Live actio.12/19/2023 ![]() ![]() I have too often been the only disabled person in the rehearsal room on a shoot. And it is a process that is often glossed over with a tokenistic wave of the hand. We look forward to sharing more as the film heads into production after a lengthy development period.”īut in general, this is not something film production is renowned for doing well, or at all. Which means being open to awkward conversations and the workshopping of ideas from a minority community.ĭisney has responded to concerns in a statement: “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. It will have to involve disabled creatives, and empower people with dwarfism to forge their own representations, steer their own roles in the story and give space to their voices. I simply cannot see how Disney can make a live action version of its 1937 film without falling into disablist stereotypes of people with dwarfism. Photograph: John Phillips/Getty Images for BFI ‘I have to be careful of the roles I pick’ … Kiruna Stamell at the premiere of Judy & Punch at the London film festival, 2019. If you need more information to understand what I mean, Google “the social model of disability”. I am disabled on the street by negative attitudes and prejudice I meet in the community and broader society. My life requires modifications and adaptations. At 3-feet-something-secret tall, I can only drive an adapted car and cook safely in an adapted kitchen. The dated nature of the animation also reduces the hurt it causes because it was from another time, predating the disability rights movement.Īnd before you question me: yes, I do identify as disabled. It is still problematic but with more distance from me, in the real world. But as a cartoon, it is “pretend”, more forgivable. Interestingly, their naming did not originate from the original Brothers Grimm tale but was a Disney invention. These cute, dehumanised, infantilised, animalistic creatures known in the 1937 film only by their labels, Dopey, Happy, Doc, etc, are not fully people. It worries me that Disney hasn’t even reached the basic milestone of representing disabled bodies in ordinary ways, yet are now undertaking the creatively fraught challenge of humanising their seven most famous disability tropes.Ī live-action version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs will remove the safety net that animation provided. It is so disappointing that I am still more likely to be a mum, lover, secretary, lawyer, teacher or doctor in real life than to play one in a Disney film. ‘Hi-ho, hi-ho,’ is regularly hummed at me by passersby Kiruna Stamell I am very aware of the importance of representation. His Hobbits and Dwarves are clearly stylised fairy folk. On the other hand, I don’t have a problem with Tolkien’s fantasy Lord of the Rings. The recurring “Hippo Eats Dwarf” fake news article is the kind of degrading swill that circulates every few years. ![]() People only have a very few reference points: pantomime, Disney’s 1937 animated film, something ridiculing that they saw in the press or on TV, the punchline to a comedian’s joke, a dehumanised character such as Mini-Me in a film. Most people have never met a person with dwarfism. Most insults are simply regurgitated rubbish that people have picked up from somewhere in the social repertoire of negative and dehumanising media portrayals. I am filmed and photographed by strangers for who knows what on social media. “Hi-ho, hi-ho,” is regularly hummed or sung at me by passersby. I had “Mini-Me” yelled at me by strangers for years after Austin Powers came out. I don’t want what I create as an artist to be used to bring a random person down in the middle of their day. I am so careful about the roles I pick because I know that, if I get it wrong, there will be repercussions for some innocent person with dwarfism just minding their own business.
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