Jayda Venable

TUMBLR POST 10

I cannot believe this is our last and final Tumblr post!  Although I am going to write mini paper 4 over The King’s Speech, I am going to dedicate this final post to Mad Max: Fury Road because Furiosa deserves some recognition.  After reading Gary’s post about how the film normalizes disability for the protagonists, I started to think about the ways in which the film critiques the stereotypical representations of disability (Immortan Joe, the war lords, and citizens) through Furiosa (a character with a prosthetic arm).  Furiosa acts as the “disabled counterpart” to the “healthy corporeal” of the breeders’ escape plot (Mitchell 234).  While Immortan Joe and his family portray disability as a deformed, grotesque manifestation of greed, tyranny, and moral corruption, Furiosa represents disability through a seemingly cavalier lens.  Once the viewer is made aware of her prosthetic arm, not much more attention is called to it.  Her disability does not hinder her physical ability and this is emphasized through her kick-ass persona.  It is ironic, however, that the film zooms in to her prosthetic arm or her amputated arm to draw the viewer’s attention and treat it as an “object of fascination” but never explicitly addresses it as an issue.  In fact, it seems to just add to her character’s unanticipated capabilities (Mitchell 229).  Furiosa’s character represents disability empowerment and the film places emphasis on her character to reconstruct the ideology of ability and the expectations of bodily form in relation to function.  

TUMBLR POST 9

This weekend Kathryne and I saw the new Dr. Strange film and it made me think about the various superheros that arise from a disability.  I came across this article titled “With great power comes great disability” by Kathleen Hawkins, and she discusses 10 of the top superheros that are disabled.  For example, Daredevil is blind, Iron Man has a heart condition, and Professor X is paraplegic.  These are just a few of the many disabled characters that have become superheros throughout comics, which reminds me of Siebers’ chapter in the DSR that discusses how the ideology of ability turns disability into an advantage by making disability a “gateway to special abilities” (280).  This is a narrative prosthesis that Dr. Strange and many other comics take advantage of.  Dr. Strange begins by portraying Strange as an impeccable neurosurgeon with amazingly skillful hands, but shortly into the film he gets into a terrible car accident which completely vanquishes his ability to perform as a doctor.  Mitchell and Snyder argue in the chapter “Narrative Prosthesis” that disability “provides the riddle in need of a narrative solution” (232).  In this case, the film sets up Dr. Strange to have an inevitable desire to repair his hands in order to overcome his disability and be the person he once was.  However, if his hands were never mangled, Dr. Strange would have never become a superhero.  In fact, his disability led to his special ability or super-ability.  It is interesting to notice how many superheros, like Dr. Strange, follow this similar script.  

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-ouch-27883836

TUMBLR POST 8

Last week we discussed Longmore’s article “Screening Stereotypes” which explains how villains are stereotypically physically disabled, grotesque, or monstrous.  This made me think of the 2008 Batman film The Dark Knight.  Actor Aaron Eckhart plays character Harvey Dent, a district attorney in Gotham who believes in justice and heroism.  He states the famous line, “You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”  This is ironic in the film because Harvey Dent sets out to be heroic and save the city of Gotham from the Joker.  However, Batman chooses to save Dent’s life instead of Rachel’s in the midst of an explosion so he can, in fact, save the city and be the hero.  Unfortunately, as a result of the explosion, Dent’s face gets half burned off and he soon becomes the villain he alluded to earlier in the film.  Longmore argues that media portrays villainy as “the inevitable consequence of a serious physical impairment that prevents normal functioning, normal relationships, and normal productivity” (136).  This is upheld through Harvey Dent’s character because after he loses half his face, he is no longer in search for justice, he is no longer trying to be a hero. It’s interesting to see the patterns in film and literature where villains are overwhelmingly physically impaired and morphed into a monstrous creature that loses his humanity.  This film sets up the representation that evil actions are a direct result of Dent’s physical impairment and aligns with the stereotypical villain. 

TUMBLR POST 7

Let me just open with watching Finding Nemo through Siebers’ theoretical lens of the ideology of ability was eye opening, but picking scenes apart in analyzing how the ideology of ability is reinforced in Finding Nemo has forever ruined the fun-filled childrens film for me.  The concept of crip futurity is a common theme that presents itself in both Finding Nemo and in Jojo Moyes’ Me Before You.  The ideology of ability implies that “disability can be overcome through will power or acts of the imagination.  It is not real but imaginary” (Siebers 280).  This is illustrated in Finding Nemo through Nemo’s will power as he repeatedly attempts to physically show his unsupportive father, Marlin, how his lucky fin does not affect his ability as Chris stated in his Tumblr post.  In this example, Marlin tells Nemo that he cannot do certain things because of his disability and Nemo proves him wrong.  However, in Me Before You, Will’s parents and Louisa continuously try to prove to him through acts of imagination that he can overcome this phase in his life where he no longer wants to live by taking him on trips and showing him there’s still a life that he can have even if it is not the life he had planned.  But the novel still concludes with Will’s death, so what does this say about crip futurity?  Maybe it highlights the reality of disability and the physical pain that Will had to endure on a daily basis.  Or maybe it reinforces the ideology of ability by sacrificing his own life in order for Louisa to live her own able-bodied life.  This is something I am thinking about confronting in my Mini Paper 3.  

POST 6

As we have continued our class discussion over the ideology of ableism, I decided to search the internet for “ableism in schools”.   I came across an article in the Everyday Feminism Magazine entitled “4 Ways Ableism in Elementary School Left Me Completely Traumatized” by Caley and Creigh Farinas.  This article is mainly about a 22 year old, college-graduate who reflected on the ways in which the education institution enabled ableism as she was growing up (it says elementary school in the title, but there are quotes throughout the article that are from middle-high school as well; it also doesn’t distinguish which of the two authors is the narrator of the article).   Farinas (2016) grew up with dysgraphia, ADHD, and autism and explains in detail 4 ways the education system discriminated against her because of her variabilities.  The 4 ways are: 1). The School Staff Ignored, Encouraged, or Participated in My Bullying; 2). The School Staff Fought Against Giving Me Accommodations; 3). They Acted Like I Was Incompetent Because I’m Disabled; and 4). They Saw Nothing But My Weaknesses.  This article is packed with first-hand experiences that Farinas had to endure while going to school with variabilities.  She explains that it was assumed that she and other disabled student could not succeed in Advanced Placement classes and that this decision was made not based off of her grades but her behavior in class (calling out of turn, constant movement – Symptoms of ADHD and autism).  This relates to one of the bullet points in the Siebers’ chapter, “Ability is the supreme indicator of value when judging human actions, conditions, thoughts, goals, intentions, and desires” (280).  The education system solely relied on Farinas variablities to dictate her education and future.  Farinas concludes the article with “Treat your disabled students like, well, your students” and encourages teachers to create a classroom environment away from ableism to create equal opportunities to learn for all students.  This is an important issue because the education system is supposed to encourage and support students to improve their skills and skills rather than focus on childrens’ weaknesses.  

http://everydayfeminism.com/2016/04/ableism-elementary-school/ 

WEEK 5

This last week’s class over Tobin Siebers’ essay “Disability and the Theory of Complex Embodiment” in correlation to the JoJo Meyers’ novel Me Before You got me thinking about one of the bullet points regarding the ideology of ability.  “It is better to be dead than disabled” (Siebers 280). The fact that this is an attitude that people wholly believe based on social constructions of ability and able-bodiedness is depressing.  This theme is upheld in the Me Before You through the character Will Traynor, a young man who has been paralyzed and is now quadriplegic due to a motorcycle accident.  As a result of his accident, Will no longer wants to live under his current conditions, he no longer wants to enjoy the life that he has been left with.  In a sense, this novel upholds this negative connotation that is associated with disability.   As I browsed the internet looking for topics of interest for this Tumblr post, I came across the article, “Disability Oppression” by Susan Nussbaum.  In her discussion of disability and oppression, she states briefly that when Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana, “people in nursing homes in New Orleans were simply euthanized.”  I have never thought about something like this happening.  In Will Traynor’s case, it was his decision, but it was a very different decision in the case of Katrina and the people in the nursing homes.  It is so easy to blame Will for not trying to adapt and not wanting to live if he could not do the exciting, daring things he did before the accident.  But what if the decision is not in the hands of the oppressed?  Or worse, what if the decision was in the hands of the oppressor?  I am not saying that the decision made in new Orleans was good or bad, I honestly don’t know how to feel about it, but it raises the question of WHAT IF.  What if the ideology of ability that Siebers discusses grows into a slippery slope that eventually normalizes euthanasia.  Siebers explains that a common response to disability is to “try to erase any signs of change, to wish to return the body magically to a past era of supposed perfection, to insist that the body has no value as human variation if it is not flawless” (290).  This reaction is emphasized through Will Traynor.  But again, I pose the question of what if this decision was no longer in the hands of those like Will Traynor, who experience it first-hand and live through it, those who want to die with dignity.  What if it was later forced upon people with disabilities.  Personally, I see the line between euthanasia and murder, but I do think [however] that euthanasia in itself can be a slippery slope, especially when society believes that it is better to be dead than disabled.            

WEEK 4

http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/cara-delevingne-says-her-sexuality-is-not-a-phase-2015167 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/cara-delevingne-supermodel-sexuality_us_579fa6b4e4b0693164c227e5 Throughout class this last week, we have been discussing compulsory heterosexuality in regards to compulsory able-bodiedness.  In class we came up with arguments that McRuer is trying to make in his chapter, “Compulsory Able-Bodiedness and Queer/Disabled Existence”.  According to McRuer, compulsory heterosexuality and compulsory able-bodiedness rely heavily on homosexuality and disability by enforcing that there is a norm and an opposite to that norm.  McRuer defines heterosexuality according to the Oxford dictionary as “pertaining to or characterized by the normal relations of the sexes; opp. to homosexual” (370).  This demonstrates that heterosexuality is defined as the opposite of homosexuality.  And therefore, to create a norm, there must be a reliance on a deviation of the norm.   Cara Delevingne is a 22 year-old model who is an ideal character of a white able-bodied norm, someone who [according to society] young girls should desire to look like, however, she has been telling interviewers that she is in love with her girlfriend.  Her parents try to understand her relationship by stating that they think that girls are just a phase for Cara, while Cara replies “My sexuality is not a phase, I am who I am” (Marquina 2015).  Cara also states, “I’m obviously in love, so if people want to say I’m gay, that’s great.  But we’re all liquid – we change, we grow” (Nichols 2016).  I love this last part, about being liquid, changing, and growing.  This is the concept with identities.  We all change; we aren’t solid fixtures that remain constant throughout our existence.  The point is that society has the incessant need to label people as gay or straight, white or colored, able or disabled.  Cara is an example of someone who is assumed to fit in all “normal” categories, but proudly does not.  

WEEK 3

@jasonsfarr

After discussing the concept of intersectionality in regards to “Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom”, it is evident that one of the main intersections of identity are between race and disability.  As Dr. Farr mentioned in class, the novel Embodied Avatars discusses the notion of identity being performative and thus, a “fleeting second self”.  This can be applied metaphorically and literally to Ellen Craft as she physically disguises herself as an impaired white male in order to escape from the bonds of slavery with her husband, William.  Ellen craft embodies this idea of performing new identities in order to flee to the free states.  She takes on the role of a deaf white man, with bandages around his head and arm, and glasses on his face.  Although, Ellen Craft is the one who is assuming this role, William still performs being a slave to his master even when he is given many opportunities to confide in other slaves or run away with the suggestion of abolitionists.  When they are pulled aside before their last train ride into Philadelphia and they are informed that he (Ellen) may not bring his slave across state lines, it drew the attention of other passengers because “they thought my master was a slaveholder and an invalid gentlemen, and therefore it was wrong to detain him” (72).  It was because of their clever idea to perform their identity as an impaired slaveholder and his slave that got them through the thousand miles into freedom.  Together, William and Ellen Craft flee in their roles of their second selves.  

This idea of identity poses the question of what is one’s identity.  What constitutes as identity?  According to Erevelles and Minear, there is an issue with seeing identity as any ONE thing.  They argue that part of the problem of “relying on a static and singular notion for being or of identity is that the single characteristic that is foregrounded (female or black) is expected to explain all of the other life experiences of the individual or group” (356).  Identities change and are constantly evolving.  For example, when Ellen Craft decided to assume the role of being deaf when another man on the train was trying to engage in conversation in order to keep herself from being discovered (Craft 44).  Her identity changed based on the environment she was in at the time.  However, this poses the assumption that people who are impaired or a person of color should adapt their identity based on the harsh environment that is encircling them.  Society should not dictate how a person expresses their identity, and based on the concept of intersectionality, there is no single notion of identity.  People are made up of different identities and society should encourage difference instead of assuming that everyone desires to be a part of a synonymous norm.  

WEEK 2

@jasonsfarr

In class we discussed the concept of representation in relation to disabled individuals and how they are represented in society, as well as, in media and film.  It was noted that characters in film with a disability are typically played by an able-bodied actor.  This is not the case for American actor, Edward Barbanell, who is best known for his role as Billy in the film “The Ringer” alongside Johnny Knoxville. This film uses an actor with an actual impairment, Barbanell, who was born with Down Syndrome.  This concept of representation in media and film runs right alongside Malin’s post about RJ Mitte because “The Ringer” is one of the few films or shows that has provided an accurate representation of a character with an impairment by having Barbanell as an actor who is playing a role of a person with a disability competing in the Special Olympics.  Shapiro’s article, “Tiny Tims, Supercrips, and the End of Pity”, discusses this concept of representation in regards to the stereotypical view of being a person with an impairment who is a sight to be pitied.  He states that “many disabled people are rejecting the “stigma” that there is something sad or to be ashamed of” (20).  Barbanell embraces his identity and impairment and one of his famous quotes is, “Don’t call us people with disabilities… We have DIFFabilities!”  This plays into the theme of class of variability and being different not disabled.  People with impairments still have abilities.  Going back to Malin’s post and the quote that she used stating that people are now taking pride in their disabilities (Shapiro 20), Barbanell is doing exactly that by not allowing society to pity him.  This concept of representation is important in disability studies so that society can become well-informed of the constructs or stigmas that some may be consciously or unconsciously imposing.