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I was sweeping the floor just now, I had just made dinner- a whole roast turkey and scalloped potatoes with a salad. I made my mother coffee this morning, went to the bank and dropped by my father's work to WAIT before you get discouraged and accuse me of complaining, I'm going somewhere I promise.
I was actually proud. *I'm living with my parents again for the first time in 3 years* While I was sweeping I was thinking about my family's dynamics. My mother is in a wheelchair, from alabama. My father is jewish, from new jersey. imagine that
no, I know. Its not so unique but it did have me thinking- is it possible to have a character with a disability without having to explain why or how? Whether they be blind or one-legged? (legged?)
I asked my mother what she thought and she brought up Glee, you know musical television. swoon so far we don't know why the wheelchair kid is in a wheelchair.
Of course it's pertinent to the character's story but is my mother's accident important to my story? She broke her neck in a pool and I was a competitive swimmer. and a lifeguard. whaaaaaatttt (it makes me feel like a superhero)
so I think that if its a developing story, as in a tv show, perhaps its not necessary unless of course they're the main character? is that right? but in a movie it's difficult to imagine a guy in a wheelchair without some kind of explanation.
But what about gay characters? At one point that would have been their story, but now its commonplace. although disabilities happen to you... hmm any thoughts?
Listen To This: Eyes On You!
7 years ago
3 comments:
I thought the guy from Glee was in a car accident when he was little? I think they talked about it in the wheelchair episode. But he can still use his penis...
PS - you called me from your pocket today and left me an epic voicemail. I couldn't even finish listening to it.
Well I'm glad someone is reading it!
I wrote you this HUGE response involving theory and blah blah probably because it made me feel better about my failed personal statement that I've been writing for a month and still haven't finished. But, then I realized I didn't know what I was talking about and erased it. Kind of like that stupid personal statement.
To me, if you wanted to leave a disability unexplained then it would probably work better in a movie than in a TV series. People watch TV shows for years and there is probably just no way to get around eventually going into the back story of a major or even minor character that shows up a lot. I guess if their story wasn't too involved with the plot it might not matter, but after years of seeing them, people are going to want to know. In a movie, they might want to know, but they aren't going to wait years to find out, ya know?
I think there are tons of examples of disabled people in stories with unexplained disabilities. But when I think about it, its probably mostly mental disabilities, which really don't need an explanation because most people just assume they were born that way. I would assume a lot physical disabilities could be attributed to birth as well, so they wouldn't necessarily have to be explained either. Here is where I went into a whole tangent about assumptions.
I guess what it boils down to, is if the story you're telling revolves around a disabled person who is struggling, trying to evolve, whatever, then you probably need to tell their back story. Just like any non disabled character. If you have a minor character that acts as a force on a major character going through any of those same things from above, it might be nice to know how their back story relates to the major characters struggle, if it does, but it wouldn't be critical unless they were in a car accident together or something like that.
It'd kind of be like explaining why a character cut their hair 10 years ago. If it isn't going to advance the plot, there isn't really a point. I can't imagine a plot where the major characters disability wasn't explained, since it would seem integral to their story, but I'm not all that creative. A minor character could definitely go unexplained though.
You can completely tell a story about your life, including mom, without explaining why mom is in a wheelchair. Her breaking her neck has little to nothing to do with your story. Except she didn't let us dive in the pool alone, which I don't think changed who you are as person (or maybe that is why you are the way you are..mystery solved). Her being in a wheelchair is important to your story, but the audience doesn't need to know how she ended up that way to understand who you are. If you were telling Mom's story, I think you'd absolutely have to tell how she ended up in a wheelchair.
I'm tired and trying to watch lost and the neighbors are yelling so if this is all jumbled I'm sorry.
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