Why Disney’s Live-Action Snow White Might Have Found More Success As A Television Series

 Why Disney’s Live-Action Snow White Might Have Found More Success As A Television Series

Snow White is Disney’s recent live-action remake and is loosely based on Disney’s first animated film, Snow White And The Seven Dwarves. This film stars Gal Gadot, Rachel Zegler, Martin Klebba, Jeremy Swift, Ansu Kabia and Andrew Burnap. While this film received a lot of controversy for various reasons, I would honestly say it wasn’t Disney’s worse live-action remake but at the same time, it is also not its best. From a creative standpoint, I think there was still room for improvement and wonder if this film may have worked better as a television series instead.

I know some people may still have decided not to watch this, even if they had made it into a television series instead of a film, due to all of the controversy surrounding this film and its cast even when it was still in production. However, I think having made this film into a television series could have opened up the possibility for more character development for a few of the characters such as Jonathan, Grumpy and The Evil Queen. While these characters did get some more development in the film, I feel more development and backstory was needed for these characters and that too many song reprises took time away from them receiving more character details that could have enhanced the story more.

For example, it would have been interesting for Disney to go more into detail as to why Snow White’s love interest, Jonathan did not have a home and instead lived in the forest with bandits. They could have revealed that Jonathan was the long-lost prince of a neighboring kingdom and that his home kingdom had been destroyed by the Evil Queen when he was an infant, resulting in Jonathan’s parents losing their lives and him ultimately being raised by bandits in the forest who survived the kingdom’s destruction and who knew the truth about his identity as a prince. This idea would have also developed the Evil Queen’s character as a more fearsome and tyrannous villain but because this information was never revealed in this film, we can only speculate with our own imagination as to why Jonathan did not have a home and instead lived in an enchanted forest with bandits. To me, I feel more character development was needed with Jonathan than what we saw in the film especially considering Disney chose to go another route by not making Jonathan a prince at all and changing his character to entirely resemble Flynn Ryder from Disney’s animated film, Tangled, instead which to me wasn’t really necessary.

Additionally, towards the beginning of the film, we are introduced to the Evil Queen, an enchantress who mysteriously appears in Snow White’s kingdom after Snow White’s mother passes away from an illness. There really is no explanation as to where the Evil Queen originally came from. If this film had been turned into a television series instead, they could have explained where the Evil Queen had come from before suddenly arriving in Snow White’s kingdom and they could have maybe even showcased a storyline that showed the Evil Queen as being responsible for Snow White’s mother falling ill and passing away, thus showing the Evil Queen’s character as even more cruel.

Additionally, to further add to the Evil Queen’s character development, they could have put more emphasis on her connection with the Magic Mirror by showcasing more how the Magic Mirror always expressed to the Evil Queen its disapproval and contempt of her through its unkind and harsh comments towards her whenever she tried to communicate with it. This could have resulted in Disney making the Evil Queen a more potentially sympathetic character for viewers and showcasing the Magic Mirror as the true villain of the story. It even could have resulted in a possible redemption story for the Evil Queen where after tiring of her numerous attempts to win the Magic Mirror’s approval and admiration, she destroys the Magic Mirror, realizing that nothing she does will ever be good enough for its respect and that she doesn’t need its validation. Snow White could have even helped the Evil Queen to realize her true worth and to help her see that the Magic Mirror was only hurting her by trying to pit them against one and that it would be better for them to work together as empowered women helping to build a better and stronger kingdom, thus adding character growth and development to their relationship. Instead, the film focused on the Evil Queen being more power-hungry, selfish, vain and greedy by emphasizing her obsession with wealth, luxury, glamour, outer beauty and extravagant jewels.

In conclusion, I feel that if Disney is going to continue making live-action adaptations of their classic animated films with a fresher take on the stories they are telling, they should realize that they don’t always need to be film remakes. It is absolutely possible to make a successful remake of some of their classic animations as a live-action television series. By capitalizing on making these remakes as a television series in opt of a motion picture, there is the potential to add more context, depth and content to their storytelling without feeling so limited due to not wanting to make a movie too long. They can easily break up the storytelling through multiple episodes while progressively telling a more detailed story over time throughout the series.

Accepting That Not Everything Is Meant For Us To Understand

 Accepting That Not Everything Is Meant For Us To Understand

Sometimes in our own personal lives as well as in the world in general, unfortunate and unexpected things happen. When unfortunate circumstances or bad things happen, we often tend to wonder why, resulting in us desperately seeking an answer that we may not always receive. While this can cause frustration, we have to remember that with some things in life we simply just aren’t meant to understand why they happen and that it’s perfectly fine to not understand everything.

By accepting that we can’t have the answers to everything, we can live a less stressful life. Life can often be unpredictable and if God had wanted us to understand everything that happens in this world and in our daily lives, he would allow that. Deuteronomy 29:29 states “The secret things belong to the Lord Our God, but the things revealed belong to us and our children forever.” As we do not understand everything, we must simply accept that God has his reasons for not letting us know why certain situations or events occur in the ways that they do.

Because of how deeply God loves and cares for us, he has our best interests at heart and that includes us not always understanding why certain events and circumstances take place in this world. We must simply trust that God allows us to know and understand his plans that are for our good, that will bless us and not harm us, that will give us hope and a future. We must have faith that the things God does not allow us to understand are him doing what it right by us for our protection. Proverbs 3:5 states “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”

We are not meant to comprehend everything that goes tragically wrong in this world and as much as we may wish we could, we unfortunately cannot solve every problem or burden that exists in this world. To ever think that we should understand the reason for everything that happens in this world can also become absolutely exhausting. Instead of worrying about why something awful happened, let’s instead focus on helping to ease the suffering by extending God’s love, kindness, peace and grace to both ourselves and others in times of sorrow, disappointment, fear and distress.

The Importance Of Compassion

 The Importance Of Compassion

In a world that can sometimes be unfair, hurtful and unkind, compassion is so important and essential. Compassion allows us to see from other’s perspectives, promotes kindness, increases peace and encourages positive interactions in a world that can be very negative at times. It is vital we extend compassion to others around us, regardless if they are doing better off than us in life and regardless of our differences in life.

Just because someone has different beliefs, ideals and views than us or just because someone may be better off than us financially, physically, mentally, spiritually etc., it doesn’t mean that they don’t deserve our compassion in times of need. We never know what someone may be going through privately and showing them even just a little bit of kindness and compassion may help give them hope, make their day more cheerful or make their week a little brighter. It is also through kindness and compassion, we can make the world a more caring, empathetic and beautiful place and help it change for the better as showing compassion can inspire others around us to do the same.

God instructs us to love others as he first loved us. Therefore, if God can show kindness, unconditional love, forgiveness, grace and compassion towards others, we, therefore should do the same. Colossians 3:12-13 further epitomizes this as it states, “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”

The world needs our compassion and we can show that through many ways. Simple acts of compassion such as offering someone a compliment or encouraging note, saying a prayer for them, giving them flowers, baking them some cupcakes, cooking them a homemade dinner or even buying them a coffee through the kindness of our hearts can make a bigger impact than we may realize. Therefore, I encourage you to show kindness and compassion to others daily and do your part in whatever corner of the world you are in to make the world a more peaceful, gentle and loving place. 

Should The Royal Rumble Matches Be Increased To 40 Or 50 Participants?

 Should The Royal Rumble Matches Be Increased To 40 Or 50 Participants?

The Royal Rumble matches are something that fans look forward to annually. These matches are the first step towards cementing WWE’s plans for WrestleMania each year. Because of the excitement of the Men’s and Women’s Royal Rumble matches, some have wondered if WWE should increase the number of participants for both. Here are some benefits as to why this may be a good decision to do so.

For starters, not everyone on the roster gets the opportunity to participate in the Royal Rumble matches due to the 30-person limit currently intact. Increasing the number of participants allows both men and women not always given the opportunity to partake in the match and be able to showcase their talent and abilities, regardless if they are determined the winner or not. Increasing the number of Royal Rumble participants also better allows the possibility for a completely unexpected surprise winner or for a special and memorable spot during the match between certain Superstars that fans just can’t stop discussing even after the match is over.

While it’s currently a bit of a stretch, if WWE ever was to collaborate or form some sort of partnership with AEW, this would allow some more cross-branding appearances from AEW Superstars. This could result in some interesting interactions and creative spots in the Royal Rumble matches between AEW and WWE Superstars, therefore making the matches even more exciting and surprising. This could also set up future potential feuds and storylines.

With an increased number of participants, more NXT Superstars could make appearances. This would allow NXT Superstars to showcase their skills more, have the opportunity to work with main roster Superstars more and also allow them to add a Royal Rumble debut to their career resume before their eventual debut on Raw or Smackdown as a main roster Superstar themselves. Additionally, more NXT Superstars competing in Rumble matches could result in the possibility of an NXT Superstar being declared the winner, leading to a big push and momentous debut on to the main roster.

Additionally, an increased number of participants could allow the opportunity for more TNA Superstars to appear at the Royal Rumble, which we have recently started seeing more frequently since WWE and TNA formed a partnership together for cross-branding opportunities. This could open up the potential for dream matches between WWE and TNA Superstars on their respective programming. Additionally, this could also reignite past storylines and feuds with WWE and TNA Superstars that have worked together previously.

Royal Rumble matches are also a great opportunity to build up feuds, gimmicks and storylines regardless of the outcome. By having more participants, Superstars can showcase their character development or develop their storytelling with their fellow Superstars. This could also result in creating more rivalries leading into WrestleMania where big matches involving those Superstars can take place.

There are many free agents in professional wrestling. Being a Royal Rumble match participant allows them to get their names out in the industry more and may even result in the possibility of them being signed with WWE or another mainstream company. Additionally, there are many well-known free agents on the independent scene that could receive a huge crowd reaction if they were to debut in a match as prestigious and prominent as the Royal Rumble. Whether or not it results in the signing of a free agent to a major company like WWE, a spot in the Royal Rumble match would be an impressive career achievement and a great opportunity to work and form associations with many WWE Superstars, including seasoned veterans in the wrestling industry which can be very credential to a free agent’s career resume.

Lastly, something that many fans always look forward to with Royal Rumble matches is surprise returns from WWE Hall Of Famers and other Former WWE Superstars. Adding more participants to a Royal Rumble match allows more Legends to come back and surprise the fans. Additionally, if a Legend comes back for a more long-term run with the company, this is a great opportunity for WWE to surprise the fans with a Legend’s return to the company.

Defending The Women Of The WWE Divas Division

 Defending The Women Of The WWE Divas Division

The WWE Divas Division is known and remembered for a lot of things including the WWE Diva Search, dance contests in the ring, evening gown matches, fashion photoshoots, Halloween costume contests, a reality show called Total Divas, swimsuit contests, pudding matches, Santa’s Little Helper matches and the WWE Divas Championship belt which was designed to look like a pink butterfly. The WWE Divas Division has often been criticized for many reasons including swimsuit matches, eggnog matches, catfights, pajama pillow fight matches, schoolgirl matches, gravy bowl matches, dance segments, short matches that lasted anywhere from thirty seconds to five minutes and the WWE Divas Championship belt, which was won by many women such as Kelly Kelly, Eve Torres, Brie Bella, Nikki Bella, Layla, Maryse, Kaitlyn, Alicia Fox and Michelle McCool. Unfortunately, the blame is sometimes placed on the women themselves even though they really are not to blame.

During this timeframe, the ladies working for the WWE were not given much time on television so they had to make the most of the little time that they were given, so long as their matches and segments weren’t cut at the last minute which unfortunately happened from time to time when matches or segments that would occur earlier on the program went past their time limits. One example of this occurred on April 7^th, 2013 at WrestleMania 29 when an eight-person intergender tag team match was scrapped due to time constraints after two matches earlier in the show exceeded their time limits. The match would eventually take place the next evening on Monday Night Raw.

The fact that women were not given much time for matches and segments also made it more difficult for them to showcase their abilities, creativity and talent. Being given only five minutes or less of television time on programming that was two to three hours long in total made it hard for the women to have enough time to show all the hard work they had been putting in through training. The women would often have to worry more about trying to avoid going over time limits instead of being able to solely focus on telling the story they were trying to tell through their segments, gimmicks and matches. Because of this, many fans looked at the women’s segments and matches as a time for bathroom breaks.

Because of such limited time being given to them, many of the women were often criticized as looking unskilled or untrained in the ring, particularly models and actresses that were hired with no prior wrestling experience. During an interview with Ring The Belle in March 2021, Former WWE Superstar, Maria Kanellis stated that many of the women who were criticized for being “unskilled” due to short matches on television had longer matches on non-televised house shows where they had many impressive performances. Maria also noted that training was different during the time that WWE referred to their women wrestlers as “Divas” as the WWE did not have a Performance Center for their Superstars to train and develop their craft at, instead learning through developmental territories such as Ohio Valley Wrestling, Heartland Wrestling Association, Deep South Wrestling and Florida Championship Wrestling or by showing up early to live events to get extra time to train in the ring with more seasoned veterans such as Victoria, for example. Additionally, some women, such as Kristal Marshall for example, were specifically given less ring time than others on the roster after being told by some in WWE’s management positions that they did not wish for certain women to wrestle.

Additionally, the women were unfortunately considered filler spots back then between matches and some people in production and management positions backstage also did not wish to take the women seriously as competitors, instead desiring the women’s roster to be seen as eye candy by having them dress in skimpy attire and putting them in segments and matches that focused more on their physical looks and sensuality as opposed to booking and showcasing them for their athleticism and talent. Sadly, many women were also put into storylines, gimmicks and segments that were designed to shame them, embarrass them or make them look like a joke in some way. Often times, people in production and management positions backstage wanted to demean them or humiliate them as a result of cutting a promo that was “too good” or having a wrestling match that looked “better than the men performing” because they incorporated kicks and punches or cheated to win by putting their feet on the ropes.

At one point, Former WWE Superstars, Michelle McCool and Victoria were told by Vince McMahon backstage to go back out and re-do their match at an event because their punches looked too good. Unfortunately, Michelle McCool and Victoria were forced to change back into their ring gear, go back out and redo their match with a new rule officially being instituted for women’s matches where they were no longer allowed to kick or punch and were only allowed to catfight, slap and pull hair. According to Michelle McCool, this lasted for around six weeks before the women started sneaking punches and kicks back into their matches. Former WWE Superstar, Chris Jericho also defended Melina and Michelle McCool for a DDT spot they performed on the barricade when they were criticized by an agent backstage for it looking better than some of the men’s DDT’s. After overhearing the criticism made towards Melina and Michelle McCool’s DDT Spot along with other bumps and moves that they performed, Chris Jericho stated that if the men’s matches don’t look as good as the women’s matches, that’s the men’s problem and not the women’s and that the men should be stepping their game up then.

Chris Jericho was not the only man that defended and advocated for the women to be treated with more respect and better opportunities. Michelle McCool stated that her husband and WWE Hall Of Famer, The Undertaker often wanted to speak up for Michelle and the other ladies but she told him not to in order to avoid any more heat on her and the other women. It is also well-known that WWE Hall Of Famer, Mick Foley also spoke out about the women of the WWE deserving more acknowledgement, increased pay and better opportunities. Fit Finlay also played a pivotal role in helping the women through training them wrestling moves and in-ring psychology despite management scolding him and telling him that they preferred the women to be having wardrobe malfunctions in revealing clothing.

Sometimes people in production and management positions at WWE also punished women on the roster for details about their personal lives and relationship statuses being leaked publicly, gossip and rumors being reported on dirt sheet websites, weight gain, having a more muscular build than other women on the roster or for them being unwilling to perform raunchy acts with them. Some examples of when women have unfortunately been shamed or treated as a joke include giving Natalya Neidhart a flatulence gimmick and putting Mickie James in a storyline where she was body-shamed, bullied and compared to a pig. In October 2022, Former WWE Superstar, Melina spoke out on the Wrestling Purists podcast and said that putting the women in lingerie matches or swimsuit matches was a way that backstage personnel tried to degrade the women whenever they did something impressive in a match and said that the environment could feel toxic at times because of this.

Despite all of the discrimination, disrespect, underappreciation and mistreatment they endured, it didn’t stop women like Maria Kanellis, Mickie James and Michelle McCool actively pitching and pushing for better opportunities like storylines and gimmicks. In her March 2021 interview with Ring The Belle, Former WWE Superstar, Maria Kanellis stated she had pitched for more wrestling shirts and merchandise promoting the WWE Divas. Unfortunately, her idea was rejected, having been informed that WWE didn’t see women’s shirts as sellable. That mindset would begin to change when the shirts and merchandise for Former WWE Superstar, AJ Lee became a top seller during her time working for the company.

Therefore, despite the WWE Divas being given less screen time, less merchandise, shorter matches and fewer creative opportunities than the WWE’s current group of Women Superstars, they still made the most of every opportunity they were given to fight back for more respect and equality. They endured misogyny, double-standards, unfair treatment and harassment that they never deserved to endure yet still did what they could to entertain, to get fans to show interest in women’s wrestling and to inspire girls and women worldwide. Because of this, they helped pave the way for both the current and future groups of women wrestlers in the WWE to thrive and prosper. If it wasn’t for the women of the past striving and advocating for better opportunities and better treatment, the Women’s Division could look entirely different than what it does now with the possibility of the Women still never being given the accomplishments being in the main event match at WrestleMania, having their own tag team championships to compete for or having their own 30-woman Royal Rumble match, Money In The Bank match, Elimination Chamber match or Queen Of The Ring match to compete in. Without the women of the past working hard and taking risks for more respect and equal opportunities in WWE, talented and athletic performers like Bianca Belair, Zelina Vega, Nikki Cross, Michin, Shotzi, Rhea Ripley, Wendy Choo, Arianna Grace, Wren Sinclair, Cora Jade, Roxanne Perez, Giulia, Gigi Dolin, Tatum Paxley, Liv Morgan, Tiffany Stratton, Chelsea Green, Piper Niven, Alba Fyre, Jade Cargill, Nia Jax, Candice LeRae, Kairi Sane, Asuka, Iyo Sky and Shayna Baszler may possibly have not had the chances to excel or even compete in WWE.