When Tekki Lomnicki first saw a trailer promoting “Little Man,” the movie starring Marlon Wayans as a short-statured criminal on the run, she remembers feeling embarrassed.
“I thought, ‘Great, that’s all we need,’ ” Lomnicki said. “It horrified me that people, especially young people, would be seeing that.”
Lomnicki, a 49-year-old advertising copywriter who lives east of the Loop, was born with diastrophic dwarfism, a condition that limited her physical growth and requires her to walk with crutches. Wayans assumed short stature with the help of Hollywood special effects, but Lomnicki and more than 25,000 other Americans know dwarfism as a way of life.
While the U.S.’s largest organization for little people hasn’t formally protested the film, an ongoing debate rages within the community as to whether pop culture references like “Little Man” go too far in stereotyping dwarfs as villains or victims but never showing them as average Joes. Some think the entertainment industry offers a chance for jobs and exposure; others believe it perpetuates a stereotype many little people still struggle to overcome.
“When people see us, they don’t think of us as human beings, but rather as characters,” Gary Arnold, a 35-year-old from Logan Square, said. “It’s taking away your humanity.”
Arnold, public relations manager for Little People of America and an achondroplastic dwarf, has played an elf in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular but also picketed outside bars that promote “midget wrestling,” an event he considers offensive.
While he sees characters like Santa’s helpers as a part of history, he points to circuses and “freak shows” as the first arenas “where people of short stature were employed not for any kind of talent, but because they looked different.”
But what Arnold sees as problematic, Danny Black, a 52-year-old achondroplastic dwarf from Lansing, Mich., sees as a niche market in high demand.
Black is a part owner of shortdwarf.com, a Web site that represents short-statured entertainers. Shortdwarf.com has found its clients work in everything from stage and screen productions to “dwarf tossing,” another event considered by many to be offensive. Black said dwarf entertainment can be a fun way to add flavor to an event or promotion, but emphasized that while size may attract an audience’s attention, only talent will hold it.
“If you go to a bar, are you going to remember that they have some chips in a basket on the bar? No,” Black said. “But if there is a dwarf wearing a sombrero with nacho chips in it, you’ll remember the event, you’ll remember the bar, and you’ll remember the tequila they were promoting.”
Black said each person he represents has final say in what jobs he or she will accept.
WWE-style midget wrestling also has come under fire. Some little people consider it the contemporary equivalent of the freak show. The event draws disdain for its title–many people consider the word “midget” highly offensive and prefer “little person,” “person of short stature” or “dwarf.”
But language is only the start of the midget wrestling controversy.
Chicago-based Half-Pint Brawlers is a midget wrestling group that has toured internationally and currently is featured on pay-per-view. Owner Steve Richardson, who has achondroplasia, said those who criticize his company and the way he promotes it should “get a life.” He said he and the other little people he employs are trained actors and athletes and consider themselves professionals.
“We’re not the most politically correct show, but I’m not asking to be,” Richardson said. “We’re hardcore wrestlers.”
Sally Falls, a 37-year-old teacher who lives in Lake Forest, said events like midget wrestling promote dwarfs as an oddity–while she and most little people she knows are completely normal. Falls, after all, gets up in the morning, goes to work, eats lunch with friends, stops at the ATM. But, Falls said, because she is an achondroplastic dwarf, her differences are all strangers notice.
“I think one of the hardest challenges we face is breaking stereotypes that little people don’t have as full or rich a life because we are looked at as a minority, as disabled,” Falls said.
Lomnicki said that, while she works as an entertainer, she won’t audition for roles as an elf or leprechaun. She wants to be seen as a comedian or an actress, not as a short person.
In the closely controlled world of acting, however, it is rare for little people to play everyday roles, because their size always makes them stand out.
“The thing about movies is that nothing happens by accident,” said Ian Smith, who played the title character in the 1998 movie “Simon Birch.” “Every prop, every bit of scenery, every accessory an actor wears is planned so that it fits into the movie. So when an audience sees an actor who is unexpected in some way, they’re going to ask themselves, ‘Why is that?’ “
TLC’s “Little People, Big World,” a reality show about a family of little people, is a good representation, Lomnicki said, because its stars lead ordinary lives.
“I watched it one day and thought, ‘This is boring,’ ” Lomnicki said. “But I think people need to see that. They go through life like anybody else, just with more step stools.”
Falls said average-size friends have told her they were appalled by some media portrayals of little people. Falls said they understand that she, like most people of short stature, is not a hero or a victim, but just a normal person. But erasing the stereotypes, she said, takes time.
“That is our history, that is our past, and we cannot change it,” Falls said. “Our job now is to educate people so it doesn’t continue.”
LITTLE PEOPLE IN RECENT FILMS
“Little Man” (2006)
The Wayans Brothers’ movie uses special effects to create Calvin, a criminal who poses as an adopted baby.
“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (2005)
The remake, staring Johnny Depp, was criticized for employing just one little person–actor Deep Roy (right) –to play all the Oompa-Loompas.
“The Station Agent” (2003)
The film, starring short-statured actor Peter Dinklage, was acclaimed for portraying dwarfs as regular people. It won three awards at the Sundance Film Festival.
“Bad Santa” (2003)
Tony Cox plays the sidekick elf to Billy Bob Thornton’s phony Kris Kringle.
“Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me” (1999) and “Austin Powers in Goldmember” (2002)
Verne Troyer (right) played Mini Me, Dr. Evil’s henchman.
“Simon Birch” (1998)
The 1998 film declared “Destiny has big plans for little Simon Birch,” played by Ian Smith, who has Morquio syndrome.
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Facts about dwarfism
Dwarfism is a commonly used umbrella term for more than 200 genetic and medical conditions resulting in significantly below-average adult height. Most kinds of dwarfism are skeletal dysplasias, bone disorders that result in an adult height of about 4-feet-10 or shorter.
– The most common skeletal dysplasia is achondroplasia, a genetic mutation that occurs in roughly one in every 20,000 births. People born with achondroplasia usually have normal-sized torsos and heads, but shortened arms and legs.
– Each type of skeletal dysplasia comes with a unique set of characteristics and, in some cases, health problems, said Dr. Julie Hoover-Fong, a physician at Johns Hopkins University who treats patients with skeletal dysplasia. Hoover-Fong said most people with dwarfism have normal life spans.
– Hoover-Fong said most conditions resulting in short stature have no associated mental health risks, and the vast majority of little people lead normal lives.
– It is possible for people to be short-statured but not have skeletal dysplasia. Someone with proportional dwarfism, for example, may have a hormonal deficiency.
– Skeletal dysplasia can be passed down from parents or occur randomly. While parents with achondroplasia, for example, have a 50 percent chance of passing the gene to their children, Hoover-Fong said about 80 percent of people with achondroplasia have no family history of the condition.
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How they resized Marlon
In the comedy “Little Man,” Marlon Wayans plays Calvin Simms, a little jewel thief who masquerades as a toddler. To convince audiences the 6-foot-2 Wayans indeed is the 2-foot-8 career criminal, Wayans was bolted into a chair and filmed only from chin to forehead. From there, some three dozen effects technicians digitized more than 1,000 shots to calibrate the comedian’s facial twitches with the body movements of 9-year-old actor Linden Porco.
— [ L.A. TIMES ]
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CLINEHAN@TRIBUNE.COM
