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.