Peter Dinklage Accuses Disney of “Dwarfism” For Its Live-Action Adaptation of Snow White

Remaking the classic fairytale runs the risk of perpetuating damaging stereotypes about people with Dwarfism, says the Game of Thrones actor.

Stark Raving
3 min readFeb 2, 2022

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Via Wikimedia Commons By Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0

“F*cking backwards” is how Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage described the Disney live-action adaptation of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. He told Marc Maron’s WTF podcast that the movie would reinforce negative stereotypes associated with dwarves. “You’re still making that fucking backward story of seven dwarves living in the cave. What the fuck are you doing, man?he said, addressing the makers of the project.

He suggested that the studio had double standards, acting progressive on the one hand by attending to racial diversity but missing the ball by perpetuating damaging stereotypes about other groups. “I was a little taken aback [that] they were very proud to cast a Latina actress as Snow White … but you’re still telling the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”.

Disney to Consult the Dwarf Community

Actress Kiruna Stamell expressed her agreement with Dinklage in an op-ed in The Guardian. “A live-action version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs will remove the safety net that animation provided. These cute, dehumanised, infantilised, animalistic creatures known in the 1937 film only by their labels, Dopey, Happy, Doc, etc, are not fully people. Nor are they fully fairytale creatures.”

After Dinklage’s remarks went viral, Disney responded 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 … We look forward to sharing more as the film heads into production after a lengthy development period.” There are rumours that the dwarf characters will instead be replaced with magical creatures, said Movie Web.

Dinklage said he would be “all in” if they put a “cool, progressive spin” on the story.

A missed opportunity, other actors with dwarfism say

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Stark Raving

Intersectional feminism and environmental issues. Let’s make the world a kinder, more sustainable place. Support my work! https://starkraving.medium.com/members