This is a
write up of our discussion night, below there may be comments which people may
disagree with, and if so, please do comment, but don’t attack anyone for their
opinions as this is a safe space for everyone to share their opinions,
controversial or not,
Nic
On Saturday
we had a discussion night about disabilities and their representation, or lack
thereof, in Science Fiction and Fantasy. There were many good points raised by
our members which will be documented below. The first slide we discussed was the
definition of what a disability is. Dan took quotes directly from sources like
WHO.
As the
discussion went on, there were many points made about how disabilities are
often used as a main plot point rather than just an addition to create character
depth. Connor even went as far as to say that a disability is ‘often used as a
cop out’ by writers in order to explain their own lack of sufficient writing. Tanya
agreed and stated that in many shows that ‘all the character development is that
the character has a disability’.
We discussed
how often disabilities are used as tokens just to show that the writers and
producers are being inclusive, and this often leads to pushing harmful
narratives as most of the people writing about disabilities are not themselves
disabled so they often adhere to stereotypes which are harmful and most of the
time just incorrect. They also tend to stick to tropes such as being cured of
their disability at the end of the show. Another trope that they tend to stick
to is that someone who has a disability has heightened other senses, for example
blind seers. ‘Heightened senses is just as bad representation as having someone
who has a disability being shown as inept’ – Bill.
When disabled
children are witness to characters who need to be ‘fixed’ or ‘cured’ then often
it makes them feel uncomfortable in their own disabilities. When they see
characters who have disabilities then it makes them feel good about themselves
and like they can do everything that able bodied people can do. An example of
this is Doctor Strange. At the beginning of the film he is searching for a cure
for his disability but by the end of the film he has accepted that he is disabled
and it would be better for him to remain as such rather than searching for something
that is possibly unattainable.
When on the
topic of good representation there is a significant lack of characters who are
written correctly. There are examples of course, shows with good representation
include Game of Thrones and Legend of Korra/Avatar the Last Airbender However a lot of good representation
is pushed for by actors rather than writers. One such actor is Peter Dinklage. He
refuses to be cast into stereotypical roles, and rather being cast for his
acting abilities rather than for his appearance.
In conclusion,
there is a significant lack of good representation of physical disabilities in
the genre of Science Fiction and Fantasy. The level of representation is increasing
however there is more that we could all do, as fans we could push writers and producers
into writing correctly and making better casting choices,
Nic
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