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OK, first, as someone who's a white woman, I see a lot of that aspect of my identities on TV. I see some portrayals of queer women on TV, but there's a lot of problematic stuff. Like, "And how long until one of these characters meets a horrible fate?" is basically how media has gone for a long time, or the film was made by an indie company because that is how they could get funding and so it's not terribly well made. And please don't get me started on the L-word.
OTOH...there's not that many great depictions of disability in television media? Also, usually when disability is portrayed people pick something very visible ("look this is the character who's disabled you can tell by looking at their accessibility device or some sort of visible difference") and making the Entire Fucking Storyline about the fact that they have a disability. And it's basically the ooooonly thing you know about them. And that they're inspirational and brave. *barf*
So along comes Switched at Birth, which I know I have raved about before. I am raving again. Partly because *look here are lots of intersectional identities* and *here are Deaf people arguing about disability politics and toeing the 'party line' and cochlear implants on ABC Family*. Also, they're multi-dimensional characters.
Yes, Daphne is Deaf. Her main storylines (to where I am in season 2 *don't spoil the rest I know there's more*) are about the whole switched-at-birth thing, her complex relationships with her now-blended family, class differences, "wait technically I am white but I was raised Latina til I found out about the switch so...", all the boyfriend drama, and aspirations to be a chef. Probably more things too. Like I said -- so much more than "she's the Deaf one" because there's LOTS of Deaf Characters. Also, it's a very "social model of disability" show.
Ahoy be spoilers for a couple points in the show where I felt the show did things *really well*, just so I can truly convince you to watch it. Also, links to a couple clips.
( minor spoiler in season 1, I'm not sharing how this event happens it's mostly about a one to two minute clip )
( spoilers for a couple plot points in season 2 with longer scenes involved )
I just.
Bring the teenage soap opera drama. Bring it all. I lurv you so much, this show.
P.S. I've been off-and-on pondering some thoughts on Daredevil and disability. This blog post has a lot of the things I had feelz about, as does this science one. I just...feel like while there's some good "here's accessible devices in action" and "here's the occasional person being a douche," Matt Murdock doesn't actually lose that much privilege via being blind-with-superpowers. That would not be such a big deal except for general lack of representation, because then Average Person gets tons of misconceptions about being blind. But there is no *one* experience for any one disability. Just, I think Matt Murdock is very outside the average range.
OTOH...there's not that many great depictions of disability in television media? Also, usually when disability is portrayed people pick something very visible ("look this is the character who's disabled you can tell by looking at their accessibility device or some sort of visible difference") and making the Entire Fucking Storyline about the fact that they have a disability. And it's basically the ooooonly thing you know about them. And that they're inspirational and brave. *barf*
So along comes Switched at Birth, which I know I have raved about before. I am raving again. Partly because *look here are lots of intersectional identities* and *here are Deaf people arguing about disability politics and toeing the 'party line' and cochlear implants on ABC Family*. Also, they're multi-dimensional characters.
Yes, Daphne is Deaf. Her main storylines (to where I am in season 2 *don't spoil the rest I know there's more*) are about the whole switched-at-birth thing, her complex relationships with her now-blended family, class differences, "wait technically I am white but I was raised Latina til I found out about the switch so...", all the boyfriend drama, and aspirations to be a chef. Probably more things too. Like I said -- so much more than "she's the Deaf one" because there's LOTS of Deaf Characters. Also, it's a very "social model of disability" show.
Ahoy be spoilers for a couple points in the show where I felt the show did things *really well*, just so I can truly convince you to watch it. Also, links to a couple clips.
( minor spoiler in season 1, I'm not sharing how this event happens it's mostly about a one to two minute clip )
( spoilers for a couple plot points in season 2 with longer scenes involved )
I just.
Bring the teenage soap opera drama. Bring it all. I lurv you so much, this show.
P.S. I've been off-and-on pondering some thoughts on Daredevil and disability. This blog post has a lot of the things I had feelz about, as does this science one. I just...feel like while there's some good "here's accessible devices in action" and "here's the occasional person being a douche," Matt Murdock doesn't actually lose that much privilege via being blind-with-superpowers. That would not be such a big deal except for general lack of representation, because then Average Person gets tons of misconceptions about being blind. But there is no *one* experience for any one disability. Just, I think Matt Murdock is very outside the average range.
