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Representation of people with physical disabilities in cinema: How do the stories get told? : A qualitative analysis of real-life inspired movie ‘Penguin Bloom’ in relation to the book by the same name and published interviews of the person whose story it is based on.

In this thesis I study representation of disability and people with disabilities in cinema today by critically analyzing parts of a movie called Penguin Bloom for the way the main character’s identity and embodied experiences are represented and the possible reasons for that representation. Since the movie is based on a book that is in turn based on a real-life story of a person who acquired disability after sustaining an accidental fall, I have used certain quotes from the book and have also referred to a couple of published media interviews to support my arguments while analyzing the movie. To be able to critically view the movie for representation of people with disabilities, particularly relating to their identity, and embodied experiences, I have used theoretical frameworks of feminist disability studies, feminist visual theories, and feminist intersectionality to uncover how and why the main character in the movie, Sam Bloom’s – who is the person in a wheelchair – identity as a mother, and a disabled person, and her embodied experiences are expressed in the movie. The analysis reveals that the societal normative stereotypes relating to people with disabilities are reflected in the movie even though the movie has been created in close collaboration with Sam Bloom and the director of the movie has also kept the book as a reference point while working on the movie.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:liu-205343
Date January 2024
CreatorsMishra, Surabhi
PublisherLinköpings universitet, Forum för genusvetenskap och jämställdhet
Source SetsDiVA Archive at Upsalla University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeStudent thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text
Formatapplication/pdf
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

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