Entry one:
Various creativity seminars motivated me to think about the following question. ‘as a society, are we really as inclusive as we like to think we are? For the purpose of this assignment, I chose the film The Young Offenders as my object of discussion and reflection.
Life for people with disabilities has changed drastically over the last 30 years. Society has moved on from the medical model, which focussed on the impairment. Whereas, the social model, which arose in response to a critique of the medical model, and is situated in the wider, external environment. It is not explicable as a consequence of an individual’s physical and/or cognitive deficiencies.
During the film, The Young Offenders, an issue arose for me around the …show more content…
I was expecting some backlash within the media and disability groups. However, despite reading numerous reviews, there was hardly any that found the film offensive. In spite of this, in an interview with the Irish Examiner, the writer and director, Peter Foott was asked if ‘he was worried about causing offence’ (Mc Carthy 2016). He felt that yes, the word ‘spastic’ was offensive but not so when used in the context of a 15 year old’s language with his peers. Accordingly, the use of this old playground insult is still shocking to hear. Was it used to provoke a reaction in us the audience or is this actually, how teenagers converse and incite each other with this lowest form of …show more content…
A character to fear or pity that then becomes violent and threatening in a comedic scene for the audiences amusement. Similar to the film Elephant Man who was hidden behind a curtain because he was so hideous, in the Young Offenders, we are informed that he is handicapped before we even see him. One wonders, was this an intentional ploy by the author to prepare the audience, or instead provoke an emotive response of sympathy. To add insult to injury, PJ Gallagher does not have a disability. Could a disabled actor not have played this part? Obviously, actors with impairments are usually not well presented in films dealing with disability. Similarly, according to the National Disability Authority 2007 (NDA), only 10% of television programs featured a disabled person. They are also more likely to be in a drama, comedy or lifestyle
Various creativity seminars motivated me to think about the following question. ‘as a society, are we really as inclusive as we like to think we are? For the purpose of this assignment, I chose the film The Young Offenders as my object of discussion and reflection.
Life for people with disabilities has changed drastically over the last 30 years. Society has moved on from the medical model, which focussed on the impairment. Whereas, the social model, which arose in response to a critique of the medical model, and is situated in the wider, external environment. It is not explicable as a consequence of an individual’s physical and/or cognitive deficiencies.
During the film, The Young Offenders, an issue arose for me around the …show more content…
I was expecting some backlash within the media and disability groups. However, despite reading numerous reviews, there was hardly any that found the film offensive. In spite of this, in an interview with the Irish Examiner, the writer and director, Peter Foott was asked if ‘he was worried about causing offence’ (Mc Carthy 2016). He felt that yes, the word ‘spastic’ was offensive but not so when used in the context of a 15 year old’s language with his peers. Accordingly, the use of this old playground insult is still shocking to hear. Was it used to provoke a reaction in us the audience or is this actually, how teenagers converse and incite each other with this lowest form of …show more content…
A character to fear or pity that then becomes violent and threatening in a comedic scene for the audiences amusement. Similar to the film Elephant Man who was hidden behind a curtain because he was so hideous, in the Young Offenders, we are informed that he is handicapped before we even see him. One wonders, was this an intentional ploy by the author to prepare the audience, or instead provoke an emotive response of sympathy. To add insult to injury, PJ Gallagher does not have a disability. Could a disabled actor not have played this part? Obviously, actors with impairments are usually not well presented in films dealing with disability. Similarly, according to the National Disability Authority 2007 (NDA), only 10% of television programs featured a disabled person. They are also more likely to be in a drama, comedy or lifestyle