IT is a centuries-old fairy tale re-told in a Disney classic, but Snow White is now facing being "cancelled" amid a row over a non-consensual “true love’s kiss”.
Snow White?
First published in 1812 by German folklorists The Brothers Grimm, Snow White became widely-known around the world. Young readers have long been entranced by the fairy tale of a beautiful princess who is exiled into the dangerous forest by her wicked stepmother, only to be rescued by seven dwarf miners.
So what’s happening now?
The Disneyland resort in Anaheim, California, recently revamped one of its original rides - Snow White’s Scary Adventure - which it revealed to the public at the park’s reopening last week. It is now known as “Snow White’s Enchanted Wish” and takes guests on a mine cart ride that follows Snow White on her journey.
It was praised?
The revamp received immediate praise for its upgrades, including new music, animation and visual technology, such as laser projections and LED lights.
However?
One aspect hasn’t been well received by all - the grand-finale of the tale, where Prince Charming kisses Snow White to wake her with a “true love’s kiss” after she bites a poisoned blood-red apple that has sent her into a sleeping death. The San Francisco Gate newspaper praised the “really good” revamped ride, but said the ending features “a kiss he gives to her without her consent, while she’s asleep, which cannot possibly be true love if only one person knows it’s happening”.
But it’s the same ending as the movie?
Exactly the same. The 1937 Disney classic - which was the first Disney animated feature - does indeed end with the prince learning of Snow White's eternal sleep and kissing her to break the spell.
The writers called for Disney to rethink the finale?
The newspaper wrote: “Haven’t we already agreed that consent in early Disney movies is a major issue? That teaching kids that kissing, when it hasn’t been established if both parties are willing to engage, is not OK? It’s hard to understand why the Disneyland of 2021 would choose to add a scene with such old fashioned ideas of what a man is allowed to do to a woman…Why not re-imagine an ending in keeping with the spirit of the movie and Snow White’s place in the Disney canon, but that avoids this problem?”
So Snow White could be “cancelled”?
Dating expert Nichi Hodgson was among those calling for change. She said Disney "has a responsibility to change the plot line".
Not everyone agrees, though?
On Good Morning Britain, presenter Susanna Reid was flabbergasted. She said: "I mean, really? Are we also going to update it so it doesn't have all of those animals able to do sort of superhuman things? Are we also going to change it so you don't give poisoned apples to people that you don't like? You know, this is Disney. It's not real life."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel