The new movie ‘The Witches’ has sparked criticism from disability groups for insensitivity towards people with limb differences.
The movie showcases actor Anne Hathaway with disfigured limbs as she played her character the Grand High Witch.
Critics have cited the portrayal could adversely affect those with limb differences.
“Limb difference is not scary. Differences should be celebrated and disability has to be normalised,” the official Paralympics account wrote on Twitter.
British TV presenter Briony May Williams took to social media to express her feelings about the disability representation in the film.
“This is [a] really hard post for me to write. I’ve kept quiet about the controversy surrounding the depiction of the witches’ hands,” she wrote.
Williams pointed to the original Roald Dahl book that didn’t depict missing fingers on witches. She also referenced the 1990 adaptation which didn’t include witches with missing fingers.
“When I look at the pictures of @annehathaway with her witch hands, it brings tears to my eyes because I see MY hand in the photos. I see my genetic disorder that caused me to be born without any fingers on my left hand. I see something to be afraid of, something meant to make you feel sick and revolted.”
Hathaway responded within days to apologise. She said she does her best to be sensitive to the experiences of others not out of “PC fear” but because not hurting people is a basic level of decency.
“I have recently learned that many people with limb differences, especially children, are in pain because of the portrayal of the Grand High Witch in The Witches,” Hathaway wrote on Instagram.
“As someone who really believes in inclusivity and really, really detests cruelty, I owe you all an apology for the pain caused. I am sorry. I did not connect limb difference with the GHW when the look of the character was brought to me; if I had, I assure you this never would have happened.
“I particularly want to say I’m sorry to kids with limb differences: now that I know better I promise I’ll do better.”
Hathaway used a video from the Lucky Fin Project, a not-for-profit supporting children and families with limb differences.
She also asked her followers to engage with their work, and look into the viral hashtag #NotAWitch to gain “perspective on limb difference.”
#NotAWitch goes viral
The hashtag #NotAWitch went viral last week with a number of disability advocates questioning Warner Bros’ decision to represent limb difference in this way.
Alice Glair a Specialist Community and Neonatal Paediatric from the UK shared her thoughts as a mother to a child with limb difference.
“I am deeply saddened by the depiction & subsequent stigma of upper limb difference that will be reinforced by @wbpictures new release #TheWitches this was not how #roalddahl defined it,” she wrote on Twitter.
#NotAWitch has seen the British Society for Surgery of the Hand (BSSH) weigh in a public statement. The BSSH said as hand surgeons they work with patients who have limb differences, which can see them suffer “distress and loss of self-esteem.”
“We spend years supporting children, parents and affected adults to overcome the bullying that can result from their conditions,” the statement reads.
“We are therefore disappointed that in the recent re-adaptation of Roald Dahl’s ‘The Witches’, Warner Brothers chose to use a typical hand difference recognisable to our patients, as a key attribute to depict the film’s sinister villains, different to the original description in the book.
“Such depictions, although fictional, are undoubtedly influential on public attitudes to limb deformity, a consequence which our patients have already begun to encounter since the film’s release.”
Tal Oppenheimer wrote on Twitter to share a story about when she was a child, watching a TV character with a hook, just like hers.
“Then they scratched someone with it and I worried people would be afraid of me,” she wrote.
“~2 decades later, I'm disappointed to see @wbpictures #TheWitchesHBOMax make characters "scarier" through limb differences. #NotAWitch”
