Pittsburgh Arts, Regional Theatre, New Work, Producing, Copyright, Labor Unions,
New Products, Coping Skills, J-O-Bs...
Theatre industry news, University & School of Drama Announcements, plus occasional course support for
Carnegie Mellon School of Drama Faculty, Staff, Students, and Alumni.
CMU School of Drama
Saturday, July 16, 2016
Study Says 95 Percent of Disabled Characters Are Played by Able-Bodied Actors
jezebel.com: A new study revealed what we probably all would have guessed about how disabilities are represented in media: Rarely, and usually not by people actually living with those disabilities.
3 comments:
Celia HuttonJohns
said...
This article is enlightening. Of course people cast able actors to to play disabled characters because that’s how the industry works. It sucks, but it’s true. I think disabled actors should get a chance to play disabled characters. It’s like the issue of racism and sexism in the movie and television industry. Minority representation in the industry is suffering, and people are writing about it, but not that many are actually doing anything about it. Examples of this, specifically able bodied people playing disabled characters include Glee, The theory of everything, Xmen etc. The excuse normally is that at one point, the character has a dream, or a scene where they’re standing up. This is valid, but even better would be a way to work around the standing bit. The issue of disabled characters is lee heard of than the racial and gender tensions in the industry, but it needs the same kind of attention that the others get. It is the same principle, minorities being underrepresented in the film and TV industry.
Representation in the media can be really empowering to people of minorities, and although there are plenty of groups of people underrepresented, the disabled are represented even less frequently. it's incredibly important, however, that when they're represented, that they're depicted fairly and truthfully. If you pick a able bodied actor to represent someone physically disabled, they'll never understand exactly what their character goes through every moment of their lives, and you're taking away a job from someone who already struggles to find a part suitable for them. However, when you get into casting for a mentally disabled character, this can become much more difficult. Although representation is incredibly important, you need to be sure that you're mentally disabled actor understands what the character deals with but also is in a mental space where they can be easily directed. I think there's a huge amount of misrepresentation in the media, but I think that disabled people need to be especially empowered by accurate representation.
I honestly hate the overwhelming amount of able bodied actors who represent disabled people. Want a realistic-looking disabled character who can accurately represent the struggles of disability? Hire one! The actors are so terribly fake that it breaks the immersion of the show. More often than not they are representing issues or conflicts that no disabled person would really face or consider. If shows are so terribly against hiring actual disabled people, they should ponder hiring disabled writers at the very least to make for a realistic show that real disabled people could relate to. As a disabled person myself, it is disheartening, to say the least, to never see someone like me playing a character designed to embody me. The shallow problems they face either frustrate me or hurt me as I see prejudices and stereotypes projected on screen of what these people see people like me as in shows that were meant to be "empowering".
3 comments:
This article is enlightening. Of course people cast able actors to to play disabled characters because that’s how the industry works. It sucks, but it’s true. I think disabled actors should get a chance to play disabled characters. It’s like the issue of racism and sexism in the movie and television industry. Minority representation in the industry is suffering, and people are writing about it, but not that many are actually doing anything about it. Examples of this, specifically able bodied people playing disabled characters include Glee, The theory of everything, Xmen etc. The excuse normally is that at one point, the character has a dream, or a scene where they’re standing up. This is valid, but even better would be a way to work around the standing bit. The issue of disabled characters is lee heard of than the racial and gender tensions in the industry, but it needs the same kind of attention that the others get. It is the same principle, minorities being underrepresented in the film and TV industry.
Representation in the media can be really empowering to people of minorities, and although there are plenty of groups of people underrepresented, the disabled are represented even less frequently. it's incredibly important, however, that when they're represented, that they're depicted fairly and truthfully. If you pick a able bodied actor to represent someone physically disabled, they'll never understand exactly what their character goes through every moment of their lives, and you're taking away a job from someone who already struggles to find a part suitable for them. However, when you get into casting for a mentally disabled character, this can become much more difficult. Although representation is incredibly important, you need to be sure that you're mentally disabled actor understands what the character deals with but also is in a mental space where they can be easily directed. I think there's a huge amount of misrepresentation in the media, but I think that disabled people need to be especially empowered by accurate representation.
I honestly hate the overwhelming amount of able bodied actors who represent disabled people. Want a realistic-looking disabled character who can accurately represent the struggles of disability? Hire one! The actors are so terribly fake that it breaks the immersion of the show. More often than not they are representing issues or conflicts that no disabled person would really face or consider. If shows are so terribly against hiring actual disabled people, they should ponder hiring disabled writers at the very least to make for a realistic show that real disabled people could relate to. As a disabled person myself, it is disheartening, to say the least, to never see someone like me playing a character designed to embody me. The shallow problems they face either frustrate me or hurt me as I see prejudices and stereotypes projected on screen of what these people see people like me as in shows that were meant to be "empowering".
Post a Comment