Disney’s new live-action Snow White, dogged by controversy after controversy, must have been cursed at birth by a wicked fairy (oops, wait, wrong fairy tale).

It has to be disconcerting for the studio. The original animated film was such a massive success when it was first released in 1937 that it more or less invented the genre of not just the Disney princess movie, but also the Disney feature-length animated movie, and all the copies thereof that followed. Some of the tropes it innovated are still fundamental to what we think an animated movie should look like, for no better reason than the fact that Snow White did them nearly 90 years ago.

Currently, the live-action Snow White is mixed up in at least half a dozen more controversies than Disney would care to have associated with its most reliable moneymaker. A brief overview: Rachel Zegler, who plays Snow White in the new live-action film, has said that the original film was unfeminist, criticized Donald Trump and his supporters and then had to apologize for it, and spoken out in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza War, all of which enraged conservative audiences. Outright racist commenters were also upset that Zegler, who has Colombian heritage, would be playing a character traditionally known for the pallor of her skin. Meanwhile, Gal Gadot, who plays the Evil Queen, has been vocally supportive of her native Israel in the midst of the war. Finally, actors with dwarfism have taken issue with the movie for its depiction of dwarves.

In response, Disney has tamped down its marketing machine, restricting press on the red carpet, sending its leading ladies to exclusively friendly outlets, and offering a reduced window for ticket sales compared to previous live-action releases. The Hollywood Reporter wrote that, for Hollywood insiders, Disney’s attitude screams, “We need to get this thing over with. … We have zero faith.”

The controversy offers a strange, queasy fate for Snow White, one of Disney’s most foundational films. In defining the genre, it also shaped childhood for generations of Americans. The Walt Disney Corporation might be the house that Mickey Mouse built, but he did it on Snow White’s dime.

How Snow White went from “Disney’s Folly” to Disney’s greatest success

From the outside, Snow White had all the makings of a boondoggle. No one had ever made a feature-length animated film before it, and looking at the silly, squishy,........

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