“Wheels”
Nancy Mairs’ essay inspired me to ponder back to patterns in the portrayal of disabled people in the media. In the TV show that Mairs saw, “the whole point of the show” was “the poor young woman had MS.” However, this is not limited to just this TV show. Although “Glee” is praised for its inclusivity, it is heavily loaded on disability stereotypes and harms how disabled people are perceived in real life.
In the show, Artie Abrams is known as “Wheels”, as he is in a wheelchair due to a spinal cord injury. As harmful as this epithet is, there is an episode in which Artie has a dream that he is not disabled and has an entire dance number. In this, he claims that his disability prevents him from living a “normal” life. This implies that people with disabilities are not capable of living a normal life. Additionally, the intentions of this scene are not worthy of appreciation - the directors of “Glee” most likely did this to showcase the actor’s dancing skills. Kevin McHale, the person who played Artie, is not disabled and never knew how to dance in a wheelchair. Many incredibly talented people perform in wheelchairs but were not even considered for the role. In this way, Artie’s personality is consumed by his disability. This should not be the case. Artie’s disability should be acknowledged, appreciated, and his struggles from it should be shown, but his existence should not be defined by his disability. Just like all of the other characters in the show, he should be given distinctive characteristics as well.
There is a scene in which a girl named Betty, who is in a wheelchair, is set up on a blind date with Artie, but rejects him as soon as she sees him. When Artie asks her if she knew he was in a wheelchair, she says, “Um, obviously not, because I don’t date losers in chairs”. Although she is in a wheelchair herself, she claims that being blonde and the captain of the cheerleading team puts her at a much higher social status and she would be “stooping low” if she dated Artie. This implies that even people with disabilities view other people with disabilities as incapable of forming a romantic relationship. Even when Artie finally finds love, it is treated as a big deal and it becomes a very sentimental moment in the show as if he was not capable of falling in love due to his disability. Anything significant Artie does is deemed as a miracle, similar to the TV show Mairs discusses.
Overall, the media must do a better job of normalizing disabilities. Many times, directors are so conformed to disability stereotypes that their right intentions come out in a harmful way. This can be improved by casting disabled people in media and showing their individuality rather than a personality enveloped around their disability.
HI Amritha, although I have never watched Glee, I was able to perfectly understand what you meant because of your brief summaries, thank you for that. I thought that the part where you describe Betty and Artie's blind date was really interesting. Obviously the show has thought a lot about what people think on a regular basis, and I originally expected there to be a lot more sympathy within people of their group. You post really opened my eyes to the issue of disabilities in the real world and I enjoyed reading it!
ReplyDeleteI loved your analysis on Glee. I haven't seen the show, but I was able to get the gist of it through your explanations! What I loved most about your blog was how you recalled an instance where Artie was seen as less of something because of his disability, but then proved that thinking was wrong by providing examples of amazing people that can do really cool things while being in a wheelchair. It highlights your argument how being disabled doesn't render your ability to enjoy everyday activities, something the directors of Glee should try to understand.
ReplyDeleteHi Amritha, I really love how you connected Glee back to Mairs's description of a show that poorly represented disabled people. The part about Betty rejecting Artie surprised me because I assumed Betty would have reacted nicer instead of calling him a loser. I agree with your point that media should do a better job normalizing disabilities instead of conforming to stereotypes. Hopefully, we can see better representation of disabled people in media in the future.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen Glee, but the examples you chose are so specific and relevant that I totally see your point. And I agree-- it's almost as though the screenwriters/directors have no idea of what it's like to live with any sort of disability (probably because everyone in the writer's room is a TAP), and they throw in someone in a wheelchair to get their token diversity points for the show. I remember watching an episode of Friends where Chandler goes out with a girl with a prosthetic limb, and a similar thing happens: he realizes that her foot is prosthetic, and struggles to get past this *massive character flaw* despite liking everything else about her. And the show uses this plot for laughs and witty one liners, but it's ridiculous-- TV shows seem unable to treat disabled people as REAL people, using them as plot devices or token diversity points instead.
ReplyDeleteHi Amritha, I loved how you related this to the representation in Glee. Arties character was definitely not only seen as “the wheelchair” character, and he represented so much more. The presence of someone in a wheelchair who is accepted as a regular character who is able to do the same things as the rest of the characters and who has their own storylines empowers anyone who may feel misrepresented.
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