Discussion week 9, Friday 12:00, 42055571, Maeko Ishii

TOPIC: DISABILITY AND DIFFERENCE

Definition:

Impairment: any loss or abnormality of psychological, physiological, or anatomical

structure or function.

Disability: any restriction or lack (resulting from impairment) of ability to perform an

activity in the manner or within the range considered normal for a human being.

Part 1

Example of offensive ads

http://loveyourbody.nowfoundation.org/offensiveads.html

This ads is Disability Awareness Initiative (Austria): Companies rarely feature people

with disabilities in their ads. But you would expect a disability awareness campaign to

get it right. However, this ads is an example of offensive ads,

Text says…Disability can hit anyone, But everyone can help. It implicitly say that they

are obstacles and nothing they can contribute to our society. It is totally offensive and

unacceptable.

Positive ads

Lincoln: The automaker featured triathlete Sarah Reinersten in its "Dreams" campaign.

However the positive ads seldom appear to media, Think about it: When's the last time

you saw a woman with a disability in an ad?

Left: Kenneth Cole ad featuring Aimee Mullins; Right: Belgian ad promoting

disability awareness featuring Tanja Kiewitz (based on Wonderbra ad) - text says

"Look me in the eyes ... I said the eyes."

What do you think of these ads? Do you notice that the women have physical

disabilities?

How often do you see ads or other media images that include people with disabilities?

Do you think it is a step forward to present women with disabilities as physically

attractive and sexual, or is it just more objectification?

How do you think it feels to be part of a group of people who rarely see themselves

represented in the media? ( How do you think about they are seldom represented in

media ?)

Can you name other groups who are often missing from the images we see? ( how do

you categorize them = disabled people ? )

Part 2 cinema with disability people.

Currently, most movies or media texts put the social power on white heterosexual

masculinity stereotypically.

Although in post-modern politics make diversity and identity, Disability is categorised

outside of social construction of political power. That is why there are not so many

disabilities appears in films and depict it positively.

Q. Have you seen any films include disabled people, and what is noteworthy about

disabled people in the films?

The Australian films in 1990s focus on how disabilities conquer their difficulties

through the passionate expression of creativity　（cuz its sometimes the construction

of imagined disabled realities） In some films, they are depicted as odd person, but the

purpose of films put more importance on disablement and vulnerability.

Hollywood films also depicted that they are socially weak and illustrate how they

conquer it as well as their tie of family members or lovers. For example, the film ‘I AM

SAM’ is portrayed using both positive and negative constructs.

Each film demands recognition of the socially disabling interpretation of impairment.

It’s about a man with a developmental disorder who tries to raise a daughter alone. The

problem arrives when she begins to grow old enough to surpass him on a developmental

level. It reminds viewer to rethink moral problem like, Are we really ok with a single

father who has the development of a 7-year-old raising a child all on his own?  

The film portrays society’s aversion to Sam’s disability and Sam’s ability to become a

hero to overcome his challenges in order to be a good father. He can be seen as a bother

to society as a results of his impairment. Alternatively, he can be positively visualized

as heroes to conquer the obstacles.

Most cases people tend to look at them as odd because of the difference of their bodies,

and put them as ‘other’ but actually its meaning of their existence in our society is more

important than the difference itself.

when it comes to films, how do you think about their social impact to the public?

Do you think it has problems the way films illustrate them ? Do you think it is not

so realistic?

He way they illustrate disabled people can be seen as problem because it is sometimes

the construction of imagined disabled realities. It is sometimes personal tragedy in the

films such as Moulin rouge.

There are two kinds of viewpoints to evaluate the film. One is medical model and

another is social model.

In the past, the portrayal of disabled people was largely limited to a medical model in

which the presence of an impairment forever caused a disability and limited the

individual.

In moving to a social model, disabled people can overcome their impairments and

participate in society. The depiction of disabled characters can be evaluated through a

use of both the medical and social models, specifically through character portrayals and

character interactions.

In the film, character interactions represent society’s perception of disability.

For example, in I AM SAM, Using the medical model, interactions that limit Sam to his

medical capabilities portray him as a monster-like problem for society.

In contrast, using the social model, interactions that create a place for Sam in society

allow him to compensate for his disability.

Story include the conflict that whether he is accepted as her father in court, At the

resolution of the film, the social model prevails over the medical model. By using the

social model to resolve the conflict of Sam’s right to guardianship over his daughter, the

film portrays the social model as the preferred method of viewing people with

disabilities.

Nowadays, films focus on not only their impairment but also how they can interact with

society.

2. What role does the films play in forming the distinction between abled and

disabled bodies? What do you think about the purpose of these films?

It is same as race and gender differences, film representations contribute to this blurring

biology and society. Using this framework it becomes apparent that film features of

1990s portray disability as a biological difference in order to highlight the social

construction of other differences that were once thought to be biological. Therefore film

tells disability is a social construction.

Social model and medical model is totally different way to look at them,

new binary can be created impairment/disability like normal/disabled when their social

interaction is considered.

3. We see several types of disabled people from media, and what is your perspective of

disabled people as regarding to power relations that constitute the cultural context in the

film? In short, what is the representation of disability in the films?

culture (including art, beliefs, customs and values) is a society’s system of

interrelationships. It is the signifying system through which meanings are

communicated and sets boundaries for what is normal and different. To become a

member of society these cultural meanings must be learnt. Exploring disability within a

cultural context, emphasises the ways in which ‘common meanings’ construct people

with impairments as not ‘normal’

An influential social barrier for people with impairments is the representation of

disability in films. Film is a powerful cultural tool in shaping society’s opinion of

disability.

4.Is there any meaning produced suddenly when there are disabled people in film?

For example, in I AM SAM, do you think story cannot be completed without his

impairment, can it be replaced with another performer? In Moulin Rouge, would the

main role be just another performer without her consumption and tragic finale is

important to the story.

Actually disability provide complex script to its own, film doesn’t need extra word to

describe any differences because of the social ordering of disability and disabled-people

as ‘ other’.

But part of the question in the film is what it really means to be alone when you’re

surrounded by people like you, and by people who care.

Indeed, if there are no differences between disabled and abled bodies, there are no

chances to think about love, relationship and the role of ‘disabled’ performance. So

films provide opportunities to recreate the way people see disabled people.