Snow White 2025: From snowstorm to bankstorm—Money lessons you didn’t expect from a princess

When remaking the classics, Disney has had to step gingerly around everything: Cannot say ‘white’ because, racism; cannot say ‘dwarf’ because we acknowledge the dignity of people of short stature, and not to forget the outrage over the prince kissing a sleeping princess ‘without her consent’. That said, the joy of revisiting a childhood favourite is plain gone. That said, you’d want to give them an A for effort. The animation is so awesome you will fall in love with the bunnies (that open doors -reminding you incorrectly of velociraptors from Jurassic Park), the birds and the cute little house with owls carved in the wood, and yes, Dopey the hesitant one who learns to whistle… The song ‘You’ve got princess problems’ is just so 2025 and wonderful.

Yet, the expected chemistry between the princess Snow White (problem of her name nicely solved because she was born on a stormy, snowy night) and Jonathan (I’m sorry but he looks mostly like the surprise emoji to come across as ‘hero’) is missing.

How does this ‘cute’ but ‘not cute enough’, ‘fairy tale’ but ‘too real’ Snow White teach us money lessons?

‘All is fair when you wear the crown’

The evil queen is played by the gobsmackingly stunning Gal Gadot who chews up not just the scenes but the whole movie. She shows up like a shy, pretty village belle turning the red rose into white to enchant little Snow White and her father, the king. When the king marries her, she sends the king off to a war and turns into a glamourous queen in her super evil avatar. Her song ‘All is fair’ struck a chord simply because it’s a reality check for most of us watching the film.

As an investor this song offers so many money lessons you should shiver in your Oxfords and loosen that tie.

‘All is fair when you wear the crown, A little perk that your power provides, If they dare speak up, Swat them down, She with the diamonds decides…’

Hostile takeovers work exactly this way. When Cadbury’s was taken over by Kraft Foods, or when InBev bought Anheuser Busch, there wasn’t much choice left for the stakeholders but to give in. The farmers and bakers in Snow White turn into soldiers who do as the queen asks, they comply because there is no choice left.

Snow White and her father swallow what is called in hostile takeover parlance a ‘poison pill’ – the king is sent off to battle and the princess is relegated to sweeping. The fate of the employees with tiny shares in the company – the people ruled happily once by the king – is decided by the queen who wears diamonds, aka the hostile corporate that swallowed the small company.

‘Blessed with grand features like these, Kingdoms hand over their keys, Claim your prize, If you wanna rise, Someone’s gotta fall,’

Hostile takeovers are not an easy process. The one who wants to take over makes many attempts and if there’s a strong board of directors, they thwart each attempt. In fairy tales though, the queen uses magic to subjugate people of the kingdom. It’s a scary visual when she takes a rose and it turns into ash in front of our eyes. As the song says, some have to pay the price…

There are hard truths for stakeholders watching a hostile takeover happen: ‘Well nice will only get you nowhere, Nice won’t get the doing done’. And the only way for investors and stakeholders to know how things are likely to be is by educating yourself with real world examples and case studies.

Oh yes, the song about ‘princess problems’ seems so small when you are being warned about how powerful people tend to put the screws into the careers of ordinary folk if they just put their head down and work diligently, paying little heed to the goings on about their company… What I loved about this version of the fairy tale, is how it cleverly reminds you that there is no king coming back to save you. You must buckle up and save yourself. There’s plenty of cheese and caramel popcorn to be had because the story should have been fun, and black coffee to drink because it isn’t.

Manisha Lakhe is a poet, film critic, traveller, founder of Caferati — an online writer’s forum, hosts Mumbai’s oldest open mic, and teaches advertising, films and communication. She can be reached on Twitter at @manishalakhe.