A billboard for an animated film starring Chloë Grace Moretz is drawing criticism online. The billboard for the movie “The Red Shoes and The Seven Dwarfs” features a tall, skinny, wide-eyed girl wearing red high heels looking down at a shorter, heavier girl holding the shoes — and people are seeing a body-shaming message.
It was announced that Moretz would be adding her voice to the animated film at Cannes earlier this month. And it was during the annual film festival when the outcry against the marketing for the project, in which the actress voices the Snow White character, began.
Backlash heated up after plus-sized model Tess Holliday tweeted a photo of the billboard, which compared a shorter, rounder Snow White to her thinner counterpart with the tagline: “What if Snow White was no longer beautiful and the 7 Dwarfs not so short?”
Speaking about misogynistic and body shaming publicity in Cannes… Being less thin and tall ≠ being less beautiful! #cannes2017 pic.twitter.com/r4f8fIQjBU
— HUGO (@HugoEmmerzael) May 16, 2017
How did this get approved by an entire marketing team? Why is it okay to tell young kids being fat = ugly? 🤔😏@ChloeGMoretz pic.twitter.com/PVhgwluGTM
— Tess H🍒lliday (@Tess_Holliday) May 30, 2017
Criticism of the film featuring Moretz came after Jessica Chastain made headlines when she called the representation of women at Cannes “disturbing” (though Chastain made no direct reference to the Snow White-themed animated feature).
The movie, a take on “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” directed by Sung Ho Hong, is about a girl who tries to fit in with everyone else by putting on shoes that disguise her to be tall and thin, when she is naturally shorter and heavier.
In the trailer above, you can watch two dwarfs hungrily eye Snow White undress at about 58 seconds in. When she takes off her shoes, their eyes grow in horror at what they see — a full-figured woman. Then, around the 1:30 mark, the girl is pictured chugging from a mug. She burps, sighs and says “Now I can breathe.”
The promotional material for the film seems to suggest that being tall and thin meets a certain standard of beauty, and being short and heavy does not.
Moretz commented on the pushback against the film, saying Wednesday that the project “resonated” with her and that “the actual story is powerful for young women.”
The actual story is powerful for young women and resonated with me. I am sorry for the offense that was beyond my creative control https://t.co/HZP2ydPCAX
— Chloë Grace Moretz (@ChloeGMoretz) May 31, 2017
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 https://t.co/IOIXYZTc3g
— Chloë Grace Moretz (@ChloeGMoretz) May 31, 2017
This is not 20-year-old actress’ first time facing criticism around body shaming. In 2016, she tweeted at Kim Kardashian after Kardashian posted a nude photo.
@KimKardashian I truly hope you realize how important setting goals are for young women, teaching them we have so much more to offer than-
— Chloë Grace Moretz (@ChloeGMoretz) March 7, 2016
@KimKardashian – just our bodies.
— Chloë Grace Moretz (@ChloeGMoretz) March 7, 2016
Moretz later told Glamour that she “wasn’t slut-shaming. It’s not about body shaming.”
Here are some Twitter reactions to the billboard.
@JaneMonheit That is fucking outrageous.
— Jane Monheit Fans (@JaneMonheitFans) May 30, 2017
https://twitter.com/TNCreature/status/869874954904498176
So many questions about this moviehttps://t.co/mZPJkq6VDt
— Breanna✧Marcantonio (@BreMarcantonio) May 31, 2017
https://twitter.com/trohley/status/869669227250298885
Red Shoes and 7 Dwarfs-
Is it Rated-R?
I'm seriously triggered at the Trailer-#Cringe
— bitch. (@agcpe) December 19, 2016