Let’s Celebrate the Little People of the World
With some thoughts about diversity in media
Here once again I write about another subject of which I have absolutely no special expertise. (I believe this is known as “bloviating on the internet”.) In this case, let’s talk about little people.
By “little people” I refer not to children, but to adults with dwarfism. I suppose the currently most well-known little person is actor Peter Dinklage, due to his work in the mega-popular HBO series Game of Thrones. He projects a serious, dignified image even when he acts in comedies (Pixels, Elf).
A much funnier, very popular little person actor is Warwick Davis. He appeared in many Star Wars and Harry Potter movies, starred in the movie and the Disney+ TV series Willow, also starred in the short-lived Ricky Gervais BBC series Life’s Too Short, and shows up in about 80 other movies and TV shows. One busy little dude!
Two other well-known and very funny show-biz little people, especially popular with younger folks, are Austin Power’s “Mini Me” Verne Troyer and Jason Acuña aka “Wee Man” of Johnny Knoxville’s Jack-Ass self-prankster team. (You didn’t know his name is Jason Acuña, did you? I certainly didn’t.)
Currently, the most famous non-actor little person, at least if you are familiar with American politics, is the not-funny-at-all Robert Reich. He was Secretary of Labor in the Bill Clinton administration. Currently, Reich is a professor at UC Berkeley and a popular leftie columnist and commentator. His dwarfism may be a secret because I have never heard it even alluded to publicly. I may be breaking new ground here!
Sadly, I cannot think of any other little people in modern culture, outside of show business.
When I was a kid, the go-to little person was entertainer Billy Barty. We called him a midget back then. Please do NOT call a little person a midget now! It is considered a highly offensive term. “Little person” is preferred, and “dwarf” is usually okay too. If you interact with a little person, use whatever term is preferred by that person. Better still, don’t mention their size at all.
Finally, in between Billy Barty and Verne Troyer, there was French actor Hervé Villechaize, known primarily as Tattoo on Fantasy Island. “De plane! De plane!” LOL Earlier, his breakthrough role was as the evil henchman Nick Nack in the James Bond film “The Man with the Golden Gun”.
Villechaize and Billy Barty were both activists who advocated for the rights of little people and advanced the little-people political and social agenda, including vilifying the term “midget”.
Why is “dwarf” okay but “midget” is offensive? I asked Chattie to clarify: The term “midget” was commonly used in the past to describe people of short stature. However, it has fallen out of favor due to its association with exploitation and derogatory treatment. Historically, “midget” was used in circus sideshows and exhibits, often objectifying individuals with dwarfism. Many little people consider it offensive because of this history and the negative stereotypes associated with it.
Little people in movies have seldom had a problem with little-people roles being taken by big people. Notable recent exception: Hugh Grant as the Oompa-Loompa in Timothée Chalamet’s Wonka. (The movie is pretty bad, but Chalamet’s performance is wonderful, as usual. The kid can sing and dance, too! What can’t he do?)
I met a little person only once in my life. It happened several years ago, when I was hiking through some woods in a state park. I just happened to fall in step with another person. She was middle-aged and only three feet and a few inches tall. She was a lovely person and I enjoyed talking with her for about twenty minutes as we sauntered along the trail. As it turned out, she was employed in the park office and we parted ways when we got to the office area.
When my little friend first appeared to me in the woods, I confess that she felt a bit magical to me. After a we spoke for a few minutes, the magic wore off and she became just a charming new friend. I made no comments about her height, and why would I? It was just a fact and had no bearing on our short (no pun intended) and casual relationship.
I am delighted by the new woke-ness for diversity in movies and TV these days, of which little people play a part. It delights me when actors that are not typical white men are cast in roles where their atypical characteristics are not plot points. Women are often now taking roles that may have otherwise been played by men. Perhaps a person of color appears in a role that they would not have gotten twenty years ago (for example, a Black actress awarded the role of The Little Mermaid). Or a person in a wheelchair. A little person. An overweight person. A gay couple. Less commonly, but starting to happen more often, a person with a physical deformity. An unexpected accent. An identifiable trans or non-binary person.
I am not as woke as I would like to be. I recently watched a cute Amazon Prime Video series called Loudermilk starring Ron Livingston. A minor character is played by actress Cassandra Naud, who has a large birthmark on her face completely covering one cheek. The show makes no attempt to conceal the birthmark even though it is the kind of thing that absolutely makes you gasp or do a double-take when you encounter it in real life. But nobody in the series gasps, does a double-take, or, god-forbid, says anything about it. I agree that this is definitely the right way for the series to handle it. But, personally, it bothered me. I couldn’t help feeling like, “Come on! Somebody has got to notice that!” My bad, as far as woke diversity goes.
Loudermilk also features a reccurring character played by the excellent actress Sofiya Cheyenne, who is a little person. While her dwarfism is never referred to directly, she is romantically paired with another character who is, while not a little person, abnormally short. In addition, her dwarfism does add to the comedy of the situation. Well, what can you expect, it is a Peter Farrelly / Bobby Mort production.
To conclude, let’s be real: Little people do have a bit of magic about them. Maybe all those other atypical people do too. Perhaps even some typical white men have magic as well — but I encounter that all too rarely!
