Peter Dinklage and Snow White: Should little people play dwarfs?

What is all the hype over Peter Dinklage and the backlash of the new Disney film? It has sparked a debate online, as other actors of short stature complain about the effect this has had on their chances on playing characters relevant to their size.

Poor casting, accusations of wokeness, CGI dwarfs and when the wicked step mother asks ‘who is the fairest of them all?’, the answer is tricky too, as it isn't, perhaps, Snow White because Gal Gardot is the wicked stepmother.

Photo: Walt Disney Studios

It’s not a secret that Disney have tried to even things up with characters over the last few years. Mermaids of colour, CGI small people and even a gay kiss between two female characters in the movie 'Lightyear'.

Photo: Walt Disney Studios

'Elemental' contained Disney’s first nonbinary character, who goes by they / them pronouns and is also voiced by a nonbinary actor.

Photo: Walt Disney Studios

But are they changing a beloved story to level the playing field? Perhaps a new story, with some originality like 'Elemental' is a better idea than changing an outdated, but loved, fairytale. The debate seems to have the people divided.

Photo: Walt Disney Studios

The actress who plays Snow White, Rachel Zegler claims that this new, updated version will focus less on romance and ‘true love’, and more on ‘women being in roles of power’.

We have seen an increase in more diverse original stories from Disney such as 'Mulan', 'Pocahontas' and 'Moana', but 'Snow White' is German and in the first paragraph of the book it describes her as, ‘a daughter, with a skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood’.

Viewing figures and box-office sales suggest audiences are growing tired with what Disney has been producing recently. Scripts that are weighed down with political messaging, with classic storylines being changed to meet progressive narratives.

Photo: Walt Disney Studios

Talking on Marc Maron's WTF podcast, Dinklage said: "There's a lot of hypocrisy going on I've got to say. He added."You can be progressive in one way but you're still making that f****** backwards story of the seven dwarves living in the cave. "What the f*** are you doing, man. Have I done nothing to advance the cause from my soapbox? ".

The response from Disney was that they were "consulting with members of the dwarfism community. To avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film, we are taking a different approach with these seven characters".

Photo: Walt Disney Studios

Piers Morgan in his show 'Uncensored' said he was 'standing up for the little guys' and controversially said “They’ve bitten the poison apple of diversity and inclusion, which has decided to exclude them... The people who have really suffered in this is the six dwarf actors who would have expected to have roles in this remake, in this massive Hollywood blockbuster."

“These are roles made for actors of my stature. Roles that aren’t ever really given. I can’t go up for the Harrison Ford or George Clooney roles because they are not roles made for me. Now they shouldn’t be dwarfs? The story is literally called Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”

The seven dwarfs in the new ‘Live Action’ version of the film are CGI characters and this will no doubt cause a storm with people claiming it is taking work away from people of small stature. 

Are you a believer of progression and inclusivity? Or do you think that things shouldn’t be messed with and left alone. Perhaps Hollywood is in a rut, most films these days are part of a franchise or a sequel. Let’s come up with some original ideas instead of changing loved stories. What do you think?

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