Disney's live-action version of Snow White

[BrianL]

There are no humans with dwarfism in the story. They are literally dwarves. Literally. Like the mythological creatures. They aren’t called anything in this world because they don’t exist. It would be like calling elves slender person with ear deformity. Or trolls person with severe hyperthyroidism and extreme body malformation. No. They are elves. They are trolls. They are dwarves. There’s no need for political correctness - they’re imaginary creatures that don’t exist. That’s what’s so laughable about this. We can’t even call imaginary creatures what they are for fear of offending some group of people now

There is absolutely no connection between mythological dwarves in this story and the little people in our world.

This I agree with. The "Dwarfs" in the story are a fantastical race of beings, not humans with dwarfism. They are like Gimli from Lord of the Rings.

 

[TeamRiley]

I didn't see anyone getting all worked up about "Dwarves" in the Rings of Power on Amazon. If this movie isn't very close to the original, it will fail, just like all the other new movies that have tried to be more politically correct have.

 

[Disneychick13]

This I agree with. The "Dwarfs" in the story are a fantastical race of beings, not humans with dwarfism. They are like Gimli from Lord of the Rings.

While that may be true, they are not merely a “fantastical race of beings” they are portrayed both in the original fairy tale and in the animated Disney version as very small people (or human-like characters). So it really is not interchangeable like “just make them elves” or “mermaids” or “trolls” Or “centaurs” or whatever “mythological” or “fantastical“ average size person with no magical powers they are trying to portray.

As I said with The Little Mermaid live-action version, Disney created the canon for these characters. I did not. Unless you are going to do a completely different version of the story (and not a live-action remake), it seems to me that staying within the canon of the story that Disney created in the first place would make the most sense.

Now, if Disney’s goal is to make a completely different story that bears little resemblance to the original then it really doesn’t matter what they do. But if their intention is a live-action version, they are completely missing the mark. In my opinion.

 

[BrianL]

While that may be true, they are not merely a “fantastical race of beings” they are portrayed both in the original fairy tale and in the animated Disney version as very small people (or human-like characters). So it really is not interchangeable like “just make them elves” or “mermaids” or “trolls” Or “centaurs” or whatever “mythological” or “fantastical“ average size person with no magical powers they are trying to portray.

As I said with The Little Mermaid live-action version, Disney created the canon for these characters. I did not. Unless you are going to do a completely different version of the story (and not a live-action remake), it seems to me that staying within the canon of the story that Disney created in the first place would make the most sense.

Now, if Disney’s goal is to make a completely different story that bears little resemblance to the original then it really doesn’t matter what they do. But if their intention is a live-action version, they are completely missing the mark. In my opinion.

No, I agree that they should be small of stature, at least if they are "Dwarfs" as depicted in most fantasy settings. I just agreed that they are not the same as real-life people who do have dwarfism, so there is no need to compare the two. They are not the same thing other than a commonly used name.

That said, I really don't mind if Disney goes in a completely different direction for the movie - in fact I prefer it.

 

[Smugpugmug]

I didn't see anyone getting all worked up about "Dwarves" in the Rings of Power on Amazon. If this movie isn't very close to the original, it will fail, just like all the other new movies that have tried to be more politically correct have.

I don't think anyone actually watched that or cared about it. I actually forgot that even came out until you mentioned it.

 

[BrianL]

I don't think anyone actually watched that or cared about it. I actually forgot that even came out until you mentioned it.

I watched it - it was pretty good too. Of course, Dwarves were in the LOTR and Hobbit movies too.

 

[kanerf]

If you notice, the term dwarfs refers to humans with dwarfism, while dwarves refers to the magical beings in fantasy works. They are two different things. If Disney wanted to use different genders and what-not for the dwarves in the Snow White remake, they could have just use similar techniques to LOTR that make the Gimli character seem smaller than the other actors. Instead we have not dwarves, but 'magical creatures'. Aren't dwarves magical creatures?

 

[thevolcanogod]

Dwarves are a classic mythological creature in German folklore. Alberich the dwarf plays a very prominent role in the Nibelunglied and other Old German poetry which is the source of many stories including Lord of the Rings and the Ring Cycle. The Brothers Grimm didn’t create the story of Snow White - they simply recorded a fairy tale that was part of German oral traditions. While both the Brothers Grimm and later Disney added characteristics and features to the mythology, there is much evidence to suggest they were never portrayed in the Disney classic as anything other than non-human creatures of folklore. Humanoid maybe but human? No. They are even drawn differently in the Disney classic - with exaggerated features and characteristics.
If Disney’s animators wished to portray them as little humans they certainly had the skill to do so.

Why is it ok to appropriate the stories and myths of German culture and change them or erase them without respect to authenticity? Can’t wait for the live action Pocahontas.

 

[Disneychick13]

If you notice, the term dwarfs refers to humans with dwarfism, while dwarves refers to the magical beings in fantasy works. They are two different things. If Disney wanted to use different genders and what-not for the dwarves in the Snow White remake, they could have just use similar techniques to LOTR that make the Gimli character seem smaller than the other actors. Instead we have not dwarves, but 'magical creatures'. Aren't dwarves magical creatures?

I think the problem with that is what happened with Snow White and the Huntsman, where they used average height people and digitally altered them to be small on the screen. Representatives for the Little People of America said it was discriminatory and (I believe) something equivalent to blackface. That they could have employed people with dwarfism in roles but instead used average height actors and made them appear little. The difficulty is that there is debate within that community. From what I have read there are people with dwarfism that would like to be considered for those roles and others (like Peter Dinklage) that don’t think that people with dwarfism should be used for the roles of dwarves. I think (and just my opinion) that if you eliminate dwarves (or characters with the short stature of dwarves) completely from productions either by changing the characters to be of average height or using CGI or digital altering, then you are limiting the ability of little people to have the widest range of acting roles that they can. While I agree that people with dwarfism (or other conditions that affect stature) should be considered for a wide range of roles, I think that to just eliminate the possibility that they can ever play a role specifically designed to be a very small person or a small “mythological” character just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.

 

[Moliphino]

Back in 2012, the Little People of America complained because they digitally altered average height people to portray the 7 dwarves in Snow White and the Huntsman. There are some people, specifically Peter Dinklage, who have railed against using people with dwarfism to play dwarves or dwarf like people. Not all actors with dwarfism share his view. It seems like, from what I read, Disney was trying their best to avoid a controversy by then making a controversial choice. Will it work in the movie? Who knows.

I'm not sure if there was a way to do it without some controversy, really.

 

[FanforDisney]

I'm not sure if there was a way to do it without some controversy, really.

I was talking about the original story (in the actual fairy tale the dwarves didn’t have names or specific personalities). There are debates about if the dwarves were derived from old folklore or even that they could have represented children that worked in mines (!). They probably weren’t actually human with dwarfism but they were always intended to be very small human-like creatures. And that is how Disney depicted them, obviously in a very exaggerated version of the original story.

Back in 2012, the Little People of America complained because they digitally altered average height people to portray the 7 dwarves in Snow White and the Huntsman. There are some people, specifically Peter Dinklage, who have railed against using people with dwarfism to play dwarves or dwarf like people. Not all actors with dwarfism share his view. It seems like, from what I read, Disney was trying their best to avoid a controversy by then making a controversial choice. Will it work in the movie? Who knows.

I didn't see Peter Dinklage complain about being a dwarf in Game of Thrones. What he said about this movie, he basically stopped dwarf people from being employed in the film

 

[HokieRaven5]

We’ll see how this one pans out. Greta Gerwig credited as one of the screenwriters on this.

Barbie is quite the hit this summer.

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

I didn't see Peter Dinklage complain about being a dwarf in Game of Thrones. What he said about this movie, he basically stopped dwarf people from being employed in the film

Yep, this was really odd to me. I am a big Dinklage fan and I thought he was pretty incredible in GOT, so I was confused by his take on this movie. It seems to me that by his ranting he deprived 7 other people of small stature from getting potentially career defining roles as one of the 7 dwarves. It doesn't make much sense to me, and I don't get the 7 mystical creatures take on Snow White and the 7 dwarves either.

I don't really care for any of the live action remakes anyway, as the original animated versions are always way better to me.