Introduction
In today’s world, it is essential to remind individuals that words are important. How people discuss or characterize someone may completely alter how they are seen. How humans are depicted in popular media is a topic discussed less often despite its equal significance. Disability depiction in fictional personalities shapes society’s daily perceptions of those with disability.
Through more truthful depictions in film and popular culture, the stigma around disability may begin to diminish. The below discussion aims to show that pop culture reinforces stereotypes around disability by referring to the examples of Me Before You and The Ringer.
Me Before You
Characters with impairments in commercial movies are either shown to be sad and melancholy, or their only purpose in the story is to deepen the plot of the main character, which is often able-bodied. There are several instances of this, one of which is the film Me Before You. It tells the story of an eccentric lady who becomes the caregiver (and romantic interest) of a rich banker who is paralyzed after an accident (Sharrock). Because the affluent banker suffers from a disability, he is presented as a resentful and dissatisfied guy. Thus, this sends the message that disabled individuals are incapable of enjoying happy and prosperous lives.
The Ringer
Another illustration of this is the movie The Ringer, starring Johnny Knoxville as a person who is able-bodied and ordinarily developing but pretends to be a participant in the Special Olympics so that he may use the cash prize to repay a debt. This comedy attempts to delight the audience by using offensive humor and relying on preconceived notions about persons who have impairments (Blaustein).
The Ringer has garnered appreciation for their efforts to ensure that every character is authentically played by an actor who, in real life, has a condition. This is in spite of the fact that the narrative in the movie may not be very remarkable. Hence, the picture is likely to insult disabled people, as well as confuse the viewer, who may understand the message as ‘disability is not a severe problem at all.’
Comparison
Given the explored aspects above, it seems reasonable to state that the examples of Me Before You and The Ringer correspond with each other in terms of reinforcing common stereotypes around disabilities. The former movie tends to depict the issue of disability from the perspective of hardships that the affected individuals face. The audience may mistakenly suggest that disabled people have no chance for happiness – especially taking into account the movie’s ending.
The Ringer, in turn, shows the problem through the lens of offensive humor. This is likely to cause ambiguity that disabled persons are someone who always has fun or, what is worse, are ones of whom others should make fun. It seems apparent that the films represent two different extremes in terms of visualizing the theme. However, the result is the same – the audience may be confused and misinterpret the message, which leads to maintaining the mentioned stereotypes. Thus, it is essential to reconsider the approach used in the popular industry within the scope of depicting people with disabilities.
Conclusion
To conclude, the above discussion was dedicated to the issue of depicting the issue of disability in the framework of popular culture. The examples were extracted from the movies Me Before You and The Ringer. It was found that these films show the problem from inappropriate perspectives causing an exact extent of ambiguity. The pivotal assumption that was proved is that such an approach leads to reinforcing stereotypes around disability.
Works Cited
Me Before You. Directed by Thea Sharrock. New Line Cinema, 2016.
The Ringer. Directed by Barry Blaustein, Conundrum Entertainment, 2005.