Have the clouds finally cleared for the Wokest Of Them All? After a couple of years' work by its stars to shove a poisoned apple down Disney's throat, it looks like the Batgirl option didn't get exercised.

Yesterday, the studio finally released the first trailer for its live-action remake of Snow White. Is it still Whistle While You Woke, or did Disney redo the film during its long sleep? The trailer itself doesn't reveal much other than the story's core elements, which appear to include ... are those dwarves? We'll find out in 2025 ...

After years of whistling while she worked making a new movie, Snow White is finally nearing her return to the big screen. Disney unveiled the first trailer for Snow White at D23 Friday, ahead of its March 21, 2025 release date.

The film was set to open in March of this year, but Disney pushed it back a year in light of the SAG-AFTRA strike. Underscoring its long journey to the screen, stars Rachel Zegler (Snow White) and the Evil Queen (Gal Gadot) were at D23 two years ago showing off the first footage from the movie.

Yeah, that wasn't the only reason for the delay. Last year, its two stars went on a publicity blitz to brag about how they'd transformed the classic fairy tale into a lesson on equity and inclusion. Rachel Zegler in particular took a page out of Alissa Heinerscheid's PR playbook by strongly suggesting that those who love the 1937 classic need a re-education on grrrl power. Even the key lesson about vanity had been transformed into a modern ethic of wokery:

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Zegler also revealed that the film is also changing the definition of “fair” for the film. The original animated film made it clear the term referred to beauty and was providing a lesson vanity.

This will no longer be the definition for Zegler’s live-action movie.

She explained, “The reality is that the cartoon was made 85 years ago and therefore it’s extremely dated when it comes to the ideas of women being in roles of power and what a woman is fit for in the world. And so when we came to reimagining the actual role of Snow White it became about the fairest of them all meaning who is the most just. And who can become a fantastic leader.”

Zegler continued, “And the reality is, you know, Snow White has to learn a lot of lessons about coming into her own power before she can come into power over a kingdom.”

As I wrote at the time, this is an absurd hijacking of the fairy tale, mainly because it's a story of a battle between hereditary nobility:

The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812, at a time when Europe had barely moved out of the feudal system. These aren’t elected officials standing for a constituency, but entitled feudal lords. The Queen is regnant, Snow White is her stepmother’s heir to the throne, and Prince Charming is a neighboring royal looking for a suitable marriage to a fellow noble.

Needless to say, hereditary nobility did not decide to put the crown on the most woke head in the kingdom. If we are to believe this concept, then we must believe that the Queen in this story had been previously chosen to rule because she was the absolute fairest, wokest, most just person in the kingdom. Then, when she discovered (through a magic mirror!) that she was in fact only the second-most woke, fair, and just person in the kingdom … she turned into a psychotic murderous villain so that she could restore her previous status as the most “fair” in the land.

Jeez. Imagine if she was only the third most “fair,” woke, just person!

The moral of Snow White has always related to the destructive nature of vanity. Perhaps that's a lesson that cuts Hollywood a little too close to the bone.

The question now is whether the 2025 Snow White will be the same 2023 Snow White that Zegler and Gadot promoted as a woke fairy tale. The SAG-AFTRA strike delayed the release of blockbuster films, but not for two years. The delayed films have almost entirely come out this year, such as Dune Part Two, as the stars were able to promote their releases normally. The extra year in production suggests that Disney reacted to the enormous backlash against Zegler in particular slagging the 1937 original Snow White and the Seven Dwarves by retooling the production back in a traditional direction.

For one thing, we see dwarves in this trailer, apparently rendered in CGI. Originally, Disney had cast actors in live-action filming and dumped any reference to stature. That came in reaction to criticism from famed actor and 'little person' Peter Dinklage, who called the use of dwarves "f***ing backwards." According to Metro, which got an early look at the trailers, the dwarves are back and rather "unsettling":

While some elements of the movie’s material are strong – such as its lush, storybook visual style and Zegler’s voice – the dwarfs have been branded ‘scary’ and ‘unsettling’ in their initial appearance.

Billed as the ultimate fan event, D23 saw the company treating guests to nearly three hours of announcements, teasers, exclusive clips and live performances from its wide array of movie universes on Friday night, with the evening’s climax finally revealing the dwarfs in action. ...

Zegler received praise for her beautiful and assured singing from attendees, but fans were less effusive over their reactions to the seven dwarfs.

Photographs leaked out from the principal shooting that showed full-size actors playing these roles. Did they need to reshoot this to get CGI characters as replacements? If so, what else did Disney reshoot with their extra year? 

This new PR message might give us a hint:

Disney has called the remake ‘a magical music adventure journeying back to the timeless story.’

Are they really "journeying back to the timeless story"? Did anyone tell Zegler or Gadot?

Perhaps we'll get a better sense of this when the PR machine kicks back up. Will Zegler and Gadot return to the media blitz talking about equity and diversity as the main morals of this film about queens and kings? Or will they Whistle While They Work rather than Whistle While They Woke?

Stay tuned, I guess. Maybe I'll just watch the original, instead of another Hollywood woke vanity project.