{"id":7583,"date":"2017-07-10T18:52:40","date_gmt":"2017-07-10T22:52:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/crookedscoreboard.com\/?p=7583"},"modified":"2018-06-28T13:35:47","modified_gmt":"2018-06-28T17:35:47","slug":"disabled-actors-playing-disabled-characters-what-a-novel-idea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/disabled-actors-playing-disabled-characters-what-a-novel-idea\/","title":{"rendered":"Disabled Actors Playing Disabled Characters? What a Novel Idea!"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s easy to criticize Hollywood decision-makers for how often they take the easy way out, whether it\u2019s putting white Englishmen in their ancient Egyptian epics or overloading films with men and including one woman. But where they often get a litany of passes is the casting of able-bodied actors to play disabled characters. I complain about it every time the calendar turns to award season, so I\u2019ve already started my yearly venting on Twitter. <\/span><\/p>\n

But, again, it\u2019s too simple just to criticize. What about the times Hollywood gets it right and actually casts disabled people to play disabled characters? It\u2019s not nearly as common as it should be, but it happens. Leveling the playing field can do a lot toward helping disabled representation achieve parity and promote a more nuanced look at people different from the average Joe.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m often asked why movies lack disabled actors. The answers are myriad but what it boils down to is good old-fashioned shortsightedness. William H. Macy said in the 2013 documentary CinemAbility<\/i> that he didn\u2019t include disabled people in a script he wrote because his mind never even thought to go there. Writing 101\u2019s main rule is \u201cwrite what you know,\u201d and those holding the pens \u2014 whether it be for the script or signing the contracts \u2014 are, more often than not, able-bodied. <\/span><\/p>\n

Criticisms like this are no different than those lobbed at directors for whitewashing a feature, and yet I\u2019m often given a slew of excuses about studios\u2019 avoidance of disabled representation. The same excuses are used to justify a lack of diversity in race or gender \u2014 \u201cThe studio obviously wanted a name,\u201d \u201cThe need for awards is too high.\u201d The one I hear most often is \u201cWell, maybe there weren\u2019t any disabled actors who auditioned.\u201d Outside of being laughably stupid, comments like these go back to my initial critique: if you aren\u2019t taking the time to learn about disabled actors, you\u2019re ignoring a key facet of Hollywood. There are numerous disabled actors working in Hollywood, and it\u2019s unfortunate I can\u2019t spotlight all of them. But let\u2019s look at a few prominent stars who further the discussion of the proper usage of disability.<\/span><\/p>\n

The most recent example is Edgar Wright\u2019s casting of CJ Jones as Ansel Elgort\u2019s deaf foster father, Joe, in Baby Driver<\/i>. Deaf actors aren\u2019t rare; actress Marlee Matlin won an Academy Award for 1986\u2019s Children of a Lesser God<\/i>, and young actress Aryana Engineer captured attention in the 2009 horror film Orphan<\/i>. But both of those movies highlighted the character\u2019s disability for crucial plot points. With Jones and the character of Joe, his deafness isn\u2019t what sells the story, it\u2019s what slyly dominates it. Wipe away the car chases, the heist atmosphere, and the soundtrack, and you have the story of how integral sound and communication are and what happens when those are removed. Baby and Joe speak strictly in sign language. Joe \u201clistens\u201d to music via the speaker vibrations. These moments hold more resonance in the film than Baby\u2019s tinnitus, which tends to fall more into the gimmicky presentation of disability to utilize a hip soundtrack.<\/span><\/p>\n

With Joe, he\u2019s supportive but not a doormat; he knows exactly what Baby is doing, and later politely encourages him to get off his ass and find a real job. (Spoilers follow.)<\/em><\/strong> And though Joe is often used as a pawn to threaten Baby, he makes it through to the end. Honestly, that\u2019s the most surprising element of how Wright uses disability, letting the character exist when all is said and done. (When I praised Jones and the character on Twitter I received comments about how happy people were that he didn\u2019t die!) Too often disabled characters are the victims whose death is inevitable; the Tiny Tim meant to galvanize the protagonist into action. Baby wants to protect Joe, but doesn\u2019t need the added motivation of avenging a dead loved one to become the hero. He wants to protect the people in his life because he loves them, Joe included. Joe isn\u2019t a gimmicky character; he\u2019s a man who exists and is allowed to have a life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>If it\u2019s rare to see disabled actors, it\u2019s rarer to see them live a life that passes for normal like Joe does. Harold Russell\u2019s Homer Parrish in The Best Years of Our Lives<\/i> (1946) remains one of my favorite examples of how vital disabled actors are to accurately portraying disabled characters. Director William Wyler discovered Russell in an Army training video about disabled soldiers. Russell gave his own perspective on the way his character would respond to certain events, and also provided tips on how other servicemen would treat him in real-life situations. Case in point, Dana Andrews and Fredric March\u2019s characters make sure to grip Homer by his wrist during a handshake, as opposed to the hooks he has for hands. This would fly over the heads of most able-bodied audiences, but to those who have prostheses, especially coming out of WWII, it\u2019s an attempt to present something authentic and to understand them as humans. <\/span><\/p>\n

Homer is later shown struggling to acclimate to daily life and conform to a world that often isn\u2019t accessible. He struggles with self-doubt and worries his girl Wilma (Cathy O\u2019Donnell) will find him to be a burden. All of these aren\u2019t just relatable to disabled people, but take on an added poignancy; it\u2019s easy to see that Russell himself felt those feelings. Homer never contemplates ending his life and is even allowed to have a shot at romance \u2014 don\u2019t get me started at how rare it is to see disabled people be sexual.<\/span><\/p>\n

But like the majority of disabled films today, Hollywood tends to focus on the sudden onset of disability, as opposed to those disabled by birth. Russell and Susan Peters, one of the few actresses of the studio era to work after being disabled in a hunting accident, worked in films to show the struggles of disability as it relates to able-bodied people (in Russell\u2019s case) or the horrors of being disabled in general (such as with Peters, whose 1948 film Sign of the Ram<\/i> shows disabled people as controlling and scheming). Hollywood wants to cater to the widest audience possible, and this need to relate is often manifested by showing disability as something to fear. It\u2019s why, once again, CJ Jones in Baby Driver<\/i> is almost unique. There\u2019s nothing to fear about him or his condition; it\u2019s a facet of his life that he and Baby deal with, seemingly well before the advent of crime that wracks the film. <\/span><\/p>\n

Oddly enough, the TV landscape is becoming more progressive when it comes to disabilities, with ABC\u2019s Speechless<\/i> revolving around a family with a disabled child, and past examples like Breaking Bad<\/i> having a disabled actor in a supporting role. Disabled actors exist. It is simply up to Hollywood to utilize them. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Kristen Lopez<\/a> drives babies in Sacramento.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s easy to criticize Hollywood decision-makers for how often they take the easy way out, whether it\u2019s putting white Englishmen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":467,"featured_media":7766,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[337,1381,1400],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-movies","category-on-the-marquee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/467"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}