Disneyland recently reopened with an update to its Snow White attraction, but the ride is already prompting backlash for its controversial scene.
The theme park in Anaheim, California opened on Friday for the first time in more than 400 days since the COVID-19 pandemic started, but the park is limited to only California residents.
Snow White's Enchanted Wish takes visitors aboard a wooden mine cart as they accompany the princess as she escapes the darkness of the Evil Queen. The attraction is enhanced with new music, laser projections, an animation system, LED back lighting, and new scenes, including the evil Queen's collection of spell books and potions, and Snow White dancing.
"Begin your fairytale journey in the cozy cottage of the Seven Dwarfs, then visit dazzling mines filled with glowing gems. Soon you'll be riding into the Queen's sorcery chamber and discovering a magic mirror just as Snow White bites into a poisoned apple!," the description of the attraction reads. "When all looks lost, will Snow White find her own happily ever after?".
However, the "true love's kiss" finale between Snow White and her prince that's prompting backlash from the San Francisco Gate. The outlet's reviewers Katie Dowd and Julie Tremaine attacked the ride for its finale scene.
"The new grand finale of Snow White's Enchanted Wish is the moment when the Prince finds Snow White asleep under the Evil Queen's spell and gives her "true love's kiss" to release her from the enchantment," the San Francisco Gate wrote. "A kiss he gives to her without her consent, while she's asleep, which cannot possibly be true love if only one person knows it's happening."
"Haven't we already agreed that consent in early Disney movies is a major issue? That teaching kids that kissing, when it hasn't been established if both parties are willing to engage, is not OK?," The San Francisco Gate continues. "It's hard to understand why the Disneyland of 2021 would choose to add a scene with such old fashioned ideas of what a man is allowed to do to a woman, especially given the company's current emphasis on removing problematic scenes from rides like Jungle Cruise and Splash Mountain. Why not re-imagine an ending in keeping with the spirit of the movie and Snow White's place in the Disney canon, but that avoids this problem?"
The new Snow White ride is the latest Disney theme park attractio to stir controversy, following criticisms for Splash Mountain's ties to the 1946 movie Song of the South, and "negative depictions" of indigenous people in scenes featured in The Jungle Cruise attraction.
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Disney did not immediately respond to the outlet's criticism.
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