I know that I haven’t seen it in decades. Perhaps he’s the same and was just mistaken?
(Though I could see an explanation for the dwarves; what if the mine entrance or the tunnel is small enough that only a child or small person could enter it?)
I think the problem is that, in the original, the dwarves are seen as “others”, objects of mirth, punch lines, etc., rather than as real individual people. The characters Dinklage has played that are dwarfs (or Dwarves or whatever) weren’t objects of mirth or punch lines, but were fully realized individuals (at least, the roles I’ve seen him in). Maybe Disney can make the new one with fully realized characters who happen to be dwarves, and maybe in that case he wouldn’t have a problem with it.
Snow White: A Tale of Terror (with Sam Neill as Snow White’s father and Sigourney Weaver as the wicked stepmother) did just that. No mythological dwarves or magical diamond mine, just seven normal-sized peasants working a gold mine that did not produce enough to lift them out of poverty.
So we can’t tell a story that includes little people as a fantastical plot point, because what, “Not all little people”? Sounds like someone has short man syndrome. Jeez, was Moana out of line then, because it portrays a pacific island demigod as a flawed person? And no stories about young women viewing marriage as a goal because that’s limiting, even if it happens in real life and is one of millions of paths to happiness. Can we tell any stories about anyone anymore? I guess we can’t have villains anymore because they are only acting based on their own life experiences and shouldn’t be judged.
I think I have never heard of any such interpretation, but I am willing to enlightened.
His character in “Elf” (which admittedly was 18+ years ago) was there simply so Wil Ferrell could enrage him by repeatedly calling him an Elf. Of course, Dinklage kicked Ferrell’s ass in the scene as well.
Moderating:
In a discussion about negative stereotypes against dwarfs, I suggest you not pop in with negative stereotypes about short people.
They are barely more human than the magical animals that befriend Disney princesses, iirc. They have no significant back story. They are barely distinguishable from each other. There is no hint they might have a libido. They are played mostly for laughs.
Dwarfs = human beings
Dwarves = Tolkien-esque fantasy creatures
I wish one of the movie projects (The Beasts of Valhalla and An Affair of Sorcerers) that had Peter Dinklage in mind for playing Dr. Robert “Mongo” Frederickson, a criminologist and private detective who has achondroplasia, had gone through. There is a series of Mongo mystery books in which the Frederickson brothers get involved in a lot of very weird situations. Those might have been cool movies.
https://www.blackpoolgrand.co.uk/history-of-snow-white
"What is Snow White Based on?
There has also been the suggestion that the story of Snow White originated from the real-life story of a countess and her alleged lover, Philip II of Spain.
The countess, named Margarete von Waldeck (1553 – 1554) was supposedly poisoned at a young age, as politics were more important than real love at the time. Another coincidence – Margarete had a terrible relationship with her stepmother.
Meanwhile, the town the countess grew up in, Wildungen, was also home to a number of copper mines. The workers of whom were young children, who suffered stunted growth due to malnutrition and poor working conditions. Allegedly, they were referred to as ‘poor dwarfs’.
These findings were published in 1994 by German Scholar Eckhard Sander, who’s book Schneewittchen: Marchen oder Wahrheit? (Snow White: Is It a Fairy Tale?) noted these comparisons. "
It seems pretty obvious to me that the 7 dwarfs are fictional, cartoon characters.
It’s like getting angry that Tom and Jerry are always fighting. They aren’t real animals. Real Mice hide from cats. They certainly don’t taunt them.
Whoever heard of a Sneezy person? He is a cartoon. No different than Mickey Mouse.
Heck the 7 dwarfs are only about 2 ft tall in comparison to Snow White.
The majority of real dwarfs are over 3 1/2 feet tall. A lot of them are over 4ft tall.
I confess that Peter Dinklage never makes me forget that he’s a little person. Michael Dunn always pulled that off because he was such an interesting person.
Come on. One is always smiling, one is pretty shy, one is a physician, one isn’t too smart, one is always pissed off, one has a bad sinus condition, and one is narcoleptic.
To whom is this not obvious?
Apparently Peter Dinklage.
In the TV show Once Upon a Time they were played by non-dwarf but shorter actors. Lee Arenberg played Grumpy and he is 5’4". No attempt was made to make them look shorter. Other than their job as miners not much was made of their dwarvishness.
If you made a cartoon movie with a cartoon character that was a stereotypical Jew with a big hooked nose who was played as the evil greedy money-seeking villain, who was also a buffoon, I would be offended, despite it being obvious that is was a fictional cartoon character. So I don’t see how that’s relevant.
The original was also released in the 1930s, a few years before they had the theatrical release of Fantasia, which portrayed black centaurs polishing the hooves of the white ones.
Disney’s a little smarter than that, nowadays.
Besides, even in the original Snow White, several of the dwarfs clearly were crushing on Snow White. At least three that I can think of: Bashful (obviously), Dopey, and Grumpy.
Instead of dwarves they should cast a K-pop boy band.