Since I created the plot of my project yesterday and it included a disabled person, I thought that today I would do some research on disabled people and their representation in media.
Representation of Disabled People
There are different stereotypes of disabled people in medias. These stereotypes can be positive or demeaning, but in either scenario, they are usually never accurate to reality. Nowadays, more realistic characters with disabilities are being represented in the media; however, stereotypes are very much still present. Most actors who play the role of a disabled person are not actually disabled. This can create a false association with people who are healthy and disabled people. This can also create a false representation of a disabled person as the actor isn't actually disabled. One film and book that had represented a disabled character was called Wonder. The story is about a boy named Auggie who has a craniofacial disorder. The book was written before the movie and was beautifully written and beloved by many. Lots of people with similar disabilities found that this was a book that they could really relate to, so they loved it. However, when the movie came out, people were not as happy with the representation of Auggie in the film. The boy who played as Auggie was not actually disfigured. The actor only appeared as a disfigured person, instead of casting a person who actually is disfigured.
Also some people thought that Auggie's face was made not as disfigured to make it visually softer on the audience to make them think that this disfiguration of the face isn't as bad as it seems.
Now back to talking about stereotypes. There are certain stereotypes that involved disabled people. The main three stereotypes include the hero, the villain, and the victim.
The Hero
The hero stereotype is all about how the character with a disability tries to overcome the mental or physical disability. One example of this could just be about how the can change their behavior and characteristics to defeat their disability or learn to work with it to fit in more with society. An extreme example of the "hero" stereotype is literally being a superhero. One of the most notable hero with a disability is Daredevil, who is blind.
But his blindness only enhances his other senses. Although this stereotype is in a positive light about disabled people, there are a few problems that could occur while using this point of view of a disability. Films that use this stereotype are about how the character learns to deal with the disability and not how their everyday life goes. This can discourage many people as the details about the struggles the characters portrayed in this stereotype are often mitigated or not shown. It also portrays disabilities as just a "problem" or a "hurdle" that a person should overcome to fit into society. If one cannot overcome a disability, this can make people upset or discouraged. Furthermore, the hero stereotype is almost usually acted by people who aren't disabled, showing a false image of disabled people.
The Villain
Physical disabilities have often been attributed to evil or sinister characteristics. In recent years, characters with disability have been shown to be driven to evil, vengeance, or violence due to their hate of their disability. Not only physical disability, but also mental disability can contribute to the violence of a character. Mental illness has been correlated to crime and violence in many films, even though many people with mental illness tend to be the kindest and most innocent people in reality. Furthermore, most times people with disabilities actually are the victim of violence, not the other way around. This shows that this stereotype is usually false and tends to show disabled people in a negative light. One of the examples of a villain with a mental disability is The Joker from the movie The Dark Knight.
In the film, The Joker is shown as a schizophrenic, and not only is his mental disability contributing to his series of crime and violence, but it also makes him cruel. Another example of a villain with a disability is in Captain America: The First Avenger. The villain of the film, Red Skull, is represented with having a disfigured and red face.
Red Skull was a character who had gotten his face disfigured, showing disabled people in a negative light. Although making him have a physical disability is a way to make the villain more scary and creepy, which gives him a better role as a villain, this does give a bad example to people with actual disabilities. The actor, Hugo Weaving, is also not an actually disabled person, which gives another false representation of a disabled character. A problem that casting a disabled person as a villain can create the negative outlook for disabled people by giving them a bad example and showing them that if they cannot live a normal life, they should not let anyone else do so either.
The Victim
This stereotype of the victim is the most common type of disabled character, who is depicted as a helpless and miserable creature that people should pity. In other times, the disability can be used to gain sympathy from a viewer. This can be seen in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
The victim stereotype can also be used to give comedy to a film by using the disabilities of characters to create funny scenarios. One example of using an intellectually challenged character is in Forrest Gump, since the main character is often slow in situations, it can create humorous situations.
Final Thoughts
This research will help me figure out how to create a good tone of the film as this research will serve as a basis of the disabled main character. This research has shown me the different stereotypes of disabled people in films and can help me decide what I want my character to be in my film after his accident. It also helped me see how the representation of disabled people in today's media is not very accurate or fitting of actual disabled people. Although I know I will most likely not be able to use a disabled actor, I will try my best to make sure I can properly represent this underrepresented group properly. Well, until next time! See you later.
Resources:
- https://people.com/movies/jacob-tremblay-wonder/
- https://www.slj.com/story/critics-question-representation-disability-wonder
- https://mediasmarts.ca/diversity-media/persons-disabilities/common-portrayals-persons-disabilities
- https://www.imdb.com/media/rm1042215168/tt3322312
- https://www.slashfilm.com/815864/how-joker-would-have-played-a-role-in-the-dark-knight-rises/
- https://heroichollywood.com/captain-america-red-skull-avengers-endgame/
- https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2019/03/21/forrest-gump-sequel-script-felt-meaningless-after-9-11-says-writer/3231469002/
- https://www.vulture.com/2019/01/hunchback-of-notre-dame-reamke-live-action.html
No comments:
Post a Comment