-skinned princess go out of fashion? Wasn’t she a strong girl who survived in a forest and cleaned up the dwarves’ house to earn her welcome? Choosing an actress of colour who openly trashed the original and called Prince Charming a stalker seemed like a bit of a stretch (ok, a lot). The cute dwarves have been created using weird CGI making the 1937 animated version look sophisticated. Bad songs, completely messed up storyline (Snow White goes to fight the evil queen to free her kingdom), and forgettable performances, why didn’t they go ahead and create a new story altogether instead of ruining a classic?

Marketing strategy much like the horrendous Adipurush of our times, of course. This modernisation is, however, uncalled for and lacks relevance and depth. Remakes like these are used as tools to push an agenda with little to no respect for creativity or responsibility. Hope that the scathing reviews and dismal box-office collections deter them from taking their power, medium and position for granted.

I’m not influenced by politics or feminism and don’t subscribe to the idea of looking down on women who don’t subscribe to their narratives or take care of their families. Spare us the lecture. Better to watch the original Snow White and enjoy some old-fashioned mush and cinematic pleasure than this misguided attempt.

This blog post is part of ‘Blogaberry Dazzle ’ hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla.

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