Bonjour!
I sincerely hope all of my wonderful readers are enjoying their weekends. Thus far mine has been pretty good. I saw a local children's production of "Godspell" that was rather adorable and tomorrow my friend is gonna come over for pizza and a movie.
Speaking of movies, for the past couple of days Crippie has been trying to think of any recent movies that are actually offensive to the disabled community. Crippie could think of plenty of movies that have used the word "Retard" or "Cripple"... but they're all intentionally offensive. It took a while and Crippie had to redefine "recent" but she found one... Disney's 1996 classic "The Hunchback of Notre Dame"! Why is it offensive? Prepare for the Crippie Rant!
<CrippieRant>
Okay, the cripple is considered a monster and is forced to live in a tower, I get it. That's not the problem. Let's think back to every Disney movie that involves a romantic interest, how many of them end up together? Hmmm... oh yeah... EVERYONE EXCEPT THE CRIPPLE! Poor Quasimodo loves Esmerelda but noooooooooooooooo he gets friend-zoned while she falls for the "hunk" Phoebus. It's not like Quasimodo saves Esmerelda's ass on countless occasions or pulls her off a burning stake or anything... oh wait... HE DID. Did him not getting the girl he pulled off a flaming stake help the story or prove a point? Yeah, it sure does prove a point... it doesn't matter how heroic you are... if you are horribly disfigured you will never get the girl!
While yes, Quasimodo eventualllllllllyyyyyyyy finds love in the horribly contrived sequel, it had nothing to do with the original plot and I think it was their way of saying "fine... the Cripple can get a girl too, she's from a Circus. There. Happy?" The only thing I can say in the movie's defense is that the soundtrack was awesome... almost Broadway like.
</CrippleRant>
So there ya have it folks! That's probably the only recent film that has offended Crippie. What do you guys think? Agree? Disagree? Did you forget that movie even existed?
In unrelated guinea pig news, my prior post on piggie introductions was featured HERE, with a lovely picture of Mama Pig. Mama Pig is beyond flattered.
Crippie's Tippie - Wanna see a good Disney movie that deals with disabilities? Go find Nemo ;)
You know you have brought up things worth thinking about. I was never observant enough to think of those things, but then because I was never handicapped at a young age, it just went over my head. But, you are so right. Then I thought about Phatom Of The Opera. Same situation I think. As a society, we need to be more in tune to things like that. You "go girl." Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteI never thought about him not "getting the girl" before. There were so mony other problems I had with the movie anyway...besides the fact that the book was in no way, shape or form a "kids" story!
ReplyDeleteMary's right, though. A lot of us without physical challenges completely miss some of the finer points. Thank you for pointing out the obvious to us! Keep it up!
Another similar screwy ending that I didn't realize for years: Beauty and the Beast. The lesson is supposed to be it doesn't matter what you look like, right? So why does the beast magically turn into a handsome prince in the end?? Mixed messages, Disney.
ReplyDelete