https://www.artsparktx.org/2021/06/24/discussing-disabilities-in-media/ Fri, 25 Jun 2021 21:20:51 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.3 https://www.artsparktx.org/2021/06/24/discussing-disabilities-in-media/#comment-1561 Fri, 25 Jun 2021 21:20:51 +0000 https://www.artsparktx.org/?p=9209#comment-1561 Thank you for this much needed perspective, Lindsay! I had not considered the disconnect between disabled characters cast as villains and the reality that disabled people are more commonly victims, not perpetrators, of violence. Centering individuals with disabilities and other differences in the role of protagonist is a huge improvement in representation. While I enjoyed both Hush and A Quiet Place, I think A Quiet Place set the bar of representation even higher in its authentic casting of Millicent Simmonds, an actress who is actually Deaf and communicates in ASL. Hush, on the other hand, cast a hearing actress and seemed to exploit a mainstream audience’s fear of being deaf to a greater extent. For example, in Hush, deafness is treated more as a weakness, depriving the protagonist of the ability to recognize (hear) the killer, while in A Quiet Place, the character’s deafness is treated with more nuance: she becomes fearless by not hearing the monsters but is also disadvantaged by her lack of awareness of her own noises that may lure them to attack her. I very much agree with your point that we can enjoy these films even as we critique them!

]]>