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Writer of “Representing Disability in an Able-ist World”
and uh... she also has a blog called “Media dis&dat”
And, thank you for being here.
And is a professor on the topic of media and disability
Hope everyone enjoyed the movie. Just a few comments then I want to hear from you guys what you thought or questions you wanted to ask
A little background – the woman who played Anika was the co- writer with her brother, the director, Dietrich Bruggemann, who created this film.
After seeing it a couple of times it sort of has a different resonance, when you know the woman playing the main character is also the writer of the film and that her brother is the director.
One thing that I wanted to talk about was the twist, I thought at the end
And I really think at the end it really showed… it’s all about his guilt, more than his disabilities.
Really, I think, the guilt over the death of his girlfriend in the car accident, is really what was destroying his life more than any kind of disability that he had.
And the same with the Anika character – her fear of performing was what was really holding her back
And just that fact that he was kind of a jerk to her brought her out of that.
That was an interesting twist and mystery at the end that brought it to a different place than I thought it was going to start out to be.
So, questions? Comments? What did you think
Yeah. I thought it was pretty amazing. There was a sense of menace all the way through it.
Because I think it starts off as one of those traditional embittered disabled person trying to figure out what they’re doing with their life
And there’s a lot of falling down and a lot of wondering how badly people are gonna get hurt. And that really resonated for me.
Yeah, I think it’s interesting. I didn’t really notice it until the second or third time I saw it
How many people fell down stairs and could’ve gotten disabilities from what was happening in the film to other characters.
one thing that I also noticed in the film, that they actually put an emphasis on is the difficulty
In these actions of getting back up.
There’s constantly this grunting while lifting.
And they really put an emphasis when they could have easily cut to him in the chair
but they actually take the time when they fall to also show the getting back up as well
Is the actor playing the main character disabled?
No, he was not.
[muttering]
He’s a well-known actor. We also see him at the dream sequence walking – they give it away.
Hi. I thought it really was a really wonderful film. 0:03:08.639,0:03:09.329 really
And I left satisfied with the idea that he know understands, that the gentleman in the wheelchair understands
That life can have fun.
So that part was completed.
But what about his nurse?
What abour Christian?
Why was the relationship between Christian and the girl left sort of in the middle?
It’s not really clear.
I thought it was, it seemed like Christian wasn’t for her
That she found Ben more interesting
And Ben was assuming, I think, that she would automatically go for Christian
When she was making her decision between the two of them
I think she she really felt like Ben was more interesting person
And then he was trying to push her away. I think also to keep her out of danger. I think he had this real fear
Of people coming into his life
that would get hurt because of what happened in his accident when his girlfriend got killed
so that I think he was doing everything I don’t even think he believed a lot of what he was
saying to push people away. I think he was saying it
To just push them away
And to get them out of his life Because he was actually afraid for their safety
And their ability to live with him
And what the consequences of that, he felt, might be so negative
Can everyone hear me? 0:04:38.289,0:04:45.289 When they’re in bed together and they are about to make love, he’s perfectly happy to go ahead with the pill
It’s she that says, I really can’t do this.
My feeling on that scene is that the passion – His lack of passion
Right, it’s just kind of like
He said that before that he felt he’d Only be playing an object to whatever Woman he’s with.
So maybe he felt like, oh, okay, I’ll be your object
and I think she got that vibe and said she didn’t want to participate in that
form of lovemaking is so… He was doing everything possible to push her out
Of his life
because he was afraid for her to be in his life.
I want to go back to something you said earlier about of the classic depiction of the…
I’m misquoting you here.
Person with a disability.
One of the things that makes this film interesting I found it to be a unique depiction
Of a person with a disability
not some sugar-coated version that we often get
In some films, especially American cinema
and really just something…
We have a character that was fully developed
In a very new sense.
Yeah I think the way he uses humor and
Was trying not to come off as bitter
As he actually was at the beginning of the film. I think he was using humor
To try try to make people comfortable
And to keep them at a distance From him
Movies like The Fourth of July And those kinds of things They have, like,
the first third of the movie is people getting over things trying to get over a bitterness
About what’s happened to them
I didn’t want to go that direction I don’t think it did
But at the beginning it was kind of like a character with that kind of edge to him
Definitely. It’s one of the things That’s great about this film
from beginning to end it just has such an edge
Taking to different places From dreams, animation to that last Shot of the film
I think it was the filmmaker’s First full length film
At least from what I looked up On IMDB, he did a lot of tv and short films
This may have been one of his First full length. I think he did a Darn good job.
I think this film is gonna be with me for a long time
One thing is there were a whole bunch of things that I felt were really contrived.
I mean, that she does this solo At that moment.
And there was a lot of that
But I think there was more
Of really interesting stuff about relationships
There were the mothers, there were… I don’t want to innumerate them but
There’ll be a lot to think about there
The film’s about relationships, right?
I thought that was interesting too
How they brought out her own Relationship with her mother
They showed his relationship With his a bit
And added that extra dimension
You’re right
About other relationships people have that Affect them. I mean obviously
she was affected by the fact that her mother walked out on her at the age of twelve
And she never saw her again
And so I think they’re also trying To make a statement about
relationships that affect you
Whether you have a disability Or not.
and I think the psychological elements that you bring in here as well
Really show that this is a film that Goes way beyond the disability
The disability is actually In a way, a distraction
from the actual psychology that’s going on.
I’d like to thank you all for coming. I’d like to thank you, Beth.
Do you have any books with you?
I have a couple if anyone’s interested. I have postcards if people are interested.
And you can get it online I guess. Again it’s “Representing Disability in an Able-ist World”
Thank you, All.
Tomorrow: a full day of film Starting with ‘Aphasia’
Then an Iranian film, ‘Mourning (Soog)’ 0:08:51.490,0:08:516.490 Go see ‘The Straight Line.’