|
|
|
National Diversity Forum |
|
|
|
Conversations, Resources, Archives National Diversity Forum | Written on the Body: A Conversation About Disability | Listening with an Open Eye | New Traditions |
C’mon Hollywood … we dare
you to disTHIS!
by
Lawrence Carter-Long (2008)
Think of the term
“disability film” and you’re likely to conjure up
one of two images: the disabled person who overcomes his/her condition to
triumph over adversity or the tragic, and usually bitter, plight of
someone struggling with the barriers—be they physical, attitudinal
and/or architectural—encountered by disabled folks. The point of view,
the gaze—or in some cases—the intrusive glare, is firmly located
with nondisabled voyeurs. Rarely do we come across
cinema with powerful representations of disabled people, where their condition
is a part of the story without consuming it.
All too often, mainstream movies where disability plays a role have
become comfortable using nondisabled actors “cripping up” in their roles. Disabled performers, who
would be arguably better equipped to embody the experience of living with a
particular condition, are largely persona non grata.
Why would nondisabled actors be any better at
expressing the often harsh reality of life in a world ill-designed for
impairment? The list of such casting decisions, however, is extensive: Dustin
Hoffman in Rainman,
Tom Hanks’ Forrest Gump, Daniel Day-Lewis playing Christy Brown in My Left Foot; Sean Penn in I Am Sam, Juliette
Lewis in The Other Sister, Javier Bardem’s bitter martyrdom of The Sea Inside, Hillary Swank’s melodramatic turn in Million Dollar snuff film, er, Baby
and, most recently, Michael Sheen in Music
Within. How long will it be before audiences begin to equate the
developmentally disabled caricature of Forrest Gump with Jolson
singing Mammy? Not anytime soon, I’m willing to wager. As the
saying goes, “Want an Oscar nomination, play a
cripple.” Sadly, almost two decades later there seems to be little
of the sensitivity demonstrated by the theatre community when Asian Pacific
Americans protested the casting of Caucasian actors in Miss Saigon in 1990 with regard to
disability.
The kind of resonance which can only come from experience is also sadly lacking
in much of the content as well. Challenging often predictable,
two dimensional portrayals of people with disabilities on-screen was one
of the main motivations behind the genesis of NYC’s disTHIS!
Film Series in 2006.
We started with a seemingly simple,
but difficult to realize guiding principle: Could we cultivate an audience
for festival-quality movies about disability that did not fall into the
tragic/heroic trap many of us had grown tired of? And if we did, what would we
show? To answer that question, we came up with the tagline “disability
through a whole new lens” and later, “no handkerchief
necessary, no heroism required.” I was once asked by a reporter that if
our movies were going to be “disability without the diagnosis,”
what the heck were we going to screen? Fair
enough. Judging by the selection of movies that managed to obtain
general release, he had a valid point. I knew from my own research and
from attending the London Disability Arts Forum’s 7th Annual Disability
film Festival in 2005 that many quality movies with disability themes are out
there, but few platforms exist to screen movies that stray too far from
formula.
We started the first year of our monthly series in April 2006, with Aaltra, a brilliant, deadpan dark comedy
from Belgium featuring two characters whose sudden, unexpected disabilities
prove to be no handicap to their being as selfish, sarcastic or unpleasant as
they were prior to acquiring their disabilities.. We followed in May with Born Freak, a challenging Channel 4
documentary featuring disabled actor Mat Fraser that examined the history
of disabled performers in an often surprisingly sympathetic view of
the “freak show” tradition. Summer brought a stateside documentary How’s Your News?, which chronicles
the journeys of a traveling band of disabled reporters as they conduct
person-on-the-street interviews with an unsuspecting, nondisabled
public. Audiences loved it. Sundance did not and refused to screen it on
the grounds that they were afraid of being seen as “mocking”
disabled people. It didn’t seem to matter that the disabled people
featured in the movie were also quite proud of their work—as they should
be. After airing on Cinemax and being widely
distributed by mail order and screening to enthusiastic crowds at other, less
squeamish, festivals the News crew
now enjoys a cult following and is currently filming a pilot for an MTV
series. Brings to mind the adage about success being the
sweetest revenge. In July, we were pleased to screen Sixth Happiness again from the
It was around this time I noticed a
couple of trends emerging: 1.) our audiences were growing and 2.) the bulk of our screening material was coming from outside
the
In fact, of the 14 feature length
and short films we screened our first year, only four were from the U.S. and
one of those (Freaks—by
director Tod Browning—who also directed Bela Lugosi in Dracula) was made in 1932! Sadly,
when we celebrated our 2nd anniversary in May 2008, the percentages
remained essentially the same.
It’s tough to be patriotic
with odds like these. While Hollywood seems content to churn out melodramas
which traverse the same ground we’ve all trekked before, the rest of the
world seems more inclined to take chances—and in the process—tell
more interesting, resonant stories. It gets embarrassing when people ask
“Where did you find this?” more often than not I have to reply, “not here.”
The British Broadcasting Company
(BBC) and Channel 4 both have training programs and internships for disabled
filmmakers. In 2002, the BBC presented What’s
Your Problem, a weeklong series of features, shorts, and documentaries with
provocative disability themes beyond the traditional clichés. Currently airing
on the BBC is The Shooting Party, a
reality series where disabled teens are run through the ringer as they learn
how to make movies of their own.
As the movies of the Farelly Bros., South
Park, and the success of comics like Josh Blue have demonstrated, daring to
break outside the mold when depicting disability can be wildly popular. So why
aren’t more studios doing it? Where are the initiatives from the
so-called major networks: NBC, CBS and ABC? Heck, I’ll even take PBS. Cable, anyone?
The guiding principle behind the
disability rights movement is “Nothing About Us Without
Us.” While artists have traditionally been on the frontlines of moving
and shaking the social order, in terms of both progressive portrayals of
disability and the hiring of disabled actors in the
A 2005 study on the employment of
performers with disabilities commissioned by the Screen Actors Guild revealed
the most frequently encountered obstacles to getting an audition were
stereotypical attitudes about disability and only being considered for limited
roles. Performers reported the more “obvious” or
“visible” the disability, the less likely the actor was to be hired
or taken seriously by the creative team.
Therein lies
the problem. People are less likely to hire a person with a disability if our
attitudes about disability are stuck in the paternalistic notions of the
1950s—that includes industry. But people are unlikely to change their
timeworn—and inaccurate—attitudes if they haven’t seen a more
realistic, resonant portrayal in the media they read, hear or watch. One
informs the other.
In May 2006, the New York Times Style Section recognized disTHIS! for “celebrating
unconventional portrayals of the disabled.” Nothing would make me happier
than to see our “unconventional” portrayals become the norm. What
say you,