Why is the representation of dwarfism changes in Disney’s live-action remake of ‘Snow White’ so important?

Disney’s live-action remake of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, currently scheduled for March 2025, has been controversial, with the movie’s trailer receiving over 1 million thumbs down on YouTube. There is. In particular, many fans were outraged by the fact that computer-generated imagery (CGI) was used for the characters in The Seven Dwarfs (now renamed “The Miners”) rather than played by dwarf actors. I am doing it.

In my opinion, unless changes are made, a live-action remake of Snow White should not be released in the first place. My doctoral research has found that people with dwarfism commonly experience ridicule influenced by the depiction of dwarfism in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. . However, if you were to make a movie, using CGI is a better choice than casting a real person with dwarfism.

Fans have taken to social media to lament the fact that they will no longer see films featuring “real dwarfs”, ignoring the similarities to Victorian freak shows. Often their disappointment is masked as a supposed concern for the welfare of the dwarfistic “actors” who will lose the “opportunity” to play these characters.

However, the people with dwarfism who play these characters are rarely seen as serious actors. Alice Lambert, an actress with dwarfism, was interviewed for a chapter of my new book, Dwarfism Art and Advocacy (2024). In it, she says that when she was doing pantomimes, people would “come to the stage door after the show and I realized they just wanted to see the ‘dwarfs’.” …You’re not being represented as a performer, but rather as your own person,” he recalls. Dwarfism is flaunted for the amusement of others. ”

My research also found that many people still believe that people with dwarfism only work in the entertainment industry. It is not unusual to ask someone with dwarfism if they would do pantomime work, especially as one of the seven dwarfs. Personally, I count the number of people who laugh and ask me if I’m “grumpy” or “happy” (the names of two dwarf characters) or if I know where Snow White is. I forgot that. If people cannot tell the difference between fiction and reality, then the representation of fiction must change to minimize abuse.

Many actors with dwarfism have long refused to play roles considered derogatory, including the Seven Dwarfs. That’s because people with dwarfism are capable of so much more.

There are more than 250,000 people around the world with dwarfism. People with dwarfism include geneticist and psychiatrist Judith Budner, lawyer Paul Stephen Miller, and astrophysicist William A. Wheaten.

Many fans who express disappointment that the dwarfs will be CGI fail to understand how the role affects people with dwarfism in public. For example, in 2012, a German lawyer with dwarfism, Silke Schoenfleisch-Bachofen, sued a man in court who started laughing and singing “Hi Ho,” the song sung by the dwarfs in the original Disney movie. , won the case.

If people cannot tell the difference between fiction and reality, then the representation of fiction must change to minimize abuse. Rather than reproducing outdated ideas, films, and the stories that inspire them, can change with the times and create stories that embrace everyone.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.