Handsome prince falls foul of MeToo

As Hollywood deals with the fallout of the MeToo movement, Snow White has become the latest target, amid claims that the Disney version of the fairytale encourages men to kiss women without consent.

Kristen Bell, the actress who provided the voice of Princess Anna in another Disney blockbuster, Frozen, said the way the prince kisses Snow White while she is asleep is ‘‘weird,’’ and she had warned her young daughters about the male character’s behaviour.

Bell, 38, said she reads every night to daughters Lincoln, five, and Delta, three, but had to have a serious conversation with them about Snow White.

She told Parents magazine: ‘‘Don’t you think that it’s weird that the prince kisses Snow White without her permission? Because you cannot kiss someone if they’re sleeping!’’ The actress also suggested that the Snow White storyline could encourage children to speak to strangers.

She said: ‘‘Every time we close Snow White I look at my girls and ask, ’Don’t you think it’s weird that Snow White didn’t ask the old witch why she needed to eat the apple? Or where she got that apple?’

‘‘I say, ’I would never take food from a stranger, would you?’ And my kids are like, ’No!’ And I’m like, ’OK, I’m doing something right.’’’

It is not the first time the issue of consent has been raised in relation to the scene, which has been endlessly recreated in books. Last year, Kazue Muta, a Japanese sociology professor and expert on workplace sexual harassment, accused Snow White of perpetuating ‘‘quasicompulsive obscene sexual acts on an unconscious partner’’.

– Telegraph Group