Disability in TV Dramas

The Inbetweeners:

Mise en scene:

• verisimilitude - a real place where people can relate to.
• Binary opposition - girl in wheelchair is stationary, able bodied people moving about.
• Binary opposition - girl in wheelchair unable to move away from frisbee, inbetweeners can move away from the people playing football.
• Carer is a woman, a stereotypical occupation for a woman.
• Men move in to help women, representing that they are more powerful than the women.

Sound:

• Laura Mulvey male gaze - 'juggasaurus rex'. Women are being objectified by sexually driven men.
• 'Gay' is used to state a bad thing.
• Sound of men playing football dominates sound.

Editing:

• eyeline match when the inbetweeners look at the 'juggasaurus rex'.

Camera Angles:

• High angle camera looking down on girl because she is in a wheelchair. Emphasizes fact she is wheelchair. Possibly showing she is weaker.

In his life 1991 study, Paul Hunt identified 10 stereotypes that the media use to portray disabled people:

1. The disabled person as pitable/pathetic.
2. An object of curiosity or violence.
3. Sinister or evil.
4. As atmosphere.
5. Laughable.
6. His/her own worst enemy.
7. As a burden.
8. As Non-sexual.
9. Being unable to participate in daily life.
10. The super cripple.


Cast Offs:
Pan of the island - shows the scale and isolation of the island.
shows the disability is a new thing for him.
basketball shows his past life.
basketball shows that his father is encouragiung him to be the same person he used to be.
the narrative device flashbacks are use in the sequence.
binary opposition - busy basketball game/isolated island .
jump cuts show time has passed.
island is dull, compared to on 'shipwrecked' the island is nice.
no non-diegtic sound making the situation seem more real