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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Adipurush was a mess! We didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I think most classics don’t need a fresh touch, just maybe a revisit, like you did. I am gonna check that out too.
I have not watched this version, but a few of the earlier ones, like Lily Collins-Julia Roberts one or the one with Kirsten Stewart-Charlize Theron were also pretty unimpressive.
I am totally old- school and agree with your thoughts, Varsha. Let the fairytale be a fairytale. We all know the reality, don’t we? If for some time, we are transported to fairyland( away from the daily grind) what’s wrong with that? For me, Snowwhite will be the fairest of them all and the prince too. Feminism has become too drastic. It is not equality of the sexes, physically.
You’re absolutely right! Some things are best left untouched, like the classic Snow White. I had been considering watching it, but after reading this post, I’ve decided against it.
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I didn’t watch it yet. My daughter also looking for such kind of fairy tales but after reading your review I guess let it be. Because it has many flaws. Fair skin princess….and the problem start. Why princess should be always fair🙄
I agree with you Varsha that with time there is a need of changing everything including self to match with the flow of time– or better to say to make it appropiate with the changing time. But the question is who will take the risk to change the originial creators work with mordern touch? Snow White – are you ready to embrace the change of time?
I can understand the frustration when we see an airbrushed more mass acceptable and politically correct version of an old favourite fairytale. I think it is just a marketing move to appeal to all strata of society.I myself am too old to believe in fairytales and the younger generation is too cynical to believe in them either so maybe they do need to reinvent themselves but how much of a change is palatable?
Even Fair and lovely had to now transform into Glow and lovely for being colour biased but their sale shave gone down because that was their USP and now they have lost it to other competitors.
I completely agree with your point that ‘fairytales need to evolve to reflect modern sensibilities.’ This pushing the agenda things and making everything more inclusive is becoming a bit much really. Many times I feel like telling these creators ‘pehle acche insaan to ban jao’ and you’re totally right in saying that some things are better in their original essence and really, ”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?”
The CGI dwarves in the new one freaked me out too! I mean, why mess with something that worked just fine? The old Disney version still gives me goosebumps. The music, the innocence, the charm—pure gold.