Over the past decade, Disney has released an influx of live-action remakes of their classic animated films. A few of these remakes allow for audiences to find a sense of nostalgia, while most have faced backlash for being too different from their animated counterparts. 

The 2023 remake of “The Little Mermaid” is one such film that faced backlash, specifically around the race of the actress playing the beloved character, Ariel. Halle Bailey was chosen to play the leading actress in 2019, and for the years leading up to the film’s release, she received a lot of hate. In my opinion, Disney’s choice to cast a black Ariel was a somewhat lazy attempt to rewrite Disney’s lack of diverse princesses. Instead of creating a new princess for Halle to play, Disney took the easy way out and recycled an already told story. Not only are live-action remakes tiring and lack the original animated magic, but the stories have already been told. Aside from all of this, I think Halle Bailey deserves tremendous praise for her impressive vocal talent shown through the movie, and yet, when people think of “The Little Mermaid” remake, she becomes overshadowed by the discourse surrounding her race. 

The more recent discussion about the live-action “Snow White” caused the film to be re-edited and the release date to be pushed back to 2025. At first, the pushback centered again around the leading actresses’ race—that is, Snow White not being white. Then, Rachel Zegler, who plays the titular character received additional hate for appearing “rude” and “ungrateful” in press interviews. Zegler was recorded talking about how the new Snow White was going to be a strong and independent woman, and that she would resemble very little of the original animated princess. I feel strongly that she received this hate largely because she is a woman. At the same time that this video of Zegler was circulating, Jacob Elordi was doing press interviews for the movie, “Priscilla.” Elordi was quoted saying that he had never even heard of Elvis, who he was soon to portray. Jacob was called funny and relatable for saying this, while Rachel, on the other hand, got completely dragged by the internet, just for saying that the original “Snow White” was being left in the past. At the same time, I still think a remake of this movie is incredibly unnecessary, and can imagine that the film will not do well in the box offices. If the movie is planned to be a new storyline from the original film, why not create a new princess who can stand on her own? 

Exploring these two recent live-action remakes, they have done very little but cause hate and disagreement. Ultimately, my conclusion is that these films are largely flops and Disney needs to move on from this era.