I'm with Anee here. I think we take ourselves and our disabilities too darn
seriously. Sure, having CP sucks, but so does political correctness. The
disabled community (PWDs, LSTMFTs, PWAL, FTCSFS and whatever other acronyms
are popular this week) is in danger of of becoming a monoculture in that the
only issue they talk about, think about, champion is their disability.
With regards to the statement someone made earlier that when we see movies
featuring the disabled: How many disabled people aspire to the theatrical
arts anyway? Well, there's that blind guy who was popular for a while,
Matlin, and a handful of others, but you just can't take a PWD, hand them a
script and say, "Okay, act out this role in a multi-million dollar film."
Let's face it, it's a lot easier for a good actor to take on the
affectations of a PWD than vice versa. How could "Rain Man" have been made
with the genuine article?
Personally, I am not offended by humor directed at anyone struck by one of
life's arrows of fate. Everyone has some failing, idiosyncracy, foible that
makes them less than perfect. Humor, by its very nature, brings our
failings to light. It forces us to realize that we ARE less than perfect.
My father, when I was entering one of those "why me?" periods, said, "Look,
here are the hands we've been dealt. Ain't a thing you can do to get new
cards, so you can either laugh and live, or cry and die."
We can sterilize our culture and make everything taboo that could possibly
offend, but it would not be a very interesting place to live--I sure
wouldn't want any part of it.
-Kyle
-----Original Message-----
From: Anee Stanford [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Saturday, December 04, 1999 8:32 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Women with Disabilities & "Gigalo"
In a message dated 12/4/1999 2:29:56 AM Central Standard Time,
[log in to unmask]
writes:
<< Has anybody seen the ads for the new Adam Sandler {I believe} movie
called
"Gigolo"? It feature him as the title character "dating" women with
Tourette's syndrome and narcolepsy. Hence, making fun of these disabilities
and making the assumption that women with disabilities are so desperate we
must pay for a man's company. I find this appalling. Why are disabilities
considered an appropriate source of "humor"? Renee >>
Hi everyone:
On that point why is any group considered a source of humor? Sterotyping
seems to be a way of life how many times have we seen the stero typical
"nerd" or the "jock" or any of those...I have never met anyone that is as
far
as the etertainment industry takes these sterio types. Humor is a part of
life and it is one thing that everyone can be a part of. Some are the
subject of it more then others--this is true--but dose this meen that humor
should not take place at all? Lafter has been proven to have benifical to
ones health but what may be funny to one person won't be funny to another
person. I don't know? I can't get too upset about it even though I don't
find anything Adam Sandler dose to be funney but that's just not the type of
humor I like.
Women and men with disabilities arn't always the butt of the joke though,
just look at The Other Sister...shure there were some laughs in it...but it
was more the story of a young woman becoming indpendent dispite a disability
and socitey then it was that disability was a thing to be laughed at. I
think there need to be more movies like this personaly.
Just my too cents.
Anee
http://www.geocities.com/aneecp/CPIC.html
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