(NewsNation Now) — Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” remake is under fire after a high-profile actor criticized the use of the characters who live isolated in the woods. But is the movie offensive or just a fairy tale?
“It’s not like these characters have magical powers or mythical likeness,” Michelle Kraus, the public relations director for Little People of America, said on “Dan Abrams Live.” “I mean, they are being portrayed as seven men, just like you said, and that can be, especially by children, easily associated with the person with dwarfism. ‘Oh, that person on the street has dwarfism. Are they one of the Seven Dwarfs?'”
Actor Peter Dinklage, who has a type of dwarfism called achondroplasia, called out Disney for including the characters in its plans for a live action remake of the film. The movie will feature West Side Story actor Rachel Ziegler, who is Latina, in the title role.
“You’re progressive in one way, but you’re still making that (expletive) backwards story about seven dwarfs living in a cave?” the Emmy-winning “Game of Thrones” star said on Monday’s episode of Marc Maron’s WTF podcast.
Kraus believes communities with disabilities are being “unevenly portrayed.”
“Seven men living in a cave singing ‘Hi, Ho, Hi, Ho’ and being named different adjectives based on feelings … it couldn’t be further from being accurate,” Kraus said.
Disney on Tuesday responded to Dinklage’s criticism.
“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. We look forward to sharing more as the film heads into production after a lengthy development period,” a Disney spokesperson said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.
“We’re not people that are only here for entertainment value,” Kraus said. “We, just again, are asking for more balanced roles and portrayals where we are just people, you know, who work, who have families, who have relationships, who have particular skills — not magical, not mythical.”
