Media plays a role in stereotyping disabled people (Barnes, 1992)
In the movie “Me Before You,” directed by Shia Sharrock and was originally a novel written by Jojo Moyes, ‘Will Traynor’ had a motorcycle incident at the beginning of the movie leading his to be paralyzed. Through the movie, he was portrayed as a man who no longer can do anything or seem to enjoy anything. He was stereotyped, according to Barnes’s (1992) points of stereotyping the disabled, as a person who no longer engage in social life and cannot participate in the community, a burden, and that they themselves are the barrier of their enjoyment of life. The movie ends with Will’s death with assisted suicide because he cannot bear his life more on a wheelchair.
In the movie “Little World,” directed by Marcel Barena, this image is flipped as Albert, who is paralyzed as well travels the world and tries all the new things in life and with only 20 euros.
References:
Barnes, C. (1992). Disabling Imagery and the Media. The British Council of Organisations of Disabled People. Retrieved from: http://www.media- diversity.org/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=601
Ginsburg, F. (2016). Cripping the Infrastructure: Disability, Media and “The New Normal.” Working Papers in Anthropology 2(3). Leuven: KU Leuven. Retrieved from: https://soc.kuleuven.be/immrc/files/wpa-2016-2-1-faye-ginsburg.pdf
Little World. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://reelabilities.org/film/little-world/
Xiaoyue Zhang 