Welcome back to Talon Talks! We have a quick update for you today, so let’s dive right into the most recent celebrity gossip.
The curse of Snow White
Disney’s live action remake of the animated classic starring Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot premieres today, but the movie has been plagued by non-stop controversy.
Back in 2021, Zegler’s initial casting caused an uproar. Conservative Disney fans — who were still upset over Halle Bailey’s casting as Ariel in The Little Mermaid live action — redirected their concerns to Zegler, who is Latina. These fans called out Disney for “going woke” and erasing the images of their beloved princesses. Odd, right?
Pretty tame controversy to start. But after a fire broke out on set and it was revealed that the seven dwarfs would be animated — as opposed to actors with dwarfism being hired — the remake had gained a lot of attention.
But the most prominent and ongoing issue of the film is the political divide between the two leads, regarding the genocide in Gaza. Gadot is an Israeli who has made her support for Israel well known, while Zegler has used her platform to express her support for Palestine. Even though Gadot and Zegler are mature enough to pose and speak in public together, it’s clear that behind the scenes, they are not close. Their relationship isn’t a “stay away from me” relationship, but rather a “we have absolutely nothing in common” one.
The weeks leading up to the film, Disney did announce their plan to scale-back in the premiere of the film. While it’s clear the film has a lot of controversy, only the mirror on the wall can predict how exactly this will impact the film’s release.
Vogue criticized for lack of plus size diversity in recent shoot
Vogue magazine’s latest stunt, a homage to the beloved musical “Hairspray”, contains many of the musical’s highlights: big hairdos, 1960’s fashion, and a catchy song. However, many viewers noticed one big aspect to the musical that was missing: plus size models.
Equality and representation are two huge themes of “Hairspray” as it follows Tracy Turnblad, whose character is written as plus size, when she pursues her dream of performing on a TV dance show. A video of the shoot, which is a sneak peak of Vogue’s April cover, features model Gigi Hadid as the cover, who is not plus size.
Many have expressed their frustration with Vogue, as having a “Hairspray”-themed photo shoot with mostly thin models defeats the entire purpose of the musical. Others shared concerns that this shoot is the latest indicator that our society is slowly moving away from body positivity.
