Within the short film Tim is seen as a confident, self sufficient person who turns his disability into a part of him, his personality shines past the obvious physical disability as we see Tim make jokes towards people who seem to patronise him. This goes against the normal representations of people with disabilities within the media in which they are seen as a burden to others. In this situation it shows how people without disabilities are acting different towards tim, making him seem like the odd one out within society. Tim takes his disability with a pinch of salt and seems very comfortable with the person he is. People with disabilities within media are sometimes seen as the villain, however in this case the audience were left rooting for Tim, wanting him to succeed. We saw one characteristic of the disabled being portrayed within the film when the people that Tim met pity him, this is stereotypical of the portrayal of the disabled.
Examples:
- Glee- can't get a girlfriend, just wants to be accepted
- Me before you- wants to end his own life, angry towards others, not happy with who he is
- Fundamentals of Caring- uses humour, overly sexualises others
- Lifes too short- pitiful, making a joke out of what he can't do
- Theory of everything
- The fault in our stars- angry at his disability
- Hush
How are the disabled mediated?
Is this representation useful or
detrimental?
Include Kapf’s theory within your argument.
Kapf suggested that charities are needed within society but that the audience are put into the position of the giver whilst the disabled children shown as to be grateful and dependant. The mediation places the disabled children as being reliant on the audiences donations, encouraging the people at home to raise more money. I think because of this the representation is useful when it comes to money raising, however it can make the children seem like a burden to society. By using famous people to introduce and meet these disabled children it makes the audience want to give more money as they think that stars they look up to are supporting the charity, perhaps without even thinking about the cause as much.
The disabled person as sinister and evil?
Blow-feldt
Dr No
Silva
Larry harvey (american horror story)
Jenny Morris (1991) argues that cultural portrayals of disability are usually about the feelings of non-disabled people and their reactions to disability, rather than about disability itself. Disability thus becomes: ...a metaphor...for the message that the non-disabled writer wishes to get across.
In doing this, the writer draws on the prejudice, ignorance and fear that generally exist towards disabled people, knowing that to portray a character with a humped back, with a missing leg, with facial scars, will evoke certain feelings in the reader or audience. The more disability is used as a metaphor for evil, or just to induce a sense of unease, the more the cultural stereotype is confirmed.
Disabled people are sometimes included in
the storylines of films and TV dramas to enhance a certain atmosphere, usually
one of menace, mystery or deprivation, or to add character to the visual impact
of the production. This dilutes the humanity of disabled people by reducing
them to objects
of
curiosity.
Super cripple:
•Disabled
person
is assigned super human almost magical abilities.
•Blind
people
are portrayed as visionaries with a sixth sense or extremely sensitive hearing.
•news
stories about disabled people's achievements -either extra-ordinary or managing
to fit into a 'normal life' -both on television and in the press. On television
they account for over a quarter of all news stories about disabled people.
Disability
and gender: ‘Supercrips’
Supercrips are people who conform to the individual model by overcoming disability, and becoming more ‘normal’, in a heroic way. Jenny Morris argues that in film and TV drama, disability is often used as a narrative device to express ideas of dependency, lack of autonomy, tragedy etc. She argues that
Supercrips are people who conform to the individual model by overcoming disability, and becoming more ‘normal’, in a heroic way. Jenny Morris argues that in film and TV drama, disability is often used as a narrative device to express ideas of dependency, lack of autonomy, tragedy etc. She argues that
Thus many Supercrip films are about the hell of dependency
for men.
Since women are viewed as dependent, there is little point in making films
about their ‘struggles’ with disability. Perhaps disability does not ‘matter’
so much to a woman?
An example of a ‘Supercrip’ is the Irish writer Christy Brown, who described his book My Left Foot as his “plucky little cripple story”. The film of the same name is full of useful sequences. Problems with the Supercrip stereotype:
• It focuses on a single individual’s ability to overcome, then puts the onus on other disabled people to do the same.
• What about those who can’t or won’t try to live up to this stereotype?
It is notable that the actors playing these Supercrip roles - which often earn them Oscars - are invariably non-disabled superstars with the requisite face and physique. Thus an impaired male body is visually represented as a perfect physical specimen in a wheelchair.
Lifes too short:
- Standing on shoulders to portray burden
- Pun of lifes to short- humour ridicule
- Pitiable as needs to be lifted higher to see
