Disneyland's newly revamped Snow White ride is facing heavy criticism over what effectively amounts to consent issues.
"Snow White's Enchanted Wish" reopened on Friday for the first time in over a year. While it was closed, it underwent a renovation — and critics took the opportunity to insist that history ought to have been rewritten during the revamp.
According to the New York Post, San Francisco Chronicle reviewers Katie Dowd and Julie Tremaine led the criticism by insisting that the ride should not have included the "kiss he gives to [Snow White] 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?" Dowd and Tremaine wrote. "That teaching kids that kissing, when it hasn't been established if both parties are willing to engage, is not OK?"
The pair added, "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. Why not reimagine the ending in keeping with the spirit of the movie and Snow White's place in the Disney canon, but that avoids this problem?"
The two did not specify what Prince Charming could have done — or not done — to awaken Snow White from her cursed sleep. As most people know, only true love's kiss could awaken Snow White from the curse.
According to the outlet, changes to the ride include "new audio and visual technology, laser projections, new music, and a new animation system."
Disneyland in Anaheim, California, opened its doors in April for the first time since the pandemic shut the park down more than a year ago in 2020.
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