Disability and media representation re visited.
So this is going to
be a really interesting post to write as I have covered the topic before but it
is a very complex argument to be had around disability and representation in
the media. I have the blog post on what is media, but for this post, I am going
to narrow it down to TV, books, and podcasts.
This is so by establishing it as entertainment media we see that people are looking
for diverse content but what about the disabled community do we see ourselves
represented on screen the answer is not really. We see ourselves presented
in a very inaccurate way and at times as a trope being inspiration porn the
term that was coined by Stella Young, [i]
and it is at times hard for people's mental health as this overcoming and warm and fuzzy, and easy to
share content is easy but we don’t see the struggles of disability represented
well I know that some dated shows were ahead of their time.
Then we get into the News media that is now inextricably
linked to politics and we are seeing the way that they cover disability and disability
schemes as a “burden,” this harms people with a disability in a compounded way
in the way that they see that when we
see the reality of inspiration porn people are faced with the complex reality of
disability and that many people with disabilities have done amazing things and
have gone unrecognized for it, as people want that easy to share content but
don’t want to deal with the NDIS blow out or have accessibility in workplaces
or to have the deep and messy stories of disability shared, and this under-representation harms people in not having the role models to look up to.
Often the person is in a way “punished by society for being
disabled as we for so long have equated disability as being a bad thing and
something to be avoided being disabled was the worst thing that could happen to
someone and I will admit with social media we have some amazing advocates and
Youtubers that talk about the reality of being disabled, in a society where productivity
is something to be proud of, but it doesn’t tell the whole story and every life
has meaning and worth. This is the complex argument around diversity and
inclusion as we are now routinely seeing gay and lesbian people represented on screens and having whole
shows around this theme like Shits creek
[ii]
and Grace and Franky, so we as a global
society have come to a long way post-Hayes code and the Green book for the BBC, [iii]
as well as Australia having the ACMA code that is updated regularly to reflect community acceptability.
As well as what was portrayed on screen had to be palatable to advertisers as well as production companies as they need to get a return on their investment and if the program was put on free to the air we see that the product is you, and this is where things get tricky with streaming services as people can watch more diverse content without advertising and this is complex in a way, that we haven’t seen before as it then frees production houses to do what they want to do or for the streaming provider to make series just for there platform. So if I said Next flix I equate that with Stranger things, Disney plus the Mandalorian, and if I say Youtube it would completely depend on what and who you watched but there are great disabled creators out there.
However these codes put a lot of pressure on producers to have
“family-friendly content” as advertisers like it, and disability won’t sell unless it is
packaged as the inspiration porn or furthers the plot line and even [iv]
Kevin Michael McHale who played Arty in Glee
has said he wouldn’t go back to the role if they did a glee reboot because this is taking away opportunities for disabled actors. I understand
where he is coming from but Acting is not an easy job and it might be better to
hire consultants that have the lived experience of disability to show the able-bodied
actors how to portray the role well, as productions run on very tight time schedules
and this can be interesting in how someone is cast.
I will use Shadowhunters
as a perfect example because Both Harry Shum jr and Matthew Daddario
are married to women with children and they played gay characters but where are
you going to get someone who looks like how magus is portrayed in the source material
the books by Cassandra Clare. [v] So magus is an immortal warlock that had
parents that lived in the Dutch east indies, ( modern-day
Indonesia.) and has cat-like eyes as his mark is cat eyes and
no belly button, so where are you going to get an actor who fits the physical description
and given that the warlocks magic is quite danced like you are going to need an actor who can dance or a dancer that can learn to act so, in the movie it was Godfry Gao in
the TV series it was Harry Shum jr. they fitted the bill in a very unique way
and we see that tragedy struck when Godfrey
Gao was supposed to reprise the role from the Movie to the TV series but died
filming a reality TV show. So it was
Harry Shum jr that stepped into the role and made it his own.
Now we are seeing that YouTube, podcasting, and other forms
of digital media are changing the game and that the mainstream media a
struggling to catch up but there will always be a marketplace for TV and
movies as it is more an experience than anything else as I fondly remember pre covid
going to the movies with friends and family and seeing modern Austral represented
on screen through movies like the women in black and this is a historical piece
but is true to the snapshot of Australia at the time.
We also had saving Mr banks that showed past Australia
as well but, this is where we see that diverse representation stops and we see
that disability representation isn’t perceived by people who are championing
inclusion, to be a priority as we see that the news media portrays us as a
burden to society so why would we be a priority to those who have no interest in
seeing disability represented on screens, but there is a market for it as we
have seen from the queer community embracing shits creek and even the shadow
hunters fandom embracing the Malec ship. For those of you new to internet dialects
this is where we see that two characters have an obvious arc as ending up as a
couple but there is obvious drama put in the way to keep the show alive as a
side note the relationship between Alec and Magus was the healthiest on the
show and wasn’t put in a box it was portrayed as a relationship and the actors received
many awards for the show, and it launched many “young actors,” as well. [vi]
In Magnus, we did see a great representation of trauma and I
have a whole series of posts on Magnus, and trauma as well in mentioning podcasts
and I am behind on listening due to my life being a bit hectic at the moment we
see that it despite being set in the future, we see that it deals with the very
tricky subject of epigenetics and what would happen if a parent could choose
there kids and what is the unintended consequences, of this and how would it
happen if a clone got jealous of there “source,” and this is such an interesting
concept as it goes into the heart of disability as often there is a reverse
type of jealousy towards people who have an NDIS package, or don’t have the
capacity to work and have time on there hands but this shows a distinct lack of
understanding of disability, as I would love to be able to work and to not have
to live on such an extreme budget like many people who are on a govement pension
have to, as we are less likely to get
employment in the open market and supported employment pays very little.
So this is where media representation is important as many
people are starting up a micro business with support workers or even starting
like me YouTube and blogs to talk about the lived experience and I hope to
see changes in how disability is represented.
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