The Hate For Rachel Zegler Is Rooted In Sexism
Rachel Zegler has continuously proved to be a Hollywood star ever since her start, with ethereal vocals and remarkable performances in her first feature film West Side Story and this year's The Hunger Games: The Ballads of Songbirds and Snakes. Her talent distinguishes her as a rising star that’s here to stay. Zegler caught the eye of Steven Speilberg, the pioneer of the modern blockbuster, with her audition tape for his rendition of West Side Story. He had announced an open casting call on Twitter and she was selected out of 30,000 audition tapes. Zegler went on to receive the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Comedy or Musical for her role as Maria. This made her both the first actress of Colombian descent to win in that category as well as the youngest winner in that category at only 20 years old. Yet, instead of celebrating this young, talented woman for her achievements and well-earned success, people across the world are now determined to take her down. Why?
Zegler’s talent has propelled her Hollywood career within the span of only a few years. She booked Disney’s live-action remake of the 1937 animated film Snow White in 2021, shortly after her breakthrough role in West Side Story. While Snow White isn't scheduled for release until March of 2025, Zegler caught herself in the heart of a social media controversy over fatuous comments she made in 2022 regarding the film.
Within the weeks leading up to the well received and phenomenal The Hunger Games prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes in which Zegler plays the lead of Lucy Gray Baird, interview clips of her resurfaced on social media and it wasn’t pretty. People immediately criticized the comments she had made about her film Snow White and took it to a darker place by even boycotting The Hunger Games prequel. So, what did Zegler say that caused so much upheaval?
“I just mean that it’s no longer 1937,” Zegler smiled. “We absolutely wrote a Snow White that... she’s not going to be saved by the prince and she’s not going to be dreaming about true love. She’s going to be dreaming about becoming the leader she knows she can be and that her late father told her that she could be if she was fearless, fair, brave, and true.”
In other words, she’s excited to update the story to be more modern for young women, as they have done before in The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and the countless other Disney live-action adaptations they’ve done. Yet, the internet still blew up over this. Critics went as far as saying that she wasn’t grateful for the opportunity and that she believes successful women can’t be in love, essentially twisting every word she said. We’ve become complacent as a society in not wanting women to succeed.
While we don’t like to admit it, Hollywood has become the unofficial medium reflecting how our society truly thinks and functions. It’s one of the only industries that’s under the spotlight and therefore scrutinized 24/7. The comments made about Zegler revealed that our expectations for women to be perfect and poised all the time haven’t changed at all. Earlier this year, Jacob Elordi told GQ that he regrets starring in The Kissing Booth franchise, calling them “ridiculous” and “not universal.” Robert Pattinson told E! that he couldn't believe the Twilight books managed to get published in the first place. He saw it as nothing more than a piece of fan fiction that Meyer had written for herself. He even went as far as saying it was "uncomfortable" to read. Not to mention, Adam Driver had a moment recently where he went off at a fan and no one seemed to criticize him. Instead, he was met with praise. Elordi, Pattinson, and Driver have gone on to have incredible careers, with little to no pushback for the comments they have made. The double standards for women are evident, even more so the blatant sexism that they are rooted in.
With all of this being said, Zegler is taking the high road (like the queen she is), stating in her recent Actors on Actors interview with Variety that she's thankful for the backlash. “I feel thankful for those moments because they made me feel like solid Teflon,” she said, explaining to Halle Bailey that “nothing can hurt anymore because they’ve said the worst that can be said.” Bailey herself dealt with something similar after being cast in The Little Mermaid.
With a career that’s seemingly ceaseless, Zegler gets the last laugh — and is whistling while she works — as she continues to break the barriers women face in every industry.
