Snow White panto production drops "dwarves" for "friends" to make audiences more comfortable
26 replies, posted
[quote]De Montfort Hall has dropped the term dwarf from its Christmas panto Snow White.
Instead she will have "friends" because the production team say dwarf is not a term "people feel comfortable with."
But Star Wars and Harry Potter actor Warwick Davis said the decision was "patronising".
The Hollywood star, known for his big screen roles as a short actor, said the venue was wrong to write out Doc, Dopey, Bashful, Grumpy, Sneezy, Sleepy and Happy from the traditional fairytale.
The dwarfs have gone by numerous names in various adaptations of the 19th century Grimm classic.
But they have almost always appeared as Snow White's faithful comrades.
Speaking to the Mercury yesterday, a spokeswoman for De Montfort Hall said the word dwarf is "generally not a word that people feel comfortable with" so the roles were dropped.
Instead, the fairytale will have "friends".
Warwick, 45, said that political correctness was a "smokescreen" and the decision was more likely to be financial.
He said: "Personally, I find it quite patronising when people are offended on our behalf.
"I'm sure there are those out there who don't like the term, but as a short actor I want to be given the choice about whether I appear in panto or not. I don't want someone making that decision for me.
"Saying that, I think it's all a smokescreen anyway.
"The profit margins for pantos are not very big and it's obviously much cheaper to involve schoolchildren than it is to pay lots of professional short actors."[/quote]
[url]http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/seven-dwarves-Snow-White-Montfort-Hall-s/story-27751496-detail/story.html[/url]
So mythical dwarves are considered offensive now?
time to redo all of Tolkiens books and films because they have dwarves in them.
So the title snow white and the seven friends sounds like a porno...and they probably should check if that title hasn't already been used
Gotta agree with Warwick on this one. I'm not the "political correctness gone mad!" type, but these are literally mythical Dwarves we're talking about here.
[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;48640161]Gotta agree with Warwick on this one. I'm not the "political correctness gone mad!" type, but these are literally mythical Dwarves we're talking about here.[/QUOTE]
True but Disney dwarves are as close to satirised real life little people than Tolkien dwarves, it is weird that anyone would try to claim an offense from it though, its not like its some new thing
[QUOTE=elfbarf;48640114][QUOTE]Warwick, 45, said that political correctness was a "smokescreen" and the decision was more likely to be financial.
He said: "Personally, I find it quite patronising when people are offended on our behalf.
"I'm sure there are those out there who don't like the term, but as a short actor I want to be given the choice about whether I appear in panto or not. I don't want someone making that decision for me.
"Saying that, I think it's all a smokescreen anyway.
"The profit margins for pantos are not very big and it's obviously much cheaper to involve schoolchildren than it is to pay lots of professional short actors."[/QUOTE][url]http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/seven-dwarves-Snow-White-Montfort-Hall-s/story-27751496-detail/story.html[/url][/QUOTE]
Honestly this seems much more likely.
To be fair, political correctness is getting pushed a teenie bit too far, probably because certain people are incapable of distinguishing comedy from serious matters. It's almost like a poisoned well at the moment, where you can't make any joke without someone taking offence.
Has it always been like this, and it's only gained traction due to our culture being able to share everything at the speed-of-light, or is this some new zeitgeist that's started gnawing at us all? I know it might sound like a sensationalist question, even for this subforum, but it still feels like something to think about because it feels like it's been soaking into so many things over the past year or two.
Still, if it really is just because it's too expensive to find and recruit "little people" nowadays, I can understand that.
But dwarves are one of my favorite fantasy peoples.
Not that i suspect this would do them in the cool, Khazad-Dûm way.
this "trend" of getting (or more accurately, pretending to be) offended by fucking everything seriously has to stop
[QUOTE=NotMeh;48640292]this "trend" of getting (or more accurately, pretending to be) offended by fucking everything seriously has to stop[/QUOTE]
Well what has to stop is the way people apparently bend over backwards for these nutters every time they cry about some precious snowflake issue that by rights, nobody should fucking care about.
[QUOTE=Sableye;48640170]True but Disney dwarves are as close to satirised real life little people than Tolkien dwarves, it is weird that anyone would try to claim an offense from it though, its not like its some new thing[/QUOTE]
didn't tolkien say his dwarves were based off jewish people or something
Quick, ban lord of the rings for being offensive!
[QUOTE=ironman17;48640215]To be fair, political correctness is getting pushed a teenie bit too far, probably because certain people are incapable of distinguishing comedy from serious matters. It's almost like a poisoned well at the moment, where you can't make any joke without someone taking offence.
Has it always been like this, and it's only gained traction due to our culture being able to share everything at the speed-of-light, or is this some new zeitgeist that's started gnawing at us all? I know it might sound like a sensationalist question, even for this subforum, but it still feels like something to think about because it feels like it's been soaking into so many things over the past year or two.
Still, if it really is just because it's too expensive to find and recruit "little people" nowadays, I can understand that.[/QUOTE]
A [I]teeny bit[/I]? The whole fucking world is going politically correct, and it's fucking nuts
[QUOTE=T553412;48640451]A [I]teeny bit[/I]? The whole fucking world is going politically correct, and it's fucking nuts[/QUOTE]
Umm, excuse me? Nuts? That's incredibly offensive. the term is "mentally unsound."
How dare you. I'm signing you up for a sensitivity seminar.
which is mandatory.
And what's sad is that some people would say that unironically. When irony's about and ridiculous things are said, comedy ensues. But when there is no irony, and ridiculous things are still said, comedy turns into tragedy and horror. Tragedy that someone is fool enough to believe such twaddle, and horror that they are actually serious, without a hint of self-awareness as to how silly they sound.
If this trend continues its going to be a very different civilization we live in by the time our kids are teenagers.
A world where you'll be arrested and charged for mislabelling a minority or speaking an unpopular opinion on a subject.
At least this will be the case if authorities keep bowing to every demand these overly sensitive people make.
[QUOTE=ZakkShock;48640462]Umm, excuse me? Nuts? That's incredibly offensive. the term is "mentally unsound."
How dare you. I'm signing you up for a sensitivity seminar.
which is mandatory.[/QUOTE]I didn't consent to this and as a autokin who identifies as a Chevy Silverado I suspect that you have mentally raped me because I was used for transportation without my consent in another life and one of my headmates has confirmed it was your past self who did this.
I'm reporting you to the LiveJournal police.
[QUOTE=Zukriuchen;48640340]didn't tolkien say his dwarves were based off jewish people or something[/QUOTE]
I'll just copy paste this cause it deals with the topic better than I can
[quote]Tolkien himself compared Dwarves to Jews:
""The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic.""
― J.R.R. Tolkien[5]
One may interpret this comment in many ways. It should be noted that he only made an explicit connection between the dwarf-language Khuzdul to Semitic languages. In another letter, he makes the same comparison, but this time it is explicitly about both peoples being dispossessed of their lands, forced to wander the world, and adopt the languages of other lands: both were "at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…" (Letter 176)
Throughout the books, Tolkien paints a mostly positive picture of the dwarves (Gimli of course is brave and honourable, and it is stated in one of the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings that "few Dwarves ever served the enemy willingly", contrary to the tales of Men) and elsewhere he made explicitly positive statements about the Jewish people.
However, one of the weaknesses of the Dwarves was their greed for gold and other riches, amplified by the Seven Rings. Some see a connection between this and the stereotype of the Jewish usurer. It is also possible to draw a connection between the bearded Dwarves and the beards of Orthodox Jews. [/quote]
comfortable with fucking what? with tales we've all heard and seen during our childhoods?
[QUOTE=Mr. Scorpio;48641302]I'll just copy paste this cause it deals with the topic better than I can[/QUOTE]
I'm actually a jew and think that's pretty goddamned funny.
Better call her Snow Caucasian then.
[QUOTE=DiBBs27;48640577]If this trend continues its going to be a very different civilization we live in by the time our kids are teenagers.
A world where you'll be arrested and charged for mislabelling a minority or speaking an unpopular opinion on a subject.
At least this will be the case if authorities keep bowing to every demand these overly sensitive people make.[/QUOTE]
"The SJWs are coming for our freedom" give me a fucking break
better rewrite the taming of the shrew while they are at it.
At this point the only way to stop people from being upset is to just supply everyone with complementary earmuffs. Christ, what a joke.
Why don't they just hire kids and still call them dorfs? Is what every production I've seen of The Wizard of Oz has done
Penn said it best. You don't have the right to not be offended
Suck it up, everyone else manages to do it about something they may not like
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