Is it regressive to pine for a Prince Charming? What about yearning for a husband you love and maybe a few children? Is that regressive? In 2023, evidently so — or at least according to Disney’s “Snow White” remake lead actress, Rachel Zegler.

In some inopportune comments about the movie, which is in production and slated for release in 2024, the actress denigrates the original 1937 animated classic as anti-feminist and says Snow White is “not going to be saved by a prince, and she’s not going to be dreaming about true love.”

So of what is the “fairest of them all” dreaming? “She’s dreaming of being the leader she knows she can be,” Ms. Zegler says. In further comments making the rounds on social media, Ms. Zegler says the original Prince Charming was a “stalker.”

Plus, Ms. Zegler adds, her live action remake is “not about the love story at all, which is really really wonderful. And whether she finds love along the way is anybody’s guess until 2024. All of [Prince Charming’s] scenes could get cut, who knows? It’s Hollywood, baby.”

In Hollywood, you see, the prince is expendable. Women don’t need men — or in 2023 terms, they don’t need a partner. Love is for suckers. We can go it alone.

For “Snow White” to be successful, Americans need to buy movie tickets, and Ms. Zegler’s comments are causing a public relations nightmare for Disney. The company’s biggest past successes, the animated classics and their live action remakes, have almost all featured princesses falling in love.

Think of “Cinderella,” or “Beauty and the Beast,” or “Frozen.” People want love stories. Heck, they want love in real life. If you have any doubts of the success of the princess love story formula, take a look at the princess dolls and children’s Disney princess dress selection at your local Target. The line is a cash cow.

The backlash to Ms. Zegler’s comments is growing louder. There is a whole genre of TikTok videos dissecting Ms. Zegler’s words. Disney, too, is facing criticism for its “woke” reimagining of the fairy tale, for casting a Latina woman — Ms. Zegler — for the role of a medieval German princess.

Disney is also facing criticism for leaked photos from the set that show average-size men of a rainbow of races and genders playing six of the seven dwarfs. Representation seems to be important for every minority group, apparently, except dwarfs.

Disney would only say, “To avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film, we are taking a different approach with these seven characters and have been consulting with members of the dwarfism community.”

The son of the director of the 1937 “Snow White,” David Hand, is also criticizing the remake, calling it “insulting” and “woke.” He calls the new version a “whole different concept” and says that Walt Disney and his father would be “turning in their graves.”

Yet aside from the controversies over politically correct representation and perhaps even a revision of the non-consensual kiss that wakes Snow White from her slumber, the most pernicious aspect of the “Snow White” debates is the denigration of love as anti-feminist and anti-female empowerment.

If you’re pining for Prince Charming, the thinking goes, then you’re not centering your own dreams. Sound familiar? It does to me. I grew up absorbing this same ideology: find your power as a woman, and if you also find a partner along the way, all the better. Yet love itself is no ambition. In fact, if that’s a priority these days, it’s considered low class and pitiful. 

Getting married or pregnant in one’s 20s is considered shamefully regressive among highly educated urbanites. That attitude filters into the culture. Ms. Zegler is only 22 years old, so she can be cut some slack. She’s parroting the same lessons I learned.

Birth rates across Western nations are in decline. Americans are getting married later. They’re also lonelier than ever. Deriding seeking love as regressive, conservative, and requiring submission to the patriarchy isn’t the sole cause, of course, but it likely contributes. 

Is the outrage over “Snow White” hyperbolic? Perhaps. It’s difficult for Disney or any other entertainment company to thread the needle of modern princess feminism — an elusive balance of female empowerment, ball-gown romance, and heroicism.  

Let women strive for success in whatever realm they choose, and that doesn’t always mean starting a family. Yet it’s not feminist to shun pining for love. True love is a magnificent form of empowerment. It is one of the greatest joys in life. If we forget this, we’re missing the plot.