Snow White, Narnia, and DEI

By: Chris Johnson

There’s always bound to be controversy when you set out to reimagine a beloved work of art. Yet, for some reason, this is what Disney set out to do with much of its nearly universally appreciated library of classic children’s movies.

Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Dumbo, Jungle Book, Lady and the Tramp, The Lion King, Pete’s Dragon, and Pinocchio, have all received the live action remake treatment with minor changes to characters and scripts and little fanfare.

But, Disney has run into trouble when it’s tried to shoehorn “DEI” ideals into casting and screenplays, particularly on The Little Mermaid which replaced the Caucasian redheaded main character with an African American actress and the recent Snow White, which originally tried to do away with the seven dwarves and replaced the titular character, so named because of her complexion in the fairy tale, with a Hispanic actress.

When the Snow White remake was first announced and footage was shared of the seven full-grown men who replaced the most interesting and memorable characters from the original movie, the dwarves, the studio knew they were in trouble.

The decision was made to get rid of the seven dwarves so as not to offend those born with dwarfism. But when the movie became a laughing stock, the seven men were replaced with computer generated dwarves, leaving the real-life little people actors who might have been part of an iconic movie without a role.

Similarly, when the movie was cast in the heart of the DEI era, it would be impermissible to label a white woman as “fairest of them all.” This would have been unforgivable to a woke audience, and so the princess with “skin as white as snow, and lips as red as blood, and her hair was as black as ebony” is played by the olive-complected Rachel Zegler.

Zegler didn’t help the movie’s prospects when she made disparaging comments about the classic film such as, “People are making these jokes about ours being the PC (Politically Correct) Snow White, where it’s like, yeah, it is – because it needed that.”

The result of all this “artistic” license has been the absolute bombing of the new Snow White at the box office. Having invested over $240 million into its production, Disney is expected to lose $115 million after a disappointing opening weekend… and returns have only plummeted from there.

Just as Disney’s mistakes with Snow White are ripening, another raspberry is blooming – one that hits close to home for this fan of C.S. Lewis’ work.

Netflix’ plans to begin shooting their version of the Chronicles of Narnia in July, and what has been reported so far is not encouraging for those of us with an affection for the world in the wardrobe.

What we know is that the director is Greta Gerwig, known most recently for the Barbie movie, and previously for her remake of Little Women, of which the New York Times said, “The characters are ambitious, angry and they have agency.” The Times reviewer explains that while she never cared for the classic because the rebellious main character finds satisfaction in marriage in the end, she did appreciate Gerwig’s take on the beloved tale.

And, wouldn’t you know it, Gerwig was also a co-writer for Snow White! And it took some rewriting, because in 2025, you simply cannot have a man saving a princess with a kiss just because she is beautiful. As Rachel Zegler put it, “I just mean that it’s no longer 1937. She’s not going to be saved by the prince, and she’s not going to be dreaming about true love — she’s dreaming about becoming the leader she knows she can be and the leader that her late father told her that she could be if she was fearless, fair, brave, and true.”

So, by the time Gerwig and the other writers were through with it, it simply wasn’t the same story.

Narnia has been said by producer Amy Pascal to be “a very new take on Narnia. It’s all about rock and roll.” Of course, there’s nothing comparable to rock and roll in Lewis’ creation.

Now we are hearing that Gerwig’s choice to play Aslan, who was Lewis’ allegorical Christ-figure in the book series, is actress Meryl Streep. In the books, Aslan is a mighty male lion, whose mane is often a focal point, as we see him shaking it when he roars, characters hold onto it as they ride on his back, and – when his moment of self-sacrifice comes – we see it shaved in order to humiliate him. In one of the books, Aslan tells the main characters from our world that they must meet him here where he has another name, which is a prompt for his readers to search for Jesus.

If Netflix really is considering casting a woman for the role of Aslan, they’re not just making a fun little switcheroo, they’re spitting in the face of Christians by setting this allegorical Christ as a female.

As Netflix sees the fruition of Disney’s wokification of beloved classics, we can only hope and pray that they wise up before vandalizing this Christian work of art. If Netflix and Greta Gerwig do continue down this path of subversion and disrespect, I hope you’ll join me in giving it the Snow White treatment.

Let’s send a message that we’re not going to be an audience to our own insults or insults to the Mighty Lion of Judah.

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