TV vs. Reality
Discussing how disabilities are portrayed (or ignored) on the big and small screens.
Spooky season is here! There’s a chill in the air and nothing makes me shudder more than the film industry giving villains facial differences or casting non-disabled actors to play disabled roles. Frightening, indeed.
Last month, I went to see the latest Marvel release, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. It’s awesome to see another huge superhero film led by a non-white protagonist. However, there’s clearly still a lot of progress to be made at Disney HQ.
One of the film’s villains, Razor Fist, is an amputee with a machete for a right hand. Of course, I, like many others, enjoy these films for the excitement and escapism, so I don’t expect there to be a social lesson at every moment. But I still fail to understand why, in roles such as Razors Fists, whereby the character is an amputee in the comics, they cannot cast a disabled actor in the role.
Now, there’s nothing new here. We’ve seen non-disabled actors in disabled roles since the beginning of cinema. However, the last few years have seen a massive push towards inclusion for all marginalised communities. Somehow, it still seems like we are nowhere near the ideal situation. It’s as simple as casting disabled actors, of which there are many amazingly talented individuals, in disabled roles.
One of the most controversial missteps occurred last year, in which musician and songwriter Sia wrote and directed Music, a film starring her protegee Maddie Ziegler as a young girl on the autistic spectrum.
Sia took things to the next level by viciously hitting back at criticism around Ziegler’s casting over an autistic actor. I’m sure if you spend anytime online then you’ll have seen the outrage first hand, so the less time I spent writing about that abomination the better.
Even in the latest James Bond flick, No Time To Die, we see the producers clinging onto the age-old Bond trope of adding a token facial difference to every bad guy. This is something many people are actively campaigning against, including this fantastic piece by Changing Faces, a charity championing those with facial differences.
So, who’s doing it right?
Popular Netflix show Sex Education returned to our small screens this September for its third season. Disabled actor George Robinson reprised his role of Isaac, Maeve’s latest love interest. This casting is particularly significant for furthering the progression of disabled people in acting as Isaac is a very complex character. While his disability is mentioned briefly, he is still a fully fleshed-out person - his disability is a part of him, but not all of him. And this is something we don’t see often in disabled roles on the TV.
Pair that excellent writing with the open, honest and often a little embarrassing conversation about sex taking place in this show and you’ve got yourself a great show depicting young people from all walks of life.
I can only imagine what Robinson’s casting has meant for young disabled people, whether they’re aspiring actors themselves or simply looking for representation on the screen. Either way, it’s definitely a good thing and I look forward to seeing what he turns his attention to next.
What I’ve been up to this month
Other than watching (and ranting about) films and TV shows, I’ve been very busy this month. As a self-employed Accessibility Consultant, I work with organisations to help create more accessible online and offline spaces.
This month, I have:
Delivered accessibility training sessions for a large social housing organisation
Started working on an exciting project delivering accessible stock images
Relaunched this newsletter on Substack
Visited the fully accessible gym Gym Possible at Tumble Gymnastics and Activity Centre in Benton.
That’s all from me this month. Don’t forget to subscribe if you arrived here from social media, and please forward this email to anyone you think would enjoy it!
Cheers,
Dean
Further reading
Changing Faces urge James Bond franchise to stop facial disfigurements for villains | The Herald
Sex Education: Isaac actor George Robinson gets intimate about disability