Tuesday 27 October 2015

How is Disability represented through the character of Donna?

In the first clip, the scene opens with focus to Donna opening the drawer for her pills. b This at first does not draw too much attention to her condition as for her as a women could be taken for conception pills.On the other hand could draw attention to viewers, because of the amount of medication and what they look like that the character taking them is unwell and takes the medication on a daily basis for whatever their condition.
Immediately after  this, a straight cut is used to make the transition into a mid shot and show that she is physically disabled. This represents the everyday life for them of taking medication on a daily basis which is not considered the "norm". Secondly, in the same clip when Fatboy enters the scene and the use of dialect start to represent disability furthermore when Fatboy says "not the way to treat a lady" and Donna responds with " I aint a lady Fat". This is awkward dialect being used by her as he tries to make humor out of her disability as self defense as she feels vulnerable most of the time.  This is the way they would be represented normally in TV dramas as, this is what they'd expected to feel because they feel as if they are not normal to everyone else in their surroundings. In this whole scene, Donna is being represented in countertype way; disabled people are not usually seen as sexually active because they feel as if it is something only done by "normal" people and is not done by them. Where as the character of Donna is going against that as she has sex with Fatboy. This would not seen as the "normal"lifestyle for a woman who is disabled. Donna is seen to have a different attitude towards this and does not feel like shes any different.

The second clip when Donna is speaking to Nancy; the conversation becomes argumentative and shot- reverse- shot is started to be used along side close up shots towards Donna to show her reaction to the conversation as it is mostly likely to give her a traumatic shock.  Donna discriminates against Nancy by saying "not all men go for perfect blondes you know", Donna's attitude becomes cocky towards the subject of her and Fatboy as this can be because she wants to feel normal about the situation and not feel as if it is wrong because she is disabled to have sex. Representation of disability is seen here it shows that if they are physically disabled, they are the ones that are always going to be looked at or treated differently which causes them to have unpleasant behavior to take pressure off themselves. For Donna to find out that Nancy has a disability herself, her reaction is focused on through the close up shots during the conversation, which her reaction is shown to be surprised and breath taken by the news.

In the next scene, the camera starts off in a mid shot as Donna is making her way over to Nancy to apologist to her. Because of this shot, it suggests that they are on the same level and that they are both equal to each other. Eyeline Match is used during their conversation as they speak about their experience and again make their disability into humor qhich is a way for people who are disabled to find comfort in their condition or to speak about it.    

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