Film sparks negative reaction
Snow White actress calls out her own movie promos for fat-shaming
Red Shoes and the 7 Dwarfs was supposed to be a positive parody of the Disney classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but it’s being accused of fat-shaming and misogyny. Even the actress who voices Snow White says she’s “appalled.”
The movie, about a “Princess who doesn’t fit into the celebrity world of Princesses — or their dress size,” is not yet released.
But an ad showed up at the Cannes Film Festival last month. It shows an animated Snow White standing tall and thin, next to the shorter and heavier version of herself. The billboard reads, “What if Snow White was no longer beautiful and the 7 Dwarfs not so short?”
Locus Creative Studios also released a trailer. In the clip, two dwarfs hide in Snow White’s room and watch her undress. When she removes her red shoes, she transforms into a heavier girl who slumps down on the couch and burps. The dwarfs look at her disgusted.
The ads sparked a flurry of online comments. Plus-size model Tess Holliday tweeted the photo with the comment, “Why is it OK to tell young kids being fat = ugly?” Chloë Grace Moretz, the voice of Snow White in the film, also took to Twitter, saying, “I am just as appalled and angry as everyone else.”
Some didn’t think the ads were a big deal. “Really think people are being overly judgmental. Bad ad doesn’t mean bad movie. The people working on the film know the script. We don’t,” Ben V. Decker tweeted.
Producer Sujin Hwang told Entertainment Weekly the marketing campaign “is being terminated.”
“Locus Corporation wishes to apologize regarding the first elements of our marketing campaign … which we realize has had the opposite effect from that which was intended.
“Our film, a family comedy, carries a message designed to challenge social prejudices related to standards of physical beauty in society by emphasizing the importance of inner beauty.”