The harmful usage of

disability in the arts

By Patrycja Swikszcz
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

01 02 03

Introduction Claim & Conclusion

Counterclaim
 Real Life Situation
A movie titled “The Witches” recently
came out. It was a movie based on a
book by Roald Dahl.

The movie sparked some controversy, as

the main Witch (who is the main villain)
had hands with three fingers, which is a
similar representation of the real-life
limb difference abnormality known as
ectrodactyly.

This disability was used to make the

villain character more sinister and
intimidating. This is done by emphasising
the disability and making it the reason a
character is less human.
 KQ:
To what extent do the arts negatively
influence our behaviour towards
abnormality?
 Key Terms:

Arts Behaviour towards

people
AOK, Art is How a person acts
determined by 3 and feels towards
criteria: another person.
1. Intention of artist Eg. descrimination
2. Quality of work
3. Response of
spectators
Eg. film, book….
KQ: To what extent do the arts negatively influence our behaviour towards abnormality?

Claim
The arts use emotion to negatively influence our behaviour towards abnormality.

Example:

-Pirates having Hooks for hands (Peterpan)

-Witch having three fingers (The Witches)

-Pirates wearing eye patches (Pirates of the Caribbean)

All these movies use disability as a character trait. The ‘trait’ is used to mark the character
as a villain. Due to this we begin to associate these abnormal traits with evil and
discriminate or subconsciously feel fear when faced with these abnormalities in real life.
KQ: To what extent do the arts negatively influence our behaviour towards abnormality?

Counterclaim
The arts use emotion to positively influence our behaviour towards abnormality.

Example:

-The King's Speech (stammer of the King)

-Finding Nemo (little fish, struggling to swim out of the aquarium)

-Forrest Gump (bullied)

These films force us to look at the world from the point of view of the disabled, it forces us to
sympathise with them. This later influences our behaviour towards people with disabilities in real
life as we are more educated on the general topic, thus we are kinder and see them as humans.
KQ: To what extent do the arts negatively influence our behaviour towards abnormality?

Claim
Sense perception in the arts negatively influences people's behaviour towards
abnormality.

Example:

- X + Y (glorifying Autism => smart & finds love)

- Me before you

In these movies, the mental or physical disabilities are not shown realistically. However we
watch these movies and then think that it is common sense that everyone with autism is
very smart (not always the case). Thus we sometimes even want to have these disabilities
because they seem ‘cool’.
KQ: To what extent do the arts negatively influence our behaviour towards abnormality?

Counterclaim
Sense perception in the arts positively influences people's behaviour towards
abnormality.

Example:

- Wonder ( child born with a disability that resulted in him having 27 surgeries. A
story of the struggles they face as a family and the new opportunities. A story
about life and disability.)

This movie accurately represents what living with a disability is like and the challenges
people face but also the opportunities you gain. It shows the discrimination, but also the
overcoming of it. Movies like this raise awareness of disability and normalizes them.
 Conclusion
Through the use of the previously mentioned WOK we can come to the conclusion that
to some extent disability is still misused and misrepresented by the arts, yet there is
much progress done in the field that allows for a lot of awareness to take place.

The movie, The witches, would have been less controversial and more of a success if
they used emotion to be more sympathetic towards that community. Sense perception
should have been used to more clearly represent disability to allow for the raising of
awareness.
 THE END
thank you for listening!
Does anybody have any questions?