representation of the disabled

Representation of disabled in TV drama analysis 

 

The clip, coming down the mountain (written by Mark Haddon Author of The curious incident of the dog in the night time) features one of the key characters (Ben) having a down syndrome and this character has been stereotyped heavily.

 

The opening scene uses an aerial shot of the bedroom depicts a complete split in the way that it has been decorated for each of the two boys.  This represents the idea of conflict between the two of them, and how much David has attempted to be apart from his brother, and so the split difference between Ben’s childish posters and colours compared to David’s almost gothic room, connoting the idea of being moody and potentially aggressive.

 

The following montage depicting evolution shows that whilst evolution is the act of random alterations that eventually leads to the entire race improving with the change, down syndrome is a disorder that occurs once a baby is born with an extra chromosome. This disorder is an evolutionary mistake, and the montage sequence highlights this. Also featured in the montage is a clip of two dinosaurs fighting, and one kills the other; David views this idea of “survival of the fittest” as his justification for killing his brother.

 

The non-diagetic narration from the leading character David is used to reinforce the stereotype that all disabled people are a burden to their relatives. Since it’s non-diagetic we see this as David’s thoughts and feelings towards his brother. This overview of his opinion reveals to us his inner most thoughts revealing that he truly resents the fact that he has to look after his brother. Lines like “last summer I decided to kill my brother” and a conversation that subtly links his brother to being a pig for slaughter, indicates his hatred. The Mise-en-scene in this scene compared to this reveals that his mindset is clearly corrupted by the burden of caring for his brother, as mentioned above with the Gothic theme of his bedroom, but then again, we cannot easily relate to his situation at this point due to the innocence of Ben's side of the bedroom.

 

The idea that they need constant care and attention is viewed in a montage that starts with a view of the two boys at a bus stop with Ben playing with childish toys and doing what seems to irritate his brother. Then quickly cutting to a clip of Ben riding a bike with stabilisers and covered in padding, relating to the audience as we all know how to ride a bike and most people his age are past the point of stabilisers.  This is also from the first person perspective of David, who is also looking through a toy rifle, further encouraging the idea that he wants to kill his brother. This representation of a disabled person being a burden on their family is quite common in media as often they do appear to burden their families, not purposefully of course. 

 

A the first clip we see Ben there is a focus pull from a single piece of food on his spoon, to his face which clearly shows his disability as Down syndrome is visible through the face of the disabled person. The fact that there is a pull between a single speck of food and his face brings us to the idea that he is nothing more than a vegetable in the eyes of people like his brother, who also refers to him as a potato during the commentary. This itself is a very common insult that is often used when people refer to those with Down syndrome.

 

The classroom scene uses shot/reverse shot between the teacher and the classroom full of teenagers. This is an effort to place David in a location where he feels included, hence the idea that the shot doesn’t focus on him, rather the whole class.

 

We can see in the last scene that David and Ben are wearing similar clothes, both wearing a hooded top underneath a jacket with the colours brown and grey, however these colours are reversed on the brothers, as David wears a brown hooded top and Ben wears a grey one. Likewise the jackets are also different, and this represents the brother’s differences from each other, whilst also being linked by family, hence the same style.

The final scene depicts him as venerable with shots angled from above and close ups on him wiping sweat from his brow. It is at this point we see he is truly scared, and from quick action like shots of the people around him, with a man at the back being given a quick shot from between two fighting teenagers, his face clearly shows that this does not concern him and so when the audience sees Ben's frightened face they instantly pity his character.

 

Overall, it is clear to see that disabled people are shown to cause grief to those they burden, as when they are not with them they clearly fear the frightening world around them. This is shown through firstly showing how he can irritate his brother without intention, and then showing him in a situation we all take normally, but to him this is a true nightmare, thus securing the idea of his venerable state.