David Hand directed Disney’s Academy Award-winning “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” a beloved 1937 adaptation of the 1812 fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, which emphasized the salvific power of love, the deceptive nature of evil, and the corruptive potential of vanity.
The late director’s son, also named David Hand, recently
told the Telegraph that his father and Walt Disney would “be turning in their graves” if they knew anything about the studio’s “woke” remake of the film.
TheBlaze
previously noted how Disney, having already lost an estimated $900 million this summer due to several box-office failures to connect with audiences, will be putting out a “Snow White” live-action remake next year. The film departs from the 20th-century adaptation and Germanic original in various ways, largely for ideological reasons.
The titular lead, played by a
Hispanic misandrist, will be followed around not by seven dwarfs, but rather by a septet of majoritively average-sized men and women of various races.
In addition to removing the defining characteristics of the primary characters, a leading role has also been all but eliminated. Greta Gerwig, the script’s co-writer, indicated that Prince Charming will be at best a marginal character and that the love story at the heart of the original has been torn out.
“It’s really not about the love story at all, which is really, really wonderful,” said lead actress Rachel Zegler, who previously said, “[Snow White is] not going to be saved by the prince and she’s not going to be dreaming about true love.”
Rather than finding complementarity in another human being — in this case in the character of the prince, whom Rachel Zegler has
deemed a “stalker” — Snow White reportedly lusts after power, as promised her by her late father.
Zegler
told Vanity Fair in October 2022, “People are making these jokes about ours being the PC Snow White, where it’s like, yeah, it is — because it needed that. It’s an 85-year-old cartoon, and our version is a refreshing story about a young woman who has a function beyond ‘Someday My Prince Will Come.'”
David Hand the younger, who worked as a designer for Disney in the 1990s, told the Telegraph that many young people “have never seen the original” and “don’t know what they’re talking about.”
Concerning the new film, he said, “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. … I think it’s pathetic that people feel that way.”
Hand noted that the original film was done “with good taste when it was written … and I disagree with this whole new concept… but I know Disney’s getting into that mode,” which he called a “disgrace.”
The late director’s 91-year-old son said he found it “a bit insulting” that Disney would debase the classic films that first put it on the map.
“I’m afraid of what they’re going to do with the early films,” continued Hand. “Their thoughts are just so radical now. … They change the stories, they change the thought processes of the characters, they just aren’t the original stories any more. They’re making up new woke things, and I’m just not into any of that.”
Rather than destroy old intellectual properties, Hand recommended woke filmmakers try creating something original for a change.
“[They] shouldn’t be taking a classic and rewriting it in their own image. Pick on something else,” said Hand. “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.”
“There’s no respect for what Disney did and what my dad did,” added Hand. “I think Walt and he would be turning in their graves.”
His father,
David Dodd Hand, directed and/or supervised over 20 successful films at Disney, including “Bambi,” “Pinnochio,” “Dumbo,” and “Fantastia.”
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