Disney’s new live-action Snow White has already drawn criticism online, and now the son of one of the directors from the original is adding his two cents.
Hand, whose father worked on the 1937 animated Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, made his feelings clear during an interview with The Telegraph. And he didn’t mince words.
“I mean, it’s a whole different concept, and I just totally disagree with it, and I know my dad and Walt would also very much disagree with it,” he said.
He slammed the remake as “woke,” saying the studio has “destroyed” his father’s work.
“Their thoughts are just so radical now,” the 91-year-old said. “They change the stories; they change the thought process of the characters.”
Rachel Zegler, cast as Snow White, has pushed back against the criticism, acknowledging that the film could use an update against outdated concepts.
“Most of my character does not work for today’s audience, I’ll just say it,” the 22-year-old told People at the D23 Expo in September. “We did a really deep dive into fixing and making a modern woman out of Snow White.”
Disney has made other changes to “avoid reinforcing stereotypes,” such as replacing Prince Charming with a character named Jonathan and an eclectic group of people instead of the seven dwarves.
Hand told The Telegrah that studio bosses should be coming up with new film ideas and characters instead of remaking the classics.
They “shouldn’t be taking a classic and rewriting it in their own image. Pick on something else… create new characters, if you’re gonna do this, but don’t destroy or try to destroy something that is, that is a classic and is a beautiful piece,” Hand told the outlet.
