Disability In Film Research Articles

“The Amateurs” On (theatre of) persons with intellectual disabilities in a feature film

In the paper I want do show and discuss some aspects of a feature film “The Amateurs” and attempt to find out what questions the presented movie can provoke, what experiences it tells about, and whether it can provide a stimulus for social change and emancipation of people with intellectual disabilities. The movie is based on the artistic work of Polish theatre company BRO Biuro Rzeczy Osobistych Personal Affairs Bureau, whose activity has been running for twenty five years. In order to see and reflect on some aspects of the movie I employed secondary data analyses / a content analysis of found data / secondary data / sources: some excerpts from movie critics' reviews and an interviews with the director of “The Amateurs”. Theoretical approach in attempting an analysis of the movie is inspired by sensuous theory of film by Vivian Sobchack. The meeting between the viewer’s and actors with disabilities in the film in an embodied cinematic experience understood as a dialogic encounter. “The Amateurs” not only enable to show /see/ an important and often missing social issues, but also reveals a change in the meanings ascribed to persons with intellectual disabilities as actors and (co)creators of (film) art and culture.

Acting the part: A thematic analysis of the experiences of actors with disabilities


 
 
 Portrayals of disability in film and television are often unauthentic and stereotypical, influenced by perceptions of disability in society and the lack of disability representation in the industry. Actors with disabilities encounter unique barriers in the industry that limit their acting opportunities. The purpose of this study is to explore the experiences of actors with disabilities in the Canadian film and television industry. Nine actors with physical or sensory disabilities who had experience acting in the Canadian film and television industry were recruited through social media posts. Participants completed individual semi-structured interviews discussing how their disability has affected their work as an actor. Interviews were transcribed, then coded using a thematic approach. Six participants engaged in a focus group to discuss and expand on preliminary findings. Two main themes were identified: (1) the unique experiences of actors with disabilities working in the industry; and (2) the impact of industry professionals' perceptions of disability on the experiences of actors with disabilities. Many actors experience inadequate accommodations, inaccessible work sites, stigma, and being limited to disability specific roles. As a result, actors with disabilities have implemented strategies to improve their success when faced with social and physical barriers in the industry. Authentic representation was identified as the necessary strategy to overcome barriers and create more equitable experiences for actors with disabilities. A transformation of current perceptions of disability within film and television is necessary to achieve authentic representation and create a more accurate perception of disability in society.
 
 

In Focus: Cripping Cinema and Media Studies: Introduction

In Focus:Cripping Cinema and Media Studies: Introduction Robert McRuer (bio) Introduction In 1985, the historian Paul Longmore identified the convergence of disability and media as one long process of "screening stereotypes."1 Attentive to the ways disabled people were consistently represented in film, in particular, as either angry and evil villains or inspirational figures for able-bodied characters and viewers, Longmore initiated what might be understood as a "crip" tradition of critiquing, from within disability culture, the impoverished representations that dominant filmic and media forms have bequeathed us. Disabled villains like Captain Hook or Magneto are generally defeated and eliminated at film's end, whereas inspirational figures tend either to "overcome" their disability or to end up dead after dutifully changing for the better the lives of everyone around them. Neither filmic tendency, of course, could offer more than a two-dimensional engagement with disability, although Longmore did note the promise for a more textured engagement with disability that attended other visual forms, including television and even advertising. Crip theory has emerged over the past few decades as a critical project, closely allied with queer theory, that centers atypical bodies, minds, and behaviors while interrogating that which can never be contained or described neatly by an entirely historical and limited abled-disabled binary. As a noun or adjective, "crip" is of course a flamboyant reclamation, one that disabled activists, artists, and theorists have long used to signify solidarity and resistance far in excess of the mobility impairment seemingly invoked by stigmatizing and pitying uses of "cripple."2 As a verb, as I have suggested [End Page 134] elsewhere: "'To crip,' like 'to queer,' gets at processes that unsettle, or processes that make strange or twisted. "Gripping' also exposes the ways in which able-bodiedness and able-mindedness get naturalized and the ways that bodies, minds, and impairments that should be at the absolute center of a space or issue or discussion get purged from that space or issue or discussion."3 Dominant forms of cinema and media, as Longmore's analysis showed, have long been tools for the naturalization of able-bodiedness and able-mindedness and have contributed greatly to purging critical reflections on disability from scholarship in cinema and media studies. By "cripping cinema and media studies" in this special edition of In Focus, the scholars gathered here work to counter those tendencies. They do so, additionally, by attending to some of the most exciting, cutting-edge work in disability studies, such as the field's engagement with globalization, ecotheory and animal studies, debility studies, critical race theory, and what might be understood—following the 2010 publication of Margaret Price's Mad at School—as a "mad turn" in disability studies, a turn that is attentive in new ways to disabilities that are not necessarily physical. Price provides an extended consideration of various terms that are in circulation in multivalent ways in disability communities, including "neurodiversity" and "mental illness," and ultimately uses "mental disability" throughout her own study as a term that "can include not only madness, but also cognitive and intellectual disabilities of various kinds." She also makes clear that the term can function for "'physical' illnesses [that are] accompanied by mental effects."4 The work of Price and others, including some of those included in this In Focus, has shifted the field to a point where mental disability is a necessary, central component of our analyses of disability and culture. In his study The Cinema of Isolation: A History of Physical Disability in the Movies, communications scholar Martin F. Norden codified Longmore's approach to cinema and disability by cataloging representations of physical disability in film from the origins of cinema to the late twentieth century.5 Although Norden's broad overview did not allow for an "in focus" approach to the films he surveyed, he did provide the growing interdisciplinary field of disability studies with a central thesis, namely that disability in dominant media forms invariably materializes for viewers an experience of extreme isolation. Like a movie theater that generates "accessible" space by removing one or two seats, thereby materializing literally the idea that perhaps one wheelchair user might show up, what Norden termed a...

A family affair: the depiction of disability in contemporary mainstream Italian cinema

Despite a grim history of marginalisation and oppression of people with disabilities, Italy has been praised for its early de-institutionalisation and attempts to adopt a more inclusive educational approach. Do recent Italian films provide evidence that these approaches have made a difference to how disability is made visible on film, or is it still depicted largely as an individual or family affair rather than a societal or political issue? Over the last decades, numerous scholars in disability studies have argued that cinema is an important location for understanding the formation of ideas about disability and have analysed the representation of people with disabilities in film, particularly in mainstream cinema. Moving from a focus on stereotypes and the description of ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ portrayals of disability, more recent scholarship examines filmic images of people with impairments in the light of a conception of disability termed by Snyder and Mitchell a ‘constructed social space’. Yet this extensive body of work has had limited impact in Italy in disability studies and film studies. This article applies it to some contemporary Italian films, considering the ways in which they represent disability and focusing in particular on Andrea Molaioli's La ragazza del lago (2007).

Different bodies: essays on disability in film and television

This is a collection of 19 new essays by 21 different authors from the United States, the UK, Canada, Australia and India. It focuses on contemporary film and television (1989 to the present) from those countries as well as from China, Korea, Thailand and France. The essays are divided into three sections. The first and second, entitled Disability on Screen: Critical Reflections, include critical readings of narrative film and television respectively. The third, entitled Disability in Production and Reception: Critical Reflections, includes essays on documentaries, biopics and autobiographically-informed films, and an essay on audience reactions to a television series. The book as a whole is designed to be accessible to readers new to disability studies, while also contributing significantly to the field. An introduction provides a background in disability studies and an appendix of suggested reading in disability studies is provided.

The Story of intellectual disability: an evolution of meaning, understanding, and public perception

Accessible, engaging, and filled with contributions by the country's most celebrated disability experts, this fascinating volume skillfully captures how intellectual disability has been understood from prehistoric times to present. Readers will discover how different societies have responded to people with disability throughout history, how life has changed for people with intellectual disability and their families over the centuries, and how key historical figures and events sparked social change and shaped our modern understanding of intellectual disability. Enhanced with remarkable images and illustrations, including exclusive photos from the editor's private collection of cultural artifacts, this informal history is a must-read for anyone devoted to improving the lives of people with intellectual disability. Top Disability Experts Explore: Early ideas about the causes of intellectual disability Evolution of the concept of intellectual disability The role of religion in the ancient world's understanding of disability Changing approaches to education and intervention The rise and fall of the institution system Depictions of intellectual disability in film, literature, and art State-sanctioned sterilization programs in the twentieth century The self-advocacy movement The emergence and impact of parent associations, support groups, and training programs How and why terminology changed throughout the years and more

A Study of Depiction of Specific Characteristics of Characters with Disability in Film

Descriptions of films produced and distributed in the United States were used to analyze a number of variables associated with characters who have disabilities. Sixtyseven characters were depicted as disabled in 53 out of 302 films produced. Variables studied included major versus minor role, gender, normalcy of personality, attractiveness, victim or hero status, outcome, whether socially related, institutionalization, family membership, social class, employment status, age category, and disability: