Rachel Zegler Didn’t Just Ruin Snow White—She Ruined Lucy Gray Baird First

In the past three weeks following the release of Snow White, Rachel Zegler has faced backlash for her distasteful off-screen commentary and a series of progressive tirades. Conservative media, in particular, has expressed frustration with Disney’s incessant push for left-wing ideology in children’s entertainment. 

But it isn’t just conservatives who are fed up—the pervasive “girlboss” narrative in fiction has caused many women, even those who avoid political discourse, to voice their discontent with this recurring and unrealistic portrayal of female empowerment. 

While the storyline of live-action Snow White is disturbing and a disrespectful rendition of the original film, the film itself, along with Rachel’s prattle, wasn’t the beginning of glaring concern for me. It began after I had walked out of the theater for the premiere of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes with a bitter sense of disappointment from Zegler’s portrayal of my favorite female book character: Lucy Gray Baird.

My conflicting reactions to Zegler's portrayal of Lucy and my admiration for Collins' Lucy puzzled me, especially given the faithfulness of Songbirds and Snakes to the source material. I found myself asking: Why was the movie Lucy so terrible if everything else had been accurate? She delivered the same lines, didn’t she? It had almost maddened me that nobody else was posing the same questions or drawing comparisons because the book had captured only moderate attention. Nobody adored Lucy’s character as much as I had, it seemed. I thought it was Collins’ best work to date with poetic prose, a psychological unraveling of President Snow’s youth, as intriguingly tragic as William Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, and most importantly, had a gentle female character that is near impossible to find in modern literature.

As more information about Zegler’s upcoming Snow White role was released, my concerns grew because of Zegler’s previous casting in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Only after the release of Snow White did I realize the script wasn’t entirely to blame, but Rachel Zegler herself, who shaped Snow White’s mischaracterization. 

Anyone who had loved or understood Suzanne Collins’s intentions behind Lucy Gray Baird should have foreseen this disaster long before conservative media caught wind of the Snow White plot line. I have yet to see anyone draw comparisons between the parallel performances. To understand why Rachel played a significant role in the mischaracterization of feminine female leads, we need an understanding of Lucy Gray’s character on paper as opposed to her on-screen interpretation. 

The Essence of Lucy Gray Baird

Lucy Gray Baird’s character in the books is charming, witty, and carries herself with a quiet resilience that only becomes apparent to the reader through Coriolanus Snow’s interactions with her. Lucy has a striking sense of vulnerability entangled with femininity, even wearing a conspicuous amount of makeup for the reaping: blue eyeshadow, black eyeliner, and deep red lipstick. This alone reveals Lucy’s nature to the reader; she’s artistic, has a passion for singing, and is someone who captivates people through performance without being dominant.

The text describes her as “Not much of a match for the other girls, even less so for the boys. The idea of her defeating Marcus was laughable. Like pitting a songbird against a grizzly bear.” This passage resonated with me deeply on my first read, prompting me to highlight it immediately. I found it refreshing to see another woman described as I would perceive myself in her situation. To think another woman, an artist like me, would be like a bird in a den of bears about to fight to the death isn’t disrespectful; It’s realistic.

Collins intended for Lucy Gray Baird to be a direct contrast to Katniss Everdeen, to show how two different types of girls with dissimilar sets of skills would’ve survived in deadly conditions. Katniss struggled with performing while Lucy thrived off her swoon-worthy magnetism and gentleness. Because Rachel translated Lucy as a direct mirror to Katniss rather than an opposite, Lucy’s presence lacked any real meaning in the films. 

Going back to the reaping, following the District 12 reaping ceremony, Lucy retaliates by slipping a snake down Mayfair’s dress. This girl, as we discover, is the other woman involved with Lucy's ex-boyfriend, and subsequently had her father, Mayor Lipp, rig the reaping. Mayor Lipp responded to the snake incident by slapping Lucy across the face, the force bringing her to the ground, trembling, and on the brink of tears.

"Her eyes shone with tears that threatened to spill over. 'Don’t cry,' Coriolanus whispered. He caught himself and looked around nervously to find that the other students were riveted. Their faces showed concern. She had won their sympathy, despite her oddness.”

She then earned the audience’s sympathy. Zegler did this scene a gross disservice by making Lucy angry, and overtly resistant with the same rebellious tone you see in Katniss during “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay.” I questioned how the audience could have possibly gained sympathy towards someone who had displayed outrage.

"There was something exciting, even attractive about her. The camera drank her in as she crossed to the front of the stage and leaned out over the audience, sweet and insolent…And then she was off, sashaying around the stage, right past the Peacekeeper, some of whom were having trouble suppressing smiles."

What Hollywood Missed About Lucy’s Latina Identity

Zegler’s portrayal of Lucy was far from sweet and insolent, leaving me to wonder if she had read the book at all or if someone had sought her out for the role instead. In the novel, Lucy Gray Baird exhibits certain traits suggestive of a Latina heritage that were recognizable while reading, as I’m Latina myself. A colorful layered dress, family-oriented ideals, deriving from a district with olive skin, and an affinity for musical performance and dance. Was Hollywood somehow short on Latina actresses who could sing? Or did they seek her out because she was the only Latina actress they had access to with strong relevance in Western media? 

Not only did Rachel distort Lucy's character traits, but she also substantially affected the romance in “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.” In the book, Lucy allowed Coriolanus Snow to take the lead, playing the role of the vulnerable songbird who wants to be set free with the help of the boy she’s in love with.

“Imagine how terrified she must be, Coryo,” Tigris had said. “How alone she must feel. If it was me, anything you could do to make me feel like you cared about me would go a long way.”

Lucy was a terrified, trembling bird who was facing a death sentence. In the film, Zegler played Lucy as Snow’s equal, someone who was disagreeable and blatantly challenged him. It’s absurd to think a girl—performer meant to captivate large crowds, no less, would be this formidable rather than docile in such a situation. Her attitude completely erased the romantic tones of the book. Coriolanus Snow slowly fell in love with a delicate girl who was at the end of her life. He was desperate to help her win even if it seemed impossible on the surface, given her delicate attributes and weak build.

A Missed Opportunity for a Deep, Feminine Romance

The film lost its complex push and pull dynamic, failing to capture Lucy’s allure and the subtle but growing influence she had on Snow. Lucy in the arena not only survives because of Coriolanus’ interference, but she spends the majority of the game completely hidden. Reminiscent of a princess, Lucy Gray Baird wins by enchanting snakes with a soft tune, as if her connection to nature saved her life. How beautiful is that? A girl who survived through utter grace and femininity. However, the movie destroys the spectacle of ethereal grace by making Lucy assertive and strong instead.

This scene in the books specifically showcased how Lucy could disarm people and even nature with her gentleness. I love The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes because of its fairy-tale-like qualities. We did not need another Katniss Everdeen. We needed a Lucy Gray Baird. By making Lucy as assertive as Katniss, they made Lucy meaningless and ultimately useless. Yes, making a female character power-hungry and angry, instead of layered and feminine, can render her narratively useless. In their efforts to be progressive, they diminished a woman’s importance. The movie snuffed out Lucy's true strength and light, making her unbearably forgettable when compared to Katniss.

Throughout the book's conclusion, Lucy remained unsuspecting and trusting of Coriolanus Snow. Snow’s paranoia from Lucy leaving for but a brief moment reflected his descent into madness, and how wounded he had become. It was not an act of escape on Lucy’s part, at least not from the reader's perspective. Collins intentionally hides the truth from the reader. You’re left with glaring questions like, is Lucy actually dead? Did Snow accidentally kill a girl who truly loved him? Was Snow paranoid, or did Lucy leave for reasons she failed to disclose to him? Is Lucy dead or alive? Was Lucy real to begin with? 

“They were a team. She trusted him.”

A Feminine Heroine Reduced to Nothing

Lucy’s death is ambiguous, the ending shrouded in mystery, making her seem almost mythical and as ethereal as Collins had always written her. Zegler’s portrayal was that of a calculated and conniving Lucy, making her bland and predictable. 

So, if Snow White was not the first instance of Rachel butchering a notably feminine female character, is the production team fully to blame? I won’t argue that Disney doesn’t infect their media with woke propaganda, but it’s bizarre that this exact mischaracterization happened before the release of Snow White. A lazy interpretation that still goes entirely ignored. This is not only an issue with political agendas seeping into children’s media, but Zegler’s apparent internalized hatred for softness and femininity saturating her performances.

The Deeper Issue: A Rejection of Femininity

It’s clear to me she not only lacks media training but also boasts a refusal to understand characters she doesn’t resonate with. I believe with her talent and physical beauty, she would have flourished in these roles, but there’s a repressed animosity she holds towards womanhood that she can’t seem to surmount, and it’s truly heartbreaking. That being said, they should have given these roles to actresses who adored Snow White and Lucy Gray Baird.

Rachel not only robbed us of a feminine Disney princess, but also distorted the one I’ve always regarded as the true princess of The Hunger Games.