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I wish there were more movies/shows with characters that have a disability

Discussion in 'Entertainment and Technology' started by WillowMaiden, Dec 8, 2013.

  1. WillowMaiden

    WillowMaiden Guest

    Okay, so real quick, I've been thinking about this for a while.

    I recently got all caught up on the show "Parenthood." I discovered it by looking for shows or movies with autistic characters in it, key factor being that the medium is fiction.

    Anyone else a little bit tired of the plethora of documentaries and specials? Not tired of as in "wish they'd go away," but as in "I wish there were other, less dry ways the topics were explored." Maybe it's just the writer and movie nerd in me, but I want to see more dramas and comedies and everything in between and beyond out there have characters that are autistic, Deaf, OCD, paraplegic, whatever and so on. Let's see a Deaf guy and an autistic chick plan a heist and the person their stealing from has OCD and a number of phobias like Adrian Monk, only evil. That'd make a good dark comedy, right? I love that there is informational stuff and studies out there, but sheesh, these subjects don't gotta be covered so seriously all the time. These specials and docs are either depressing or just plain boring (some of them are sweet I'll admit, but there are just so many, that it's getting repetitive and thusly boring.) Most are all so technical and just about X-disability/disorder and how the persons afflicted are "surviving the struggle" or "making the best of it" and all they film the person doing is buying groceries and walking through the park with their dog Skippy and smiling a lot, just the most mundane shit.

    Nasally Narrator: "And here is little Timmy in the produce section with his 38 year old mother Kathryn...Timmy does not like tomatoes."
    "He just gets really aggravated.." *camera-person mumbles* "Yeah, yeah it is difficult, but you know it's life and we do this every day, you get used to it. It hurts, but you learn to live with it because you love them. Timmy, please don't hit Mommy."
    Narrator: "14 in 800 children with Sarcosis Syndrome will become violent at the sight of tomatoes."

    ...:dry: I can't sit through those anymore.

    ---------- Post added 8th Dec 2013 at 07:32 PM ----------

    I'm just gonna throw some scenarios out there: Epileptic undercover cop, an assassin with early on-set Parkinson's (now that I would love to see), Deaf serial killer (that's right, with the capital D, he's all in the community going Dexter on his fellow man), autistic comedian who also wants to be an actor and goes on silly Hollywood adventures with his muscular dystrophy-addled best friend, blind Mensa genius who consults with the CIA, Gallaudet University in the zombie apocalypse, Remember the Titans with an all blind team, they hear every shift and slide. Boom. We can call it "The Other Blindside" or something. I'm just spit balling.

    The show Monk brings awareness of OCD people without being about his OCD and Switched At Birth brings awareness of the Deaf community and Deaf people's existence without strictly being about deafness itself. SAB is just another teen/family drama with some Deaf kids and a second language in the mix like Monk is another hilarious cop procedural starring a man who happens to have this disorder on top of everything else that's going on in his life. I want to see more of that with other disabilities and disorders, too. Characters with personalities that just so happen to have X-thing or be X-thing. I'm seeing it in small doses, but what creative stuff is out there is drowned out by all the "Autie Adam" documentaries. We can bring awareness all day to what life is like for people who live with these things, just liven it up, do it through more story telling, instead of case studies. I don't mean stop case studies, let's just not have only case studies and specials out there on families with a three year old who don't do anything, but walk through parks or sit on their couches and have a cry on.

    I may seem like I'm joking or taking the piss, but I'm actually serious. I connect more through stories and characters than just straight up informational content, so for me, getting comfortable with having Asperger's would be a lot more enjoyable and relatable actually through TV shows and movies. I feel those two mediums (and fiction books) are better at normalizing than docs and specials because they don't have to specifically be about that one thing, but about the whole person and the rest of their live as well. Also with characters there's more freedom to make the person as diverse as you want whereas I'm noticing that the pattern with a lot documentaries and specials is middle-class white families and their 8 year olds. I'm a poor black gay 20 year old female, so seeing Autie Adam make a friend at recess is sweet, but that and his parents talking about how difficult that was and how proud they are of him for 20 minutes, doesn't do anything for me personally in terms of showing me life can be just fine with AS.)

    Anyway, I just wanted to put it out there that I was thinking about this. Agree, disagree, don't understand what the hell I'm rambling about, let me know.
     
  2. WillowMaiden

    WillowMaiden Guest

    Take two. Anyone want to discuss this?
     
  3. Kasey

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    Does Jimmy Brooks from Degrassi count?

    P.S. Tyrion is the best character in any show I've seen in a long time, probably since Data from Star Trek TNG.
     
  4. WillowMaiden

    WillowMaiden Guest

    Jimmy post the shooting, yes that counts. His story after that wasn't only about him being in the chair and trying to walk again. That specifically had its time immediately after and a little near the end of his story in later seasons when he was doing PT, but in between that he was just a guy in a chair, dealing with other life things like all the characters and it was great if memory serves.
     
  5. Maeve

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    Silver Linings Playbook centers around a man with Bipolar disorder.
    Private Practice/Grey's Anatomy--Amelia Shepherd is talented neurosurgeon, as well as a recovering addict and alcoholic.
    Also on Grey's Anatomy--Arizona Robbins, a pediatric surgeon, is an above-the knee amputee and uses a prosthetic leg. She's also gay.
    Homeland--Carrie Matheson is a CIA agent with Bipolar Disorder.
    Covert Affairs--Auggie Anderson is a blind CIA operative. He mostly provides tech support, but does go into the field sometimes.

    These are just off the top of my head, and from shows I enjoy.

    ETA:
    Fringe--Alternate Astrid Farnsworth is autistic. And Walter is... well, I don't know what is.
     
    #5 Maeve, Mar 27, 2014
    Last edited: Mar 27, 2014
  6. Higs

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    Six Feet Under had a character that had a serious bipolar disorder..

    But yeah if you stop to think there aren't that many...
     
  7. WillowMaiden

    WillowMaiden Guest

    Great examples. I love Fringe! That scene between Astrid and Austrid...wow power. And Walter is everything. :lol:
    I love Homeland and Silver Linings, too. Never seen Grey's or Covert Affairs, but I like that they're doing this type of stuff, as well.
     
  8. Foxface

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    Glee

    Becky - MR
    Artie - Physically disabled
     
  9. Rain Man
    Good Will Hunting
    Silver Linings
    A Beautiful Mind

    ---------- Post added 28th Mar 2014 at 10:10 AM ----------

    An interesting series : In Treatment
    Girl Interrupted
    Secretary

    ---------- Post added 28th Mar 2014 at 10:12 AM ----------

    What's Eating Gilbert Grape
    I am Sam

    ---------- Post added 28th Mar 2014 at 10:17 AM ----------

    (Hope those are helpful)
     
  10. WillowMaiden

    WillowMaiden Guest

    Gilbert Grape and I Am Sam are my tear jerkers. Love those movies.
     
  11. Foxface

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    I forgot Radio!
     
  12. Some Dude

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    Well anything that Michael J Fox had been in recently(which isn't much)
     
  13. biggayguy

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    Does anyone remember Ironside? It was great having a police detective in a wheelchair. The shows I've seen recently with people in wheelchairs always show them getting up eventually. The one bitchy mother from Passions for example. She was in a wheelchair but was later "cured". How about some characters living a good life while being disabled?
     
  14. Kasey

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    Am I just blind or did no one mention Forrest Gump?
     
  15. WillowMaiden

    WillowMaiden Guest

    You just did. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

    ---------- Post added 28th Mar 2014 at 01:20 PM ----------

    And for the record, I wasn't looking for recs (always welcomed though) I just wanted to know if anyone else was interested in the topic as well.
     
  16. awesomeyodais

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    I think it was one added layer of complexity that got me hooked on House, MD. Well a few layers if you also consider the vicodin addiction that resulted from the muscle damage in his leg.