Schoolteacher hopes movie can be positive towards little people

Schoolteacher hopes movie can be positive towards little people

2 February 2022

A SCHOOLTEACHER who has a form of dwarfism has said she hopes a Disney remake of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs will be a more positive representation of little people.

Mrs Tricia Mailey, who teaches at Cedar Integrated Primary School in Crossgar, was speaking in response to comments made by actor Peter Dinklage regarding the retelling of the classic children’s tale.

Born with achonlasia, the same form of dwarfism as the famous Game of Thrones star, Mrs Mailey agreed with some of what Dinklage said, adding she had a “wait and see” attitude to the live action film.

Dinklage said that while Disney was very proud of casting a Latino actress as Snow White for the first time, he accused Disney of “hypocrisy” in planning the remake.

He told the Marc Mallon podcast: “No offence to anything but I was a little taken back by the fact that they were very proud to cast a Latino actress as Snow While but you’re still telling the story of Snow While and The Seven Dwarfs.

Mrs Mailey commented: “While I watched the original film as a child, I never saw it as my disability, but I know a lot of people with dwarfism see it as backward and that dwarfs live in caves and question why people like them always need to be cast as dwarfs or elves, why can’t we be cast in normal average-sized roles?” 

Mrs Mailey took the opportunity for a teaching moment with her class by playing them the original Snow White animated movie and the 2003 movie Elf, which stars Dinklage as a children’s author who is mistaken for an elf.

She said: “The class’s reaction was amazing. When I asked them what role Dinklage did in Elf, they immediately said he was the businessman. What I asked why he wasn’t the Elf, they kind of looked at me and asked, ‘Why would he be the elf?’

“That was the point Dinklage was making. Just because he was small, he didn’t need to be the elf. My angle would be if they are going to remake the film, why not make it a more positive representation.”

A positive representation is important for Mrs Mailey, who lives in Carryduff, as two of her three children also have achondroplasia.

“I would worry for my son, Noah, who is in P2, if the disability is still seen as being a humorous thing,” she added.

Her eldest child, 13 year-old Cara, who attends Assumption Grammar School in Ballynahinch, has her first novel coming out in April.

Co-written with a London-based author, the book, I Got This, tells the experience of a young girl with dwarfism.