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(Photo courtesy of TMDB)

BY PHILLIP KIM, STAFF WRITER

Disney’s Snow White is on track to becoming one of the first box office flops in 2025. The once-powerful House of Mouse has been struggling to win back audiences for several years. 

Several franchises under its ownership, namely Marvel and Star Wars, have gone from cultural icons to financial disasters and controversy magnets in that duration of time. In many instances, the casting of non-white, female, and queer actors have caused heated online backlash. Snow White was no different—only it should have been.

The musical fantasy film stars Colombian-descent actor Rachel Zegler as Snow White, a character famously named after the color of her skin. Fans of the 1937 animated classic complained that Zegler bore little resemblance to the cartoon drawing they knew and loved. Did such conversations often take a racist turn? Indeed.

However, irrational arguments developed on the other side of the spectrum as well. Too many attempted to push back against the racism and ended up resorting to the age-old “I don’t see color” rhetoric.

One thing was made abundantly clear once the film hit theaters: the filmmakers had little interest in making a reenactment. Changes were present throughout the film. The evil queen only cared about beauty for the sake of power. Prince Charming was replaced by a Robin-Hood-esque criminal. The protagonist was no longer a helpless damsel in distress but a revolutionary.

In other words, live-action Snow White belongs to a particular category of remakes commonly referred to as ‘reimaginings.’ Its primary purpose is to tell an almost entirely different story inspired by the original production.

A good comparison is Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio. The 2023 Netflix animation changed the beloved Italian fairy tale’s setting from the late-1800s to mid-1900s. The sly fox is traded for an abusive circus owner named Volpe (fox in Italian), while Pinocchio is taken to a military school toward the end rather than the Pleasure Island.

It would be odd to criticize a film for failing to capture the source material’s looks when its script was never attempting to do so.

The 1937 picture contains relatively traditional ideas of femininity and limited the audience’s perspective to the castle or the forest. Director Marc Webb and fellow producers wanted to tell an alternative version of the story, exploring a more complex female mind and shining light on solidarity amongst the kingdom. Changing the ethnicity of the main character is just one of several artistic decisions made to subvert the original.

“I kept thinking about my daughter and what messages I want to send her way,” The Amazing Spider-Man helmer said in an interview. “There’s something elemental about Snow White’s kindness, but she’s also quite brave.”

A film should be judged based on what it aimed for. A comedy cannot be judged based on how scary it was. A fantasy should not be evaluated based on how scientifically realistic its events were. One can watch Snow White and discuss if its efforts at subversive storytelling were successful, which it wasn’t in all honesty. 

It is also perfectly reasonable to simply wish they had made a straight remake rather than a radical reimagining. To call its casting a failure, when replicating the original movie was never the focus, might be more of a stretch in terms of criticism; just as it is to claim race can be completely overlooked in auditions.

It is concerning that some people decided what to think of the casting decision before understanding the nature of the film. Many arguments on both sides were flawed because they attacked and defended a movie that frankly did not exist—one that hired Zegler solely in the spirit of color-blindness. 

All that time and energy wasted debating whether it was racist to care how an actor looked could have been spent on much more intellectually stimulating discussions. What did the changes in the remake reveal about America then and now? How can art use race and class to create meaning? The list could go on forever.

Disappointingly, that opportunity is now lost, probably for good.

Juliana Marcello/Fourth Estate

BY JULIANA MARCELLO, STAFF WRITER

On April 2, Student Government hosted a teach-in and discussion event regarding the effects of the recent executive orders by President Trump will have at Mason. 

Maria Cuesta, Mason’s student-body president, introduced the organization to the event’s participants. Cuesta explained during her introduction that President Washington’s administration is responsible for implementing and enforcing the executive orders. 

Cuesta urged participants to engage in conversation with the administrators, “We advise you to challenge this. When you are talking to them, ask questions, make sure you know all of the information possible to you, and make sure that when you engage with them you share different perspectives and also listen to them.” 

Cuesta told event attendees to recognize that the administrators are mandated to implement and enforce the executive orders, including orders from the Board of Visitors (BOV), and are at risk of losing their jobs if they (administration) do not follow the mandate. 

“We are starting a coalition called Mason Unite where we have a series of events where you can engage and be an activist for yourself and your community,” Cuesta said while introducing the coalition. “This is the start… getting to know what is happening, and getting all of the information so that you can act on it.” 

Cuesta encouraged the Mason community to not only attend, but to engage in any form. Cuesta said, “We really ask you to engage with this, if you can’t come we have a flyer up on our student government Instagram, you can share, make sure students are aware of this if they want to pursue this opportunity.” Cuesta promoted the Student Government’s Instagram for latest event updates with Mason Unite. 

“Keep showing up,” Cuesta said, “keep engaging in these conversations and clicking and sharing this information.” Multiple members of the Student Government then continued this sentiment, encouraging the Mason community to show up, follow online, as well as giving some tips for the rally. 

The student rally happened this past Friday at the Department of Education building in Washington, D.C. The “Hands Off Our Schools” rally included the Mason Student Government as well as student organizations from neighboring universities. The rally included speakers such as former U.S. Representative Jamaal Bowman (NY-16). 

“The more people that show up, the more change that we are able to make. There’s power in numbers” Cuesta said at the discussion event.

Future events will be posted on the Student Government’s Instagram. 

Declan W Rees/Fourth Estate

BY DECLAN WILLIAM REES, STAFF WRITER

On April 2, George Mason University Coalition for Palestine (GMU4palestine) gathered at Wilkins Plaza for their second “Week of Rage” event, where organizers demonstrated around an “Apartheid Wall”  centerpiece. The other events included a “Healing Circle” and film screening. The “Apartheid Wall” is marked as the first Palestinian-cause demonstration on the Plaza since Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) was suspended and the FBI raid of two students’ homes in November.

Prior to the event, a number of Mason police officers, including Chief of Police Carl Rowan Jr., were spotted next to an unmarked vehicle scouting out Wilkins, dispersing moments before the student organizers displayed the art sculpture. 

Moments later, organizers exhibited an interactive archway piece inspired by the Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem. When asked what the symbolism behind the arc was, an organizer explained the significance of “highlighting the segregated society that Palestinians live in, separated by walls overseen by Israeli military governance.”

“The right of return” was the focal point of the event. “The right of return” has been argued as an  international law since 1978. Stated in a study brought to the United Nations in the same year, the “right of return” is the right that all people, including stateless persons and refugees, be guaranteed the right to return to their place of origin and family’s home. The right is often invoked to call upon the return of refugee groups to their country from which they were displaced.

(Photo credit: GMU4palestine)

Artworks on the archway featured content of the Palestinian experience, from description of expulsion from Palestinian territories, stories about resilience and “sumud,” meaning steadfastness in Arabic.

One poster read, “WE ARE STILL HERE,” with a woman wearing a keffiyeh scarf wrapped around her head, and another woman wearing traditional Native American earrings and garments, suggesting a shared solidarity between the two communities.

Declan W Rees/Fourth Estate

A noted piece of the “Apartheid Wall” was a Muslim woman wearing a hijab holding up a key with olive branches in the background. The key alludes to the many Palestinians possessing old keys to their homes after the 1948 Nakba. 

Many passersby stopped at the archway and talked with one another about the subject of Palestine, protections of free speech and the ongoing interim suspension of the SJP.

During the event, a student passing by raised their fist and chanted, “Free, free Palestine!” When approached for an interview, the student declined and explained that due to the increased presence of ICE on campus and the crackdowns on international students nationwide they were worried that an interview would put a target on their back, as they believed that speaking out could jeopardize their education, safety, and future.

One student felt “a desire for change,” and “wished that more people cared.” They expressed that “it feels like empathy has become something of a political and philosophical debate, rather than a human feeling.” 

Another Mason student was vocal about their support for the event. “Anyone living in the United States should be paying attention [because] we are directly involved,” the student said, further emphasizing the importance of Mason’s diverse campus and the significance of the Palestinian people. 

Throughout the event, students occasionally passed by and pumped their fist; others wrote a note to hang on the arch. One message read, “What happens to Palestine will happen to us. Free Palestine.” Students involved in conversations asked each other whether anyone knew when SJP would be reinstated. 

(Photo credit: GMU4palestine )

By the end of the night, some flyers made by GMU4palestine were added to the middle of the archway, reading “DIVEST FROM DEATH” and “GMU AGAINST GENOCIDE.”