 Hello there, my beautiful, lovely, talented, delightful, intelligent internet friends. Welcome back to my channel. Thank you so much for joining me here today on Footless Joe, where I am still Joe. I am still missing a foot, and I still haven't found it anywhere. So I've done previous TV show and movie reviews from the perspective of an amputee, a person with a disability, a person with a limb difference. And generally they're pretty light, upbeat, and fun, because Hollywood does not get amputees, right? But for the most part, it's kind of just funny and fun, right? Today's tone is going to be a little bit different, because a decision was made with a major film that just went out on HBO Max, involving people like Ann Hathaway, Octavia Spencer, Chris Rock, Robert Zemeckis, that has done an incredibly poor and extremely damaging job of representing people with limb differences or disabilities. Now, having said that, I'm about to introduce you to Joe from a couple hours ago, wearing a different shirt when I was originally filming this video. But I wanted to say right up front that I realized in editing this video that I often use limb difference and disability interchangeably, and I wanted to go ahead and acknowledge that not everybody feels that way. And the reason that I did that is because it's how I think of myself in my own head. But if you are dealing with some kind of limb difference or difference in general, that you do not see as a disability, I truly apologize if I am referring to this in a way that you do not feel resonates with you. So with that being said, let's dive into the witches and what went so very wrong with this movie. Cakes. You ready? She looks ready. Let's do this. So let's talk about the witches. If you're not familiar with this film or the story, The Witches is based on a book written by Roald Dahl, who's the author of Charlie Chaka. Nope. Charlie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. God, I hope I got that right. That'd be embarrassing. Yeah. So a quick update. It's not Charlie. It's Willy. It's Willy Wonka in The Chocolate Factory. I'm an idiot. Let's continue. He is a beloved children's book author and this year, HBO just recently released a film adaptation of his book, The Witches. Giant names are involved in this. There was so much advertising behind it. There was a lot of thought that went into it, but those who were involved in making choices about this film made one serious misstep and that is very intentionally and directly changing the appearance of The Witches. Now I'm going to come out with a confession right away and say that I watched this movie a couple of days ago. As I was watching advocates and people and friends that I know speak out about the harmful consequences of this film, a lot of them were understandably calling for a boycott. I think boycotting something is a great way to have your voice heard and let a big company or studio know, hey, this isn't okay and we're not going to support it, but I didn't want to put together a video talking about these issues without actually having seen it myself. I wanted the context to speak on this, having viewed it with my own two eyes and so that is what I did. So what was this big and upsetting change? Well, in this story, there are good guys and there are bad guys and there is a very clear black and white difference between the two and the bad guys are The Witches. The Witches are creepy and sinister and hate children, want them to die and are hatching this evil scheme to get rid of all children on planet earth. They are honestly disturbing characters, right? And in the book, Roald Dahl wrote that they had claws like cat as in like long creepy fingernails, right? Like this was the film adaptation interpretation from the 1990s because The Witches was made back then as well. So instead of staying true to the story, this most recent adaptation of The Witches turned the very creepy bad guys into characters who have a limb difference. Now, this is a very real limb difference. This is not something that only exists in imagination. The kind of limb difference that they very clearly modeled The Grand High Witch, who's like the worst character of all and all of The Other Witches after is called Ectrodactyly. This is a very real limb difference that people are born with. This is not something out of nightmares. This is not something made up. This is something that thousands of people exist with that are born with and they altered the original story, creating the characters to look this way, to make them appear scary and creepy. They gave them a limb difference to further frighten children. So I wanted to talk about a few issues surrounding this. Now, for the purpose of this conversation, it's not particularly important that you understand the storyline, but what is very vital to know is that The Witches characters embody evil. They are everything that is creepy and weird and bad and out to hurt people and detrimental to the world and children and like the kind of characters that you would nightmares about as a kid because their intentions are so bad. And one of the reasons I watched this movie is because I wanted to find out if there was any redemption offered. Not that it would have changed the damage by modeling all of the bad evil sinister characters to mimic a very real limb difference, but I was honestly curious if there was gonna be any kind of storyline arc or redemption for the characters, but they came to realize the error of their ways and apologize and forgiveness is good. I was curious what the point of the film was and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that there was literally no redemption offered. These characters are only bad. They are one dimensional evil bad bad witches. And not only in my mind is that not great story writing, but let's talk a little bit deeper about the legitimate effects that modeling such a one dimensional evil character after children and adults who have this limb difference has. Now before we hear from three new friends and one old friend who you've seen before on this channel, I wanted to take a moment to kind of address some of the gut reactions that I understand people have. I've heard a lot of people say and seen in comment sections like, God, why are you making a big deal out of a freaking movie? It's a story. Let it be a story. Don't overcomplicate it. Like, yeah, they modified the character. People do that all the time. Like stop being such crybabies about the fact that they made disability into a scary evil thing in a kid's movie. I've seen people calling this an overreaction and being overly sensitive and just let a movie be a movie, right? But here's the thing. As my new friend Shannon is about to tell you in a moment, movies can have an incredible impact on people. Speaking for me personally, Lord of the Rings was the most impactful film in my entire life. All of my teenage years were somewhat embarrassingly devoted to that movie. Those characters were my heroes. I aspired to be like some of them. I drew on their strength. That movie changed the course of my life in more than one way. I think it's important not to understate the impact and the power that a story has, especially on young minds. So really, why is this such an issue? Let's hear from a few people who have upper limb differences and also those who have this exact limb difference. So the decision to give the grandtie which hand differences is damaging, and the reason is, the only purpose for that difference is in order to make a character more frightening and more other and more hideous. And those are qualities that as somebody with a hand difference, I have experienced in other people's reactions and it's really unpleasant. And it's something that I personally do not want any children with hand differences to have to contend with. Hey everybody, I'm Alex Barone. I am an actor, a writer, and a disability advocate. And a super fun fact about me is I was born on the maternal one. So I work at a children's camp for kids and teens with limb loss or limb differences. And this isn't about me or how I feel as an actor or whatever, anything like that. It's about the younger generation, these kids, and then how the world views them ultimately, right? I mean, it's such a beautiful community and me growing up with limb difference myself, I didn't have anybody I could look up to when I was a kid at all. That was a role model or that was a superhero in a movie or anything like that. So for a kid to have that, it's huge. I mean, what happens when you're at school and you have a limb difference and then another kid calls you a witch and it's a negative kind of thing? It could be heartbreaking, right? I mean, anytime that like any kind of disability or limb difference is used as a prop, that's problematic for a lot of reasons. It's a little bit dehumanizing. It's a little bit like patronizing, all those things. But when it's used for an enhancement of like evilness and like grotesqueness and creepiness, then that just really, really deep and really heartbreaking. One of the most important points is that the original character didn't have hands like this. Like yeah, they had cat claws, but like they specifically made a choice to make her hands look like very humanistic hands. Films can have a really massive impact on someone's life. For example, finding Nemo. Nemo had a smaller fin, which was a disability to one of his fins. And that was portrayed in such a positive way. Nemo sort of went on and defied everyone's perception of him. He went on to achieve things that his dad never thought he would be able to and he really proved people wrong. And that encouraged so many children who watched Nemo and related with it because they had a disability as well and it made them think, well, if Nemo can do it and prove people wrong, then so can I. So yeah, it's true. Even though it's just a film, it can still have a massive impact on someone's life and that's why people are so worried about this film because it's portraying disability in such a negative way and we don't want people to have suffered from that. So I've no doubt that children will be bullied and will be equated with the High Witch character. Now, if she'd had some sort of redeeming feature in the film, that wouldn't be too bad. If she'd been like turned out to be, you know, benevolent in some way or if she had surprised people or if there'd be any element of sympathy or empathy with the character, it wouldn't be too bad but that's the issue. There's not, she's just a two-dimensional frightening baddie. The fact that they've added this to the character's image is solely for the purpose of making her seem more evil, more scary and more monstrous, which is a very damaging message to send out there about the disability because there's already so much stigma surrounding disability and being different and this film is sort of reinforcing that idea as well. It's shocked me and it's made me realise how little things have moved on in terms of Hollywood representation of disability. Historically, physical difference has been a shortcut for, as I mentioned earlier, the other as a capital T, capital O. The idea of something being monstrous, something being frightening, something being dark and dangerous. See, it has affected me and the reason I'm annoyed about it is because there's no parity. There's no other representation of people who have differences to even things out. That's why it's a problem. If we were seen in Hollywood films regularly in whatever capacity, totally fine but the one-time hand difference is shown, it's with a hideous, you know, monstrous frightening character. There's a lot of, you know, characters with one hand and weapon differences who are hilarious and funny and the representation is like, it's questionable but it's there and people can grab onto it and have fun with it. It's around the intention and the lack of foresight, I think. People have come out and complained about it because of the young audience. A lot of people who have limb differences really struggle with self-confidence and accepting themselves. A lot of people do hide who they are because they're scared of people's reactions and people's comments as well and this film might encourage people to call them witches and we just really feel like it's an unnecessary addition to the movie. In terms of experiences that I've had in my past and currently, I've had the range of people and kids meeting me and saying nothing or just like, oh neat, my uncle has a leg like that or something to immediate crying and not wanting to be around me because they thought if they touched me they would catch it. Circle time in classroom, any kind of group thing in school, you hope to God that you never have to hold anyone's hand because of the fear of putting out your hand and having that person cower away or immediately notice and then like it's just the most awkward thing. So obviously the creators of this film didn't intend to hurt anybody or affect any communities but the truth is it kind of did because of the negatives it has on people with limb loss or limb differences in the first place. This little kiddo has a limb difference and they were watching part of it and the kid said why would they do this mom? I'm not a witch mom and like was starting to like you know and they're young enough to be at the age of like I'm not a witch, I'm not a witch right? I'm not a witch right? Like I think also like yeah I just put that together. Kids who are young enough to see that and still have that imagination that is so strong and to have a hand like that which is legit it's ectodactyly. There are probably going to be kids out there that are seeing this seeing an ad or maybe even seeing the movie and they have hands like that who might think am I a witch? Am I bad? Am I you know like yeah because kids are like their imaginations can go there. That absolutely breaks my heart like kids who have limb differences should not have to wonder if they're an abomination if they're an evil scary witch they shouldn't have to go to school and have very valid concerns because you know it's going to happen about classmates making fun of them and calling them a witch and and just making them feel horrible about themselves. This was a movie that was made for kids. This is not an adults film and is targeted for children. So children are going to see this and perhaps the first time they've ever seen any kind of limb difference is represented as an embodiment of evil. Also I do want to note having watched this movie it's portrayed like the characters are portrayed in such a grotesque way everything about their character design is designed to repulse you and make you feel icky and bad and weird, right? Like I said no redemption for the characters at all and they really use the characters limbs to drive this home. Like there are multiple scenes of their hands being used to like chase after children and they like grow these long arms with with with their hands and it's just I was hoping that watching the film maybe it wasn't a central point maybe it wasn't like a plot point but it really was like this was highlighted and zoomed in upon and really focused on one of the biggest and the more disturbing aspects of this movie having watched it was that their hands and feet are indicated as a way of identifying witches. So think about that in real life think about that with a second grader who's just watched the witches and goes to school who was born with a limb difference and it's like aha! I was told to recognize witches by that therefore you are a witch therefore I am going to ridicule you and make fun of you and make you wonder if you're evil and bad no kid should have to deal with that no adult should have to deal with that especially as you're developing your sense of who you are and your worth and your purpose and how the world perceives you this adds so much fuel to the fire like kids are kids can be really mean to each other anyways but you are literally giving someone the play by play on how to make someone feel horrible about their difference like it's really not a silly or something to be shoved off sort of thing that disabilities are being intentionally made in movies to be creepy and scary and weird that is the opposite direction that we should be heading in people with disabilities are still hugely like the butt of jokes or seen as sad and tragic or purely as inspirational objects like there's a lot of work to be done still but I kind of hoped that we were past this I kind of thought that the world had perhaps progressed a little bit further than thinking the best way to make this character even more evil and sinister is to deviate from the original story and make them into characters with limb differences as I begin to really look into what happened with this film and the character design and how things were being portrayed this is a topic that I do think is really important to talk about not only as a person with a disability not only as a person with limb difference just as a person in general I think the ideas and the values and what we put into the heads of children through media and entertainment is really important and unfortunately a major misstep was made in both the studio and and Hathaway released statements apologizing for the impact that this had so let me start with Ann's post she shared a video from the Lucky Finn project and wrote I recently learned that many people especially children with limb differences are in pain because of the portrayal of the grand high witch and the witches which is the character that she play let me begin by saying I do my best to be sensitive to the feelings and experiences of others not out of scrambling PC fare but because not hurting others seems like a basic level of decency we should all be striving for which I very much agree with as someone who really believes in inclusivity and really really detests cruelty I owe you all an apology for the pain caused I'm sorry I did not connect limb difference with the grand high witch when the look of the character was brought to me if I had I assure you none of this would ever happen she goes on to write a little bit more at least for me personally reading this I appreciate her words it seems very sincere in taking responsibility saying this is not what I intended but I understand it's the consequences and I'm sorry Warner Brothers Studios also released a statement which I feel like maybe left a little bit to be desired we the filmmakers in Warner Brothers pictures are deeply sad and to learn that our depiction of fictional characters in the witches could upset people with disabilities and regret any offense caused statement continued in addition to the original story we worked with designers and artists to come up with a new interpretation of the cat-like laws that are described in the book it was never the intention for viewers to feel that the fanatical non-human creatures were meant to represent them so again I appreciate a studio issuing a response to me this sounds much more like I'm sorry if I offended you rather than we're sorry that our actions directly caused this pain and this hurt I do believe I mean I have no reason to believe otherwise that this was not intentionally made to make disability seem dangerous and bad and evil and sinister however that is what was done and one of the parts that's upsetting to me is that it's really clear to see that the characters hands are modeled pretty directly off of a very real limb difference like this isn't some fantastical non-human thing this is something that people that I know have that they were born with but I do think it's really important to thank Warner Brothers and Anne for trying to take responsibility for their actions and apologizing and apology does not fix harm that's caused but I do think it's a start for change and I can appreciate that I felt like it was really important to draw light to this not to cancel the movie not to cancel anyone who's involved with it but to have a real discussion about the legitimate harm that is caused I really hope that we can do better in the future this feels like something that shouldn't be an issue in 2020 but it appears that people are still learning and still catching up and I hope that that speeds up I hope that disability ceases to be seen as a weakness as an evil sinister or a bad thing is something that's gross or disgusting or creeps people out because there's no reason for that it's just what our society has programmed us to think it's what movies and tv shows and books and stories and people's general discomfort with something that is different from them we see the effects of that but I do see those effects lowering and I hope that they continue to do so in the future thank you again so much to Alex and Shannon and Carol and Alexis for being a part of this video please go check them out down below and thank you so much for listening to this video I appreciate you allowing me to chat with you for a little while about this I'd love to hear your thoughts and your reactions and your comments down below I'd also love it if you hit that subscribe button or that like button or both maybe if you're feeling extra extra generous ringing that notification bell so you get notified of all my videos if you feel like it a huge thank you goes out to all my patrons for continuing to support my channel on these videos it means more to me than I can ever tell you I don't take your generosity for granted thank you if you're interested in joining Patreon there's a link on screen and down below Patreon is basically a platform where you can support your favorite creators or creators that you care about and in return you get access to a pretty cool community and some pretty cool behind the scenes videos for instance when I did the review of Skyscraper I kind of did a skit pretending that I was the rock doing cool things in a very tacky way and I released like all of the footage of us filming that over on Patreon I think it's it's sufficiently embarrassing and also funny so if you want to check it out that's where it is but with that being said to you watching this video you could be anywhere in the world doing anything and you chose to hang out with me and listen to me talk about this for a little while and I truly appreciate that I love you guys I'm thinking about you and I will see you in the next video bye guys