Summary
Through my non-probability convenience sampling method, I picked twenty-six well known films where disabilities were present. Thirteen of these films were from before the ADA was created in 1990, while thirteen were from after. This helped me answer my research question of: Did the creation of the ADA have an impact on how films portray people with disabilities? Films have a major impact on how the public perceives people with disabilities. My research aimed to discover how this portrayal has changed over the course of sixty years. Through my quantitative and qualitative analysis, I was able to develop a better insight on how the ADA may have affected the depiction of people with disabilities.
From my analysis, I found that in the films created before 1990, there was too much of an emphasis on the disability itself. People with disabilities are not any more or less special than a ‘typical’ person, therefore should not be portrayed as ‘overly heroic’ or be pitied. In addition, I found that there was a major shift in the use of humor throughout the years. In the films made before 1990, when humor was included, it was often in order to make fun of the person with a disability. In the films made after 1990, when humor was used, it was typically because the person with the disability was included in the general joke being made. Lastly, I found that in the earlier films, people with disabilities were often portrayed in negative ways such as being overly heroic, violent, or dumb while the later films often included positive traits such as raised awareness about the disability or inspired others.
Before starting my research, I reviewed twenty scholarly articles to gain a better understanding about the work already done on this topic. Although there was little to no research directly discussing how the ADA has changed film portrayals, there was a lot of research about how the ADA has changed the public’s perceptions of people with disabilities. It is evident that the ADA has allowed people with disabilities to finally be seen as worthy members of society, and as Peter Blanck (2019) explains, the modern view of disability changed dramatically since after the ADA was created. Disability is now seen to be a natural part of human life rather than something to be “cured or pitied” (Blanck 2019). In addition, scholars agree that one of the most influential sources of how people perceive those with disabilities is through the media. Although films can be a good way to educate the public on different topics, they often use stereotypes to depict characters who have disabilities (Chervenak 2006). My review of the existing literature allowed me to gain a better understanding about the effects of both the ADA and films on the public’s perception of disability.
Films not only affect the public’s perception of people with disabilities; they also affect those with disabilities themselves. For example, Zhang and Haller (2013) conducted a study to see what people with disabilities thought about media representations of their community, and how such representations impact their identity. They found that mass media often creates unattainable goals for the disability community, which makes those who have a disability feel inadequate that they can not attain the achievements they are seeing in the media. My research confirms this work, finding that several films from before the ADA was created depicted characters with a disability as ‘overly heroic’ which can create an unattainable goal for the disability community.
To answer my initial research question of: What is the effect of the Americans with Disabilities Act on media portrayals of people with disabilities in Hollywood films between 1960 and 2020, it is evident that movies started to more positively depict disability after the American with Disabilities Act was created in 1990. However, we can not pinpoint if this was the reason why films were portrayed more accurately. The Americans with Disabilities Act helped people understand the concept of a disability better, which may have had an impact on the way filmmakers wanted to portray a disability. This, in combination with time and society learning that discriminating against others is simply wrong, may have had an impact on why people with disabilities are portrayed in better ways. However, as noted earlier, there are definitely some outliers in all three of the themes I found. The American with Disabilities Act may have helped create a more positive atmosphere for those with disabilities, but it did not completely stop the prejudicial stereotypes that still appears in films today.
Future Research
After completing my research, it is evident that there are avenues for future research. Due to the fact that I could not pinpoint if The Americans with Disabilities Act has had a direct impact on the way films were portrayed, it would be interesting to find out if this was the case. More research must be done in order to come to this conclusion, such as looking at a larger sampling method to find out if any patterns appear. Another possibility for further research would be to see if films portray people differently depending on the type of disability. For example, trying to see if people with physical disabilities are more accurately portrayed in films than intellectual disabilities, or vice versa. Although I looked at films with both physical and intellectual disabilities throughout my research, nothing substantial stood out concluding that one disability was more accurately portrayed than another. As new films continue to come out that include people with disabilities, it will be interesting to continue to take note of how people with disabilities are portrayed.