Disability in horror films
{{Short description|Cultural phenomenon}}
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File:Freaks (1932) original one-sheet.jpg (1932). Whilst the film has been praised for its majority disabled cast, it has also been described as exploitative.]]
Horror films have frequently featured disability, dating to the genre's earliest origins in the 1930s. Various disabilities have been used in the genre to create or augment horror in audiences,{{Cite journal |last=Hall |first=Melinda |date=2016-03-08 |title=Horrible Heroes: Liberating Alternative Visions of Disability in Horror |url=https://dsq-sds.org/index.php/dsq/article/view/3258 |journal=Disability Studies Quarterly |language=en |volume=36 |issue=1 |doi=10.18061/dsq.v36i1.3258 |issn=2159-8371 |doi-access=free}} which has attracted commentary from some critics and disability activists.
Monsters and villains depicted in many horror films have often had physical or mental disabilities. These evolved from being sympathetic depictions of disabled characters in early monster films such as Frankenstein, to presentations of disabled people as "bloodthirsty and terrifying" in slasher films of the 1970s and 1980s.{{Cite web |last=Lopez |first=Kristen |date=2021-03-26 |title=A Brief History Of Disability In Horror |url=https://www.fangoria.com/original/a-brief-history-of-disability-in-horror/ |access-date=2022-09-30 |website=FANGORIA |language=en}} Horror films have sometimes attracted criticism for their depictions of disability{{Cite news |last=Alexiou |first=Gus |date=2020-11-25 |title=Hollywood Must Stop Using Disability Imagery Purely For Horror And Cheap Thrills |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/gusalexiou/2020/11/25/hollywood-must-stop-using-disability-imagery-purely-for-horror-and-cheap-thrills/ |access-date=2022-09-30 |work=Forbes |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Buckley |first=Cara |date=2020-11-17 |title=Scary Is How You Act, Not Look, Disability Advocates Tell Filmmakers |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/17/movies/witches-movie-disability.html |access-date=2022-09-30 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} or have been described as ableist.{{Cite web |last=Garcia |first=S. |date=2018-10-29 |title=Villainizing Bodies and Minds: Ableism in Horror Movies |url=https://femmagazine.com/villainizing-bodies-and-minds-ableism-in-horror-movies/ |access-date=2022-09-30 |website=FEM Magazine |language=en-US}} Some films have been accused of reflecting eugenicist views held by the society of their time.{{Cite news |last=Madden |first=Emma |date=2019-07-10 |title=Midsommar's ableism resurrects the dark history of eugenics-inspired horror |url=http://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jul/10/midsommars-ableism-resurrects-the-dark-history-of-eugenics-inspired-horror-ari-aster |access-date=2022-09-30 |work=The Guardian |language=en}} Tropes of characters "overcoming" disability, or of disability granting special powers, have been described as harmful.{{Cite news |last=Stine |first=Alison |date=2021-11-16 |title=Some horror movies take a new approach to disability: Fetishizing deafness |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/11/16/horror-movies-disability-deafness/ |access-date=2022-09-30 |newspaper=Washington Post |department=Perspective |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}
Physical disabilities
Tod Browning's Freaks (1932) has been highlighted as a notable example of a horror film for prominently depicting disability, and has received diverse commentary for its depiction of the community, with some labelling it as portraying disability sympathetic and anti-eugenicist and others criticising it for being exploitative.{{Cite web |last=Lopez |first=Kristen |date=2020-10-06 |title='Freaks' Is the Granddaddy of Disabled Horror, for Better and Worse |url=https://www.indiewire.com/2020/10/freaks-disabled-horror-movie-1234590637/ |access-date=2022-09-30 |website=IndieWire |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Sutton |first=Travis |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118883648.ch5 |title=A Companion to the Horror Film |date=2014-09-09 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-0-470-67260-0 |editor-last=Benshoff |editor-first=Harry M. |edition=1st |pages=73–89 |language=en |chapter=Avenging the Body: Disability in the Horror Film |doi=10.1002/9781118883648.ch5 |access-date=2022-09-30}} As of 2020, it remains one of few American films to feature a predominantly disabled cast. Independent film Deafula (1975) is notable for being entirely in sign language. Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th series and Leatherface from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre are both violent killers with disabilities that have been described as depicting disability as fearful or taboo. In the 21st century, some commentators noted a trend of horror films depicting deafness in a perceivedly fetishistic manner, including A Quiet Place and The Unholy. Lupita Nyong'o's performance in the 2019 film Us was criticized by disability rights groups for being inspired by symptoms of spasmodic dysphonia.{{Cite news |last=Shoard |first=Catherine |date=2019-03-29 |title=Lupita Nyong'o under fire from disability groups for 'evil' voice in Us |url=http://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/mar/29/horror-film-us-under-fire-from-disability-groups-over-lupita-nyongo-evil-voice-jordan-peele-film |access-date=2022-09-30 |work=The Guardian |language=en}}
Mental disabilities
The film Split has been criticised for its portrayal of dissociative identity disorder. In particular, it was criticised for stigmatizing the disorder, and potentially causing harm to those that live with it.{{Cite web |last=Nedelman |first=Michael |date=2017-01-23 |title=What Shyamalan's 'Split' gets wrong |url=https://www.cnn.com/2017/01/23/health/shyamalan-split-movie-dissociative-identity-disorder/index.html |access-date=2024-07-26 |website=CNN |language=en}}{{Cite web |last1=Morris-Gray |first1=Ishan |last2=Xu |first2=Yicheng |title=Column: M. Night Shyamalan and the Ableist Myth |url=https://farragomagazine.com/article/farrago/column-m-night-shyamalan-and-the-ableist-myth/ |access-date=2024-07-26 |website=farragomagazine.com |language=en-AU}} In an open letter to M. Night Shyamalan, disability activists wrote that "Split represents yet another gross parody of us based on fear, ignorance, and sensationalism, only much worse."{{Cite web |date=December 28, 2016 |title=Open Letter to the Director |url=https://splitmoviehurts.com/letter-to-director/ |access-date=January 28, 2017 |archive-date=February 2, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202052250/https://splitmoviehurts.com/letter-to-director/ |url-status=dead }}
The 2016 American horror film Spring Break Zombie Massacre was created by Sam Suchman and Mattie Zufelt, best friends with Down syndrome, who also starred in the film.{{Cite magazine |last=Hoffman |first=Ashley |date=2016-07-14 |title=These 20-Year-Old Friends With Down Syndrome Made a Zombie Film |url=https://time.com/4405168/meet-the-20-year-old-friends-with-down-syndrome-who-made-a-zombie-movie/ |access-date=2023-04-15 |magazine=Time |language=en}} The movie was widely praised as refreshing for having neurodivergent minds in charge of the creative process.{{Cite web |last=Pratt |first=Mark |date=2021-04-08 |title=New film follows 2 zombie moviemakers with Down syndrome |url=https://fox11online.com/news/entertainment/new-film-follows-2-zombie-moviemakers-with-down-syndrome |access-date=2023-04-15 |website=WLUK |language=en |agency=Associated Press}} It was also celebrated for featuring protagonists with Down syndrome whose disability was not the main focus of the film.{{Cite web |last=Brunner |first=Jeryl |date=26 June 2021 |title=The Sweet Story of How Two Unstoppable Teen Filmmakers Got an Oscar-Winning Director to Produce Their Movie |url=https://parade.com/1199263/jerylbrunner/sam-and-mattie-make-a-zombie-movie/ |website=Parade}}
See also
Further reading
- {{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Angela |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NLg4pQAwbLgC&pg=PP8 |title=Hideous Progeny: Disability, Eugenics, and Classic Horror Cinema |date=2012-01-24 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-52785-9 |language=en}}
References
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