Warner Bros. apologizes for new film "The Witch" after being criticized for allegedly vilifying people with hand disabilities

In the new version of "The Witches" released last month, the witch played by Anne Hathaway has three fingers on each hand. Many people pointed out that the condition of her hands is similar to congenital finger deficiency, commonly known as "lobster claw syndrome", saying that disabled characters rarely appear in film and television, and the film rarely involves physical disabilities, but the characteristics to be shown are terrible and evil. It is believed that the film sets the witch as this image and highlights it, which is a wrong film and television representation of disabled people. Its portrayal is suspected of stereotyping disabled people: human disabilities are abnormal, terrifying and scary.

Anne Hathaway plays a hand-disabled "witch" in the film

Amy Marren, a world champion swimmer who once competed in the Paralympics, expressed disappointment with the film, saying that it was not uncommon for doctors to try to reshape the hands of children/adults with such limbs through surgery, and that the way "The Witch" portrayed people's limb differences as something horrible would deepen people's prejudice against them.

Marren said she was well aware that this was a movie and that the characters in the movie were witches, but she was worried that children would start to develop a fear of people with limb differences after watching the movie. She also pointed out that in the original work of the film, Roald Dahl's children's novel of the same name, there was no such setting for witch characters, and the movie exaggerated their hands.

RespectAbility, an organization that supports people with disabilities, pointed out that Hollywood movies tend to disfigure the appearance of evil characters, which, even if unintentional, may have a real impact and cause people to begin to fear people with different bodies from their own. It also pointed out that the witch in Dahl's novel did not have missing fingers, and "the portrayal in the movie teaches children that limb differences are ugly, hateful and terrifying. What message does this convey to children with limb differences?"

A Warner spokesperson responded: "We are very sad to learn that the depiction of virtual characters in "The Witches" may frustrate people with disabilities, and we apologize for any offense caused. We said that during the film adaptation process, Warner worked with designers and artists to give a new interpretation to the "cat-like claws" of the witches depicted in the novel. "We never intended for the audience to feel that those imaginary, non-human monsters are representatives of them. The film is about the power of kindness and friendship, and we hope that families and children will enjoy it and accept this empowering and loving theme."