Disability representations

Bran from Game of thrones is disabled but has magical powers.

Jessica evans (1988) drawing on the works of a feuding other phchoanalysis,states :" disabled people are seen as childish dependant and underdeveloped and regarding as 'other' and are being punished by being excluded from ordinary life. thus popular images and rhetoric of disabled people abound which comfort us with people who are imperfect, helpless, un-attractive, disgusting, Shitty, dribbling." (Evans 1998)

As Cumberbatch and neurone (1992), Barnes(1992) and Longmore (1987) point out studies of the representations of disabled people and how they appear in a limited number of roles.

As Jordanova stated in 1989,
"The idea of otherness is complicated, but certain themes are common: the treatment of others as more like an object, something to be managed and possessed and as dangerous, wild, threatening. at the same time, the other becomes an entity whose very separateness inspires curiosity, invites inquiring knowledge."

Medhurst (1997) said that - " they are awful because they are not like us."

According to Evans "Old people in our culture are also segregated and treated as though they are waiting to die. There are close associations between dependancy, illness, dying and death. It seems that increasingly in our culture there are pressures that encourage a revision in infantile feelings which have to be madly defend against" - (1998)

Call girl ...

In this clip from secret diary of a call girl ... We see a woman, disabled man and a man in an apartment. The key events in this clip are, Man in a wheelchair entering flat with dad and a woman. Awkward moment happens with dad. He leaves. Girl and man make-out on bed. Switches to Dad outside... even more awkward.

 In the first shot is a medium long-shot of a woman's back. She is wearing a skimpy outfit and she is opening a door to her apartment. The music and sound is non-dijetic music from the opening credits. At the moment, there is no supporting or going against the theories in this shot because she is not disabled. However in the next shot, after she has opened the door, we can see a medium long shot of the young man in a wheelchair and this is how we can feel he is disabled. The angle of the shot is a high angle so we are looking down on him which could connote that he does not have the power in this shot. This shot distrust the theory of Jordanova because we are looking down on him which does not relate to the term she used,"-and possessed as dangerous, wild and threatening." He is actually seen as helpless and innocent which supports Medhurst's theory of, " they are awful because they are not like us."


In the next shot after this, we see a medium close up of the man in the wheelchair wheel himself into the apartment. This is done with no music at-all and it is still a high angle. However, the fact he is wheeling himself into the apartment disrupts the theories of Jordanova and Jessica Evans which say that disabled people are useless and cannot do anything for themselves. After this shot, We see the father behind the man in the wheelchair and he asks the dad to get the envelope out of his bag, this is to pay the lady. It is still a high angle shot which strongly still disrupts the theory of Jordanova but supports the theory of Evans which states that disabled people are imperfect. What the disabled character is wearing disrupts the Medhurst's theory of ' They are awful cause they are not like us.' because he is wearing normal clothes that everyone else would wear.