Showing posts with label disorder. Show all posts
Showing posts with label disorder. Show all posts

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Disability and Movies


Rain Man


When thinking about a movie that features the main person with a disability it is hard to come by. One of the first movies that came to my mind when thinking about this subject was Rain Man (1988). It was an interesting movie because before seeing this movie I had never known about this disorder: Autism-Savant Syndrome. In the movie the main character has this disorder and has a great memory that can recall dates and times, for example: In the movie, Rain Man and his brother (Tom Cruise) go to a casino because Tom Cruise learns of Rain Mans undeniably excellent ability to remember things at a quick pace. He uses this ability to his advantage by having Rain Man scan cards thus beating the house and winning lots of money.
It was also interesting to me about the stereotypes that are given in this film on Rain Mans sexuality. At one scene in the movie at the casino when Rain Man is at the bar a prostitute approaches him to try to get business out of him, at first she doesn't know of his disability then she soon catches on and uses this to try to take advantage of him. I also noticed this in another movie that I watched before that deals with another main character having a disability: I am Sam (2001). In this movie a similar event takes place where a prostitute takes advantage of him and actually gets pregnant by him, then later runs off leaving him to raise a child on his own. To me there seems to be a certain theme in Western films where people with disabilities get taken advantage of.
I couldn't find any real masculinity themes in either movies, but in the movie I am Sam he holds a job and raises a daughter. In society this is mostly seen as feminine but can also be seen as both feminine or masculine. A guy raising a family and working is looked upon as a masculine trait. In the movie we watched in class, Murder Ball, that seems to be the only movie out of the three that shows actually masculinity. I think it's mainly noticeable because in Murder Ball they are playing a tough sport that is viewed as very masculine. In the movie Murder Ball the main characters are quadriplegic, this is physical disorder where as in the other movies they deal with mental disorders. In society people with physical disorders are still seen as needing help, but they are in a physical battle with themselves to be more masculine because being seen as you need help isn't very masculine. In the other 2 movies they didn't tend to focus on masculinity but more of the disability itself and how the characters were affected by it.

Image: http://images.ctv.ca/archives/CTVNews/img2/20070925/465_rainman.jpg