What's Eating Gilbert Grape- Review and Critique

In Nancy Mairs’ article for The New York Times, “Disability”, published in 1987, she expresses her distaste with the media's representation of handicapped people. Mairs, who struggled with multiple sclerosis herself, clearly and sharply conveys this disgust by stating, “I’m not, for instance, Ms. MS, a walking, talking embodiment of a chronic incurable degenerative disease.” (Mairs 13), and that she is actually, “the advertisers’ dream: Ms. Great American Consumer. And yet the advertisers, who determine nowadays who will get represented publicly and who will not, deny the existence of me and my kind absolutely”(Mairs 14). Mairs is greatly upset that disabled people are defined by their disabilities and, therefore, are underrepresented in public media. This might lead to one asking themselves, but why are they? And the answer, according to Mairs, is quite simple, “To depict disabled people in the ordinary activities of daily life is to admit that there is something ordinary about disability itself, that it may enter anybody’s life”(Mairs 14). Mairs concludes by pointing out how this effacement could have dangerous consequences for both disabled people and, as she called everyone else, TAPs (Temporarily Abled Persons) alike. Treating disabilities as an abnormal characteristic (as opposed to viewing them “as a normal characteristic, one that complicates but does not ruin human existence” (Mairs 15)) can cause one of these repercussions, as it makes the

In movies and television shows you rarely see and old main character or a disabled one. Most movies are about the young man or the young girl. It’s a rare occasion when the main character of a big movie is an elderly man or an elderly woman. It is as if our society is ashamed of our elderly and disabled. Society is obsessed with elixirs that make them appear younger. People are terrified of aging and looking old. Popular stereotypes that people attach to older humans are things like, ‘they’re old they won’t work as well, or she shouldn’t be on the road she’s ancient.’ Also people often say, ‘don’t hire them they’re old they will probably become ill and die soon.’ Furthermore, another group society likes to belittle are the disabled. A synonym of the word disabled is incapacitated which means deprived of strength and power. However, we shouldn’t view disabled people as people deprived of strength and power. Humans throughout history have always viewed people with disabilities in a negative manner. Certain stereotypes that people attach to disabled people are things such as, ‘living with a disabled person is sad and too much of a burden.’ Many humans assume that disabled people are angry at the world because of their disability. What society doesn’t stop to think about is that we are all going to become older and become a part of this so called disabled

The author claims that rather than treating someone different, it should be considered “as just another manifestation of human diversity.” Instead of allowing outside sources, such as the media, influence the judgmental mindset that causes us to look at people with disabilities differently, society should view people with disabled bodies and bodies with mere differences with body acceptance as part of a “manifestation of human

Do films accurately portray oppressions faced by those with disabilities? Or do they merely fluff the content to make the audience feel less guilty for society’s behavior? The American Minority Group Model of Disability, a social model, claims that people with disabilities are a minority group, are accorded less status than non-disabled citizens, are subjected to widespread discrimination, and are relentlessly misrepresented and actively stereotyped in the media (Shapiro, 1993; Zola, 1982). This is a statement that is imperative to keep at the forefront when viewing films incorporating characters with disabilities. The films, The Other Sister and I Am Sam are two examples that help unpack these discrepancies.

The evidence is that in ancient societies, disabled people were discriminated because they contributed less to the community and were considered as evil and lack of spirits. Many ancient works depict disabled people as the “punishment from God” for their physical impairment (7). Also, Norden points out that the Bible describes disability with prejudicial attitudes, as Jesus provides healing for men with disabilities instead of accepting them to be equal individuals. These portrayals in literature remain in the cultural context and are applied to the depiction of disabled characters in movies. The warrant of Norden’s discussion is that political and historical factors can shape the mainstream society’s assumptions of disabled people and form the stereotype that disabled people are isolated from the majority. These assumptions may increase future discrimination and isolation and conveys a sense of self-loathing among the audience with disabilities themselves. The warrant for this article is that political and

To do this, I subvert and defy the genre conventions typically found within disability narratives and the science fiction genre. Both disability narratives and the science fiction genre presume that disability is anindividual problem that must be corrected. The science fiction genre typically approaches disability as something to be cured and frames disabled bodies and minds as “imperfect.” When looking at disability in science fiction media, technology “is an essential component in cure narratives” and “is often the ‘fix-all’ for whatever ails or deforms the body” (Allan). The genre convention of using technology in order to cure and fix disability operates on the assumption thatdisability is something intrinsic to the individual.

"It 's always been my belief that media images of disability cause the disability community some of its most serious and persistent problems..." ~Prof Beth Haller, of media dis&dat

In addition, Longmore stated another disability stereotype that depicting disabled people as monsters express the notion that disability involves the loss of one’s humanity and the loss of self-control. So, when Alex went as far as to kidnap Ellen and attempting to kill Beth, it indicated Alex’s loss of humanity and self-control because what she did was beyond reason and restraint. Thus, Alex’s villainous, criminal deeds illustrated the notion that disability is associated with inhumanity. Also, this type of behavior further emphasize another myth Uwujawen described that mentally ill people are beyond help because the film overdramatize Alex’s mental illness by having her perform extreme, inhumane acts that should have Alex punish instead of

Asking Nussbaum what an alternative to the usual representation of disabled people (as vic-tims and narrative prosthesis) looks like, she answered: “not interpreted by an undisabled pro-tagonist”, “a character neither a victim or a villain”, “a character, that speaks to us directly”, “someone who is fully sexual” and a representation of “a disabled character, that is about something other than disability” (Lecture 2015. TC:00:25:40-00:26:13). Comparing these statements to her book Good Kings, Bad Kings (Nussbaum 2013) some questions, concerning especially the authors last statement, are arising. In her book the protagonists obviously speak to the reader directly and with their own voices, they are also merely “fully sexual” and most of the

Topic: The negative influence of the cruelty towards disability depicted in the Disney animated film The Hunchback of Notre Dame and its correlation with the long-standing prejudicial attitudes. The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Dir. Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise.

A man with a cane and dark sunglasses is seen reaching for a door to open it, there is a need for the man on the other side to hold it open for him while he goes through, though he has arms. A child in a wheelchair has been given the accommodation to be seated in front of his class, though he is not blind. An employee with cerebral palsy is given the freedom to work less hours, but does not want to as he is fully capable of doing his job. The appearance of people with a physical disability was not a choice but granted a cause of mishap. For example, the blind man was not born blind but was involved in an accident that caused him to be disconnected from the world visually. This causes this group of people to be stereotyped as not being able to be independent, have access to education and employment, and ultimately being labeled as “handicapped”.

According to Sarah N. Heiss, the media has developed into an essential gateway to accessing a collective’s perspective as well as sharing new ideas. It has “become an unavoidable part of our daily routines…with the average US citizen…see[ing] or hear[ing] 3000 advertisements daily”(1). Russell P. Shuttleworth and Devva Kasnitz support Heiss’ claim, stating that, “U.S. society’s current consumerist obsession with cultivating the body beautiful is a lifestyle orientation that harbors an implicit moral reading of illness and impairment-disability”(151). Media imaging and its portrayal of disability essentially serve the role of defining a society’s perception of disabled people (Matt Fraser). It has the tendency to base their content on assumptions,

Week 10 lecture explained inspiration porn as people with disabilities are considered an inspiration because they defy societal expectation; so, other find them amazing for completing utilitarian tasks. People with disabilities are undermined when they are also capable of performing the same task as able-bodied people. The fourth panel is a person pitying the disabled person and feeling the need to help her although she does not need it. The concept of pitying is portrayed because there is a stereotype that people with disabilities are helpless and pitiful for living with a disability; as a result, it disempower and reinforce stereotypes of people with disabilities that they are fighting against. The fifth panel portrayed a person suggesting surgery to improve wheelchair user’s life, representing the medical model of disability. The medical model places the problem on people with disability for their reduced quality of life and the solution is a medical or mechanical fix, in which Mitchell described as a method of repairing deviance through curing. Disabled people should not have to be “cured” to fit in as they are capable the way they

Most women cited feeling invisible in regards to age (p. 6,6,7,7,8,10,11), though others felt them being not seen was derived from their race (p.8), body type (p.9), as well as ability (p.9). Due to the fact that this notion is so commonly shared, invisibility has become a commonplace among women. This commonplace is detrimental to society because it enforces the idea of a traditional standard of beauty, that puts restrictions on age, race, bodies and does not show disabilities, imposed by the media. When the media does not show society an array of beauty standards, they reinforcing this commonplace of invisibility. The ideology of terministic screens also comes into play when referring to disability, the media has conditioned society to view disabled people as outside of society (p.6,7,8,10,11). People think their own personal experience gives them a clear reflection of a true reality, while in fact it is a reflection of their own reality, using this lens to see the world pushes those with disability further to the edges of society. In the comments, contributors cite their experience with disability and how using the the terministic screen to view people with disabilities as outside of society has harmed them. One mother cited how her son was coldly rejected from a private school (p.10), a daughter remembers the harsh reality of people gawking at her mother while shopping (p.11), and a coworker

I was intrigued from the content of our class discussion about disability represented in film. I recognized a lot of ideas formulated in my film analysis that played out on a wider scale and throughout a variety of movies. I was astounded to think that may of the tropes and stereotypical concepts presented often become a subconscious thought that I don't realize. One thought that ran through my mind was that I am in a position of privilege to not have the topic of disability be at the forefront of my reflections in the media. I cannot imagine how I would feel if I had a disability and was watching how a director falsely interpreted my life experiences and displayed in on screen for