Days after Cannes jury member Jessica Chastain spoke about the representation of women in the festival’s films, a poster for a Snow White movie featuring the voice of Chloe Grace Moretz is coming under fire for body shaming.
Journalists at the Cannes Film Festival snapped a picture of the marketing materials for the Korean-animated Snow White parody which was being shopped around for buyers. “Red Shoes And The Seven Dwarfs” which depict a slender Snow White next to a shorter, heavier female character while the tagline reads, “What if Snow White was no longer beautiful and the 7 Dwarfs not so short?”
Plus-size model and body positivity activist Tess Holliday tweeted a photo of the poster, tagging the film’s outspoken star Moretz in her tweet.
Moretz, 20, responded to the controversial poster on Wednesday, saying she is “appalled and angry” at the marketing materials for the film, adding she did not approve of the poster.
“Pls know I have let the producers of the film know. I lent my voice to a beautiful script that I hope you will all see in its entirety,” she tweets, apologizing for the body shaming image. “The actual story is powerful for young women and resonated with me. I am sorry for the offense that was beyond my creative control.”
Online users were quick to voice their outrage.
“My 9-year-old son will pissed be too, because even he knows this is utter bullsh*t,” singer Jane Monheit tweeted.
“As a mother of a teenage daughter and a woman in general this is so so incredibly disturbing,” another user writes. “No wonder kids have issues with body image,” adds another.
Produced by South Korea’s Locus Creative Studios, the “parody with a twist” is described as: “After seven handsome princes are magically transformed into seven ugly dwarfs, they set out on a quest to break the curse by getting a kiss from the most beautiful princess in all the land.”
Despite the marketing materials and visual implications, the movie’s website suggests a more empowering message of celebrating inner beauty as Snow White learns to “not only to accept herself, but to celebrate who she is, inside and out. And to let the beauty within… shine brighter than anyone else in the land.”
Following the furor, one of the film’s producers, Sujin Hwang, released the following statement on behalf of Locus, insisting the marketing campaign isn’t representative of the film’s intent.
“As the producer of the theatrical animated film“Red Shoes and the 7 Dwarfs”, now in production, Locus Corporation wishes to apologize regarding the first elements of our marketing campaign (in the form of a Cannes billboard and a trailer) which we realize has had the opposite effect from that which was intended. That advertising campaign is being terminated,” reads the statement.
A trailer for the movie debuted online in March and was met with criticism over the depiction of Snow White.
