One of the worst movies I have ever seen was a movie made by Crispin Glover named It Is Fine! Everything Is Fine. The movie is about a man with Cerebral Palsy, who inexplicably seduces women and then murders them. It was brutal to watch, but Glover needs to be commended in some way. The script was written by the actor who was the CP serial killer. Glover noted how he wanted to maintain the actor's vision and story because he felt that in the same way that Guillermo Del Toro could make a surreal parable with Pan's Labyrinth, the actor had every right to make a parable through the unique lens of being disabled. Glover then brought up the interesting point that we needed more disabled actors in cinema in the same way we need more minority actors in cinema. He even went as far as saying that he liked to cast disabled actors in roles that are strictly written for people without disabilities. By casting them in those roles, people look at the character first and the disability second. People in the audience asked him if he thought that was exploiting them, but he felt he was empowering them.
This story may be random, but it stuck with me because that was one of the first times I actually thought about the roles (or lack of roles) disabled people have in our pop culture. Of all people, having Crispin Glover recontextualize the role of disabled persons in our society makes me laugh, but I have to give credit where credit is due. By embracing disabled people without romanticizing who they are Crispin Glover has become some type of weird innovator, pushing the boundaries and making us rethink prescribed roles in life and in culture.
http://www.crispinglover.com/it_is_fine!.htm
http://www.crispinglover.com/it_is_fine!.htm
I completely agree with you that we need more actors with disabilities, especially playing the parts of people with disabilities.Frida Kahlo is one of my favorite artists, and became one of my heroes after I became disabled. I was thrilled when the movie was being made about her life, and I think Selma Hayek did a fairly good job in portraying a disability-- but there were several scenes especially romantic ones, where disability may be uncomfortable, she became less disabled portraying those scenes.this made me angry because it perpetuates the idea that people with disabilities do not have full and complete lives and are basically asexual-- not true.
ReplyDeleteI've also written letters to Fox, which is the channel that carries the popular TV show Glee. There is a character named Artie, who has a spinal cord injury, and the character is played by an able-bodied person. The producers say it's because they couldn't find a disabled actor to play the part, and I say that they didn't look hard enough...I personally know several people in chairs who can sing and dance.
Wow, that's an unexpected wake up call to see that it takes a movie graphically portraying an insensitive aspect of human nature to show how disabled people are more than just a disability. I've seen movies where the person with the disability isn't necessarily being portrayed as their disability being the foremost aspect of their identity, however they are almost always the side character. This in itself is making a statement. I like the director's comment about casting disabled people in roles that are meant for non-disalbled people and I would like to see more directors make movies that do this.
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