A new film version of Roald Dahl’s novel The Witches has been criticised for its depictions of limb difference.
The film, which stars Anne Hathaway, features evil characters who have distinct hand and feet impairments.
Comedian Alex Brooker, who has hand and arm impairments, “jarred quite a lot” and could “add to the stigma” around disability.
Film studio Warner Bros said it was “deeply saddened” to learn the movie “could upset people with disabilities”.
In a statement, the company said: “It was never the intention for viewers to feel that the fantastical, non-human creatures were meant to represent them”.
Directed by Robert Zemeckis, The Witches is the second big-screen version of Dahl’s novel about disguised witches plotting to turn children into mice.
In the original book, the witches are described as having “thin curvy claws” instead of fingernails, and feet that “have square ends with no toes on them at all”.
‘What sort of message does this give?’
In the new film, Anne Hathaway’s Grand High Witch and others are revealed to have three elongated fingers on each hand.
A trailer for the film also features a lesson on “how to identify witches” that highlights their “claws” and lack of toes.
The Witches had originally been set for a cinema release but, following the Covid-19 pandemic, was distributed on digital platforms last month. Shortly afterwards, the hashtag #NotAWitch began trending on social media.
Brooker said that when he first watched the film he was expecting “something very different” beneath the witches’ gloves.
“It clearly looked like they’d removed some of the fingers,”. “I was like, ‘I’m not sure that’s on’.
“What sort of message does this give? To me It sends out a message that we should be scared of people with missing fingers.
“A lot of kids and adults have that – that’s a life people live. It doesn’t need to add to the stigma.”