It isn’t news to anyone when seeing characters from books or older films portrayed by an actor in cinema that is of a different ethnicity from what was initially intended for the role. In the wake of pushing representation for the People of Color community (POC) and amid media rapidly attempting to include diversity, it’s more prevalent than ever before to cast minorities in roles that were originally white. Children from all backgrounds are progressively seeing faces that look similar to their own popping up on a theater screen when before, it was a rarity. But is casting non-white actors for the sole purpose of diversity— without including themes of their ethnic origins all for the agenda of representation— over retaining the character’s white skin promoting diversity, or is it doing the opposite and harming the agenda?
On March 22, 2024, Disney’s story of the “Snow White” upcoming live-action film will be released, casting Rachel Zegler, who is of Colombian descent. Snow White is known for her “white as snow” skin.
According to an article on kidspot.com, a critic in a TikTok Video commented, “If I was trying to portray a character whose name-defining feature is her white skin, it’s literally in her name. I wouldn’t hire a brown person.” Despite Zegler being a white Latina woman, she has received backlash for not having a pale complexion.
On the other side, freelance writer Nicole Froio argues, “To complain about her lack of white, European, or even US roots isn’t only terribly racist and xenophobic — it’s also inaccurate.”
Knowing Disney, the story most likely will not change due to this new character adaptation, and it will not change the entirety of the plot. After all, if the purpose of doing so is to take down racism and other harmful constructs, what better way than to incorporate all types of people in film? The works they produce are all fictional anyway, and ethnic origins aren’t directly stated. Before Zegler’s casting, black actress Halle Bailey faced backlash and challenges in being accepted by the media for her role as Ariel in “The Little Mermaid”, as Ariel is so-to-say “meant to be a white redhead.”
The media is collectively picking up on Disney’s replacing of Western/European characters in their live-action remakes with people of color, and it is coming off to some as “passive-aggressive progressivism”, as Senior Helina Brown calls it.
Brown gives her opinion, “As a biracial individual, I want to see stories like mine and other underrepresented races highlighted in Hollywood rather than just our faces being a replacement for predominantly white characters.”
Diversity is vital to promoting equality and banishing prejudice from our global society, and it is especially important to see in cinema, something that unifies the entire world. However, to effectively utilize film to defeat underrepresentation, the POC community must be represented according to their backgrounds and not simply be cast as former white played roles. If this approach continues, it can blur out the true meaning of including differences amongst people and their backgrounds could be misconstrued in culture.
