The public and the private body : representing disability in world cinema

Abstract

This dissertation aims to provide new readings of Jacques Audiard’s Rust and Bone and Lee Chang-dong’s Oasis, showing how the films draw attention to the production of disability as a socially constructed category. My mode of analysis lodges itself somewhere in-between the fields of Film Studies and Disability Studies (hereafter referred to as DS), reading the films from a social model approach that sees disability as a societal construct. The paper intends to challenge the entrenched critical discourse that reads texts as either ‘positive’ or ‘negative’, or which applies certain stereotypes to the reading of films. In order to provide the framework on which to make my argument, especially to inform the reader not familiar with the DS field, the dissertation will begin with a section that defines my understanding of disability. Consequently, a literature review of texts that have dealt with disability and film will provide both context to the reader, and help evidence and explain my own position in the field. Following this, I’ll lay out my contentions in three main chapters of film analysis. The first chapter attempts to understand how the films represent the production of disability discourse. The second chapter seeks to show how both films reject the stereotype of ‘able bodied saviour’, which is a staple narrative of many films that feature disability. The final chapter looks to show how disability is produced in different cultural settings, by reading both how family can construct disability, and present new possibilities for identity. I’ll finally conclude by suggesting new possible areas of research that might expand or challenge the specific mode of reading I have sought to pursue.