Film portrayals of people with disabilities are of critical importance because visual media influence and help shape societal attitudes and beliefs towards these important individuals of society. The disabled community are highly underrepresented in the entertainment industry, known worldwide as Hollywood. As more countries around the world turn to Hollywood as blockbusters for entertainment, the influence of these movies in shaping views of individuals, especially among young people, and this cannot be overlooked. The aim of this online page is to examine the negative representations of disabled individuals viewed as either dependent victims or heroic.
Persons with disabilities are often represented as a victim, which is described as a character who is presented as a helpless object of pity or sympathy. In doing this, the writer of the storyline in Hollywood films 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 (Media Smarts, 2018). Tiny Tim in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol or John Merrick in The Elephant Man are examples of disabled characters whose disability is used by the author to earn sympathy from the audience (Media Smarts, 2018). Representation matters, and it is important that Hollywood finally get it right. Indeed, portraying people with disabilities as deserving only of pity lowers society’s expectations of the disability community, and fosters bias and stereotypes. That being said, a positive example of representation of individuals with disability is the documentary called “Murderball”. This film is about disabled athletes playing wheelchair rugby and is one of the only movies I that accurately depicted the experiences of people with disability. It allows individuals to relate to many of the topics raised in the family, such as dating and contending with misconceptions about sexuality.
The complete opposite representation of individuals with disabilities as victims is heroization. A hero is most commonly known as a character that proves its worth by overcoming disability. This ridiculous notion is ‘cripping the norm’ in which people who overcome their disability and become so-called ‘normal’ are heroic. Overcoming disability is depicted as an achievable goal and is valued in films and society. Examples of superheroes with disabilities include Oracle (a wheelchair-bound heroine who uses her computer skills to fight crime), Silhouette (who fights villains using martial arts despite being partially paralyzed) and most famously Daredevil, whose blindness has enhanced his other senses to superhuman levels (Media Smarts, 2018).
Even though heroism may seem like a better representation than victimization, these both are still unrealistic views of disability due to a number of reasons. One reason of films negatively disability is the lens focused on individuals overcoming disability, instead of the majority of others who have no choice but to live with disability for the rest of their life. It is also concerning because non-disable actors almost always play these heroic roles, presenting a false picture of disability and further limiting industry opportunities for the talented actors with a disability. This is very discriminatory towards people with disabilities because they have virtually no influence in cinema and the enduring myths that are being created about them are by able-bodied filmmakers (Renwick, Schormans & Shore, 2013). It is really unfair that non-disabled actresses and actors are able to play disabled characters whereas similar opportunities are not available to the disabled actors. As disabled actress and comedian Maysoon Zayid wisely remarked during her TED talk, “If a person in a wheelchair can’t play Beyoncé, Beyoncé can’t play a person in a wheelchair.
To watch, here is the link: https://www.ted.com/talks/maysoon_zayid_i_got_99_problems_palsy_is_just_one
The film industry has the incomparable ability to help shape the way the world defines and views disability. It is found that movies have the ability to influence how people view things and can change perceptions (Renwick, Schormans & Shore, 2013). Rather than portraying people with disabilities as incompetent and deserving of pity and incompetent through roles of victimization, heroism, and villains, Hollywood must show that disability is normal — because it is. Until society stops conceptualizing able-bodied person as the "default" human, individuals who are disabled will continue to be marginalized in Hollywood (Renwick, Schormans & Shore, 2013). Also, until we as humans include different kinds of normal in our cultural artifacts, that default will not change.
Common Portrayals of Persons with Disabilities | MediaSmarts. (2018). Retrieved from http://mediasmarts.ca/diversity-media/persons-disabilities/common-portrayals-persons-disabilities
Renwick, R., Schormans, A., & Shore, D. (2013). Hollywood Takes on Intellectual/Developmental Disability: Cinematic Representations of Occupational Participation. OTJR: Occupation, Participation And Health, 34(1), 20-31. doi: 10.3928/15394492-20131118-01
Wonder [Digital Images]. (n.d.). Retrieved July 20, 2018, from https://www.google.ca/search?hl=en-CA&rlz=1C5CHFA_enCA570CA570&biw=1366&bih=562&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=ilhSW_y1D9mN0PEPqO-7yAk&q=wonder&oq=wondergs_l=img.3..0i67k1j0j0i67k1l4j0l3j0i67k1.37602.39608.0.39760.10.6.2.2.2.0.86.340.6.6.0....0...1c.1.64.img..0.10.358...35i39k1j0i10i1k1.0.Lk4Agfo6O9o#imgdii=ac4vjjUBabEb8M:&imgrc=IsV9R46dZ5e3iM: