I don’t understand why this is so difficult a concept to wrap one’s head around…
Exactly, which is why when Dinklage speaks on this issue, I think it behoves all of us to listen to him.
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I feel bad for those with Polydactyly after The Princes Bride came out, but at least Gravity Falls has a hero with that condition.
And how many movies and TV shows have depicted albino villains? That’s a trope that needs to end. I was disappointed that even Star Trek had an episode with an albino Klingon villain where they gave the villain albinism for no reason other than to make him more sinister.
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This is a little off-topic, but do people think Willow stands the test of time? I haven’t seen it since I was, like, eight, and I’m considering showing it to my 8-year-old daughter.
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As if they didn’t have enough to deal with.
At least they’re not redheads. /s
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I remember reading a thought piece by an albino actor who was pointing out how ridiculous it is to stereotype people with albinism as gunmen and assassins in particular, because most of the time albinism comes with serious vision impairment that would doom any hope of a career as (say) a sniper.
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Which makes one wonder why they felt it was important to give the villain that particular medical condition.
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I think one reason screenwriters like to go that way is that if you have a character who only makes a few key appearances in a story it’s great to give that character a distinctive visual trait so the audience doesn’t forget who they are, and when that character is sinister they tend to get lazy and go with a visual trait that the audience will associate with violence or death.
Screenwriters, being lazy, then default to
- Grisly facial scar, suggesting violence
- Albinism, suggesting death/corpses
Which is obviously less convenient for the people with albinism than it is for the screenwriter.
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Or if the author wants to shovel it on.
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For a second I imagined a version where prince kills princess with poison kiss, and a witch raises the princess back from the dead to exact revenge.
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Not gonna lie. Without my wife, I’m pretty helpless, too. 
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And they’re casting a Latina actress to play that role? The one who basically becomes a maid to these random dudes in the forest? This just gets worse and worse…
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Sure, why not?
The Cinderella story had many variants, going way back, with neat stuff like red hot iron shoes for the stepsisters.
Snow White doesn’t seem to have as many variants, with hand-waving that it might have been based on something real, so a few more would be nice.
Sleeping Beauty wins the prize for creepy versions.
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Of course, with Elric, his health problems – albinism included – play a big role in his story. He either needs lots of medicines and potions to just function normally, or he can draw strength from the hellsword Stormbringer, with all the enormous problems that causes.
You know, I would watch that!
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Yeah, I thought so too, but he was also a giant. Sort of weird how it played on tropes of dwarves as miners, but with the spin of him being absolutely massive next to Thor.
I was late to seeing Elf and only watched it fully a few years ago and was very surprised to see Dinklage cast in a role that highlighted his dwarfism for laughs. I would really love to hear his take on that scene now. Of course, he was a CEO(?) and beats ass, so that may tip the scales for him in the same way his depiction in Avengers does.
I mean, they are dudes and in my experience dudes are absolutely disgusting. I would never live with 6 other guys. Blecch!
One of the reasons Tolkien gets accused of racism is his description of Orcs as brutish, evil and dark-skinned. Especially in the context of the lithe, gorgeous and lily-white elves. It’s a valid criticism, but I never delved into it enough to understand all of the possible nuance.
Ooh. Good point. Yeah, that’s no good.
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It would be hard to come up with something more offensive than the Warner Brothers version that was released in 1943. It’s on the infamous “Censored Eleven” list for a good reason.
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I wish the article expanded on the complaint more. It didn’t seem to be an issue with having Dwarves as characters, but that they lived in a “cave”. Like, a cave cave? In the animated movie they lived in a regular house or cottage and worked in a mine. So I am not sure why you would change that detail to living in a cave or mine.
And then there are the big people too.
I was disappointed to see that scars = evil is still a thing in big budget movies.
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He’s also played a ton of roles where being a little person has no shaping of the role itself, like I Think We’re Alone Now, Rememory, Three Billboards, Pixels, Knights of Badassdom, etc… He’s also slated to be in a film called The Dwarf, so… clearly, he doesn’t always object to the use of the term.
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Oh, I am sure I left out many. Like I said, this was a new thought for me. Kinda stream of consciousness posting. Always scary, that.
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Yeah, it’s a super lazy trope but at least that one has a small sliver of plausibility for a link to a character trait. Someone who leads a violent life might be statistically somewhat more likely than average to carry visible scars from that lifestyle.* Things like albinism, polydactyly, etc would have no correlation whatsoever.
*I say that as a person with a 2” scar on my face that’s fairly noticeable when I don’t have a beard
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