To be a dwarf, you probably need to have an ingrained sense of self-deprecation. How else can you go through life, asking strangers to ring buzzer doors, or trying to reach a kitchen counter even?
That sense must be heightened if you decide to go into showbiz, and Warwick Davis has it in spades. Life’s Too Short, a fictional documentary based on his life as an out-of-work actor, takes more shots at little people in its premiere episode than all of Austin Powers 2 (and yes, Verne Troyer’s name does get mentioned as well).
The show is Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s third television series after The Office and Extras, and is like a marriage of the two shows. Davis plays a David Brent/Andy Millman version of himself, with a bit more Brent mannerisms. He manages a talent agency for dwarves (something he does in real life!), an endeavour that mixes noble intentions with self-importance. He tells the camera: “I want people to see a sophisticated dwarf about town who carries himself with dignity. I’m a bit like Martin Luther King.”
But is the show sending up stereotypes about little people, or reinforcing them? Eugene Grant from The Guardian, himself a dwarf, spoke with Jim Brown on CBC’s The Q about Life’s Too Short negative portrayal of dwarves (or people with achondroplasia), citing scenes where Davis crawls through a doggy-door and being called an “evil toilet dwarf” by Johnny Depp as examples.
In his op-ed, Grant further breaks down the portrayal of little people in film and television into two categories: the first as someone overcoming their disability like it’s a tragedy, the second as an object of ridicule and mockery.
I sympathize with Grant’s point of view, and a lot of his argument could be, and has been, applied to portrayals of women, people of colour, and gays and lesbians. But of all the groups mentioned, I think little people might have it the worst. As problematic as the art world's portrayal of minorities is (and I say the art world because this is by no means simply limited to Hollywood), their representation on-screen vastly outnumbers that of little people. In fact, I would extend that argument to all people with disabilities. Can you name another dwarf on television besides Davis and Peter Dinklage?
After viewing the first two episodes, it was difficult for me to see anything really offensive in Life’s Too Short because I never really gave much thought to little people before. But after reading Grant’s review, I recognized that I was prejudiced, and that was more insightful than anything I’ve seen in the series so far.
I don’t think Gervais and Merchant set out to make fun of dwarves, and by all accounts, Davis was actually very integral in the show’s development. But like the creators of The Help, they're using the experiences of their subject and filtering it through their own perceptions of that world.
I'll leave you with perhaps the funniest scene in the whole series, which isn't offensive to little people, but roasts actors pretty damn good.
