To wonder (the Movie) why the hell this is acceptable?

[scoobyloobyloo]

Why the absolute fuckity fuck is it ok in this frigging day to NOT USE AN ACTOR WHO ACTUALLY HAS THE DISABILITY THE WHOLE FECKING FILM IS ACTUALLY ABOUT????

Seriously - no one would DREAM of blacking up, or allowing a man to play a woman.

I thought this film looked incredible until I realised that at the very heart of it they were perpetuating the stereotypes they were claiming to be busting.

Instead of spending time finding a young male actor who has Treacher Collins they plucked a pretty boy actor with a few awards under his belt to mock up a disability. Bunch of cowards.

FFS.

Thanks for enlightening me Flowerpot

Have enjoyed the discussion with you

Kerala

Have you seen the posts from people who are living with disabilities?

Do you have any experience of disabilities yourself?

scoobyloobyloo

Thanks for enlightening me Flowerpot
You're welcome.

Have enjoyed the discussion with you smile
That's good. Sorry you couldn't find any arguments or logic to back up your outrage and you couldn't answer my question. You really should have just said. Sometimes it's a good idea when you realise your argument isn't logical or makes sense, it's to reflect and change your perspective. Just a thought. All the best.

@llijkk the point of being a good actor is that you don't need to 'black up' in order to play a character that you don't look like 🤦‍♀️

I remember seeing a couple of documentaries 10 or 12 years ago about a little girl in America who had Treacher Collins. Her name was Julianna I think and she was about 2 in the first one. . I'd never heard of it and it was shocking to see. Her family were incredible, as was she. I think her case was particularly bad. I've often wondered how things went for her.

A friend of a friend's son was chosen as a lead in a Hollywood film. MASSIVE disruption for whole family. Mum giving up job to relocate to film location, resentful older siblings not wanting to spend entire summer holidays on the location etc etc. That's an able bodied child actor with a supportive family who are in the know about the film industry and it's been a challenge.

Thanks for enlightening me Flowerpot

Have enjoyed the discussion with you smile

Well, I haven’t enjoyed reading it. 😐 You made quite an odd (on the face of it) statement. I didn’t actually disagree with you until that point.

Gonnae pure just answer the question instead of ignoring it and put Flower out of her misery.

How do you know any of the films listed couldn't have been made with other actors? I doubt very much anyone even thought about casting from the disabled community when any of those films were made. I'm sure that there would be all sorts of challenges in casting a child with a severe facial deformity for a big budget commercial movie and I'm glad that they did at least try to find someone with Treacher Collins for the role.

I found this interesting article which stated that 20% of the US population has a disability, but fewer than 2% of TV characters do, and of those, 95% are played by able-bodied actors.

I really liked the second part of the article which was about the power of casting 'ordinary' roles with disabled actors, so that the disability isn't always the story. Otherwise the only time we ever see portrayal of people with disabilities is when the disability comes before the character. I know this is really important for other communities (eg my dd loves to read stories/see portrayals of gay and bisexual people, but she likes it even more when the most important thing about them isn't their sexuality - and when they don't get killed off quick too of course).

No my point is not many kids have the talent or the back up to lead a Hollywood film - the chances of such a child also having this particular condition I would imagine to be very slight.

Because it's so easy to find a decent pre-teen actor with rare facial anomalies, right?

YABU and talking crap as well.

Flowerpot
You’ve totally missed all the points here in your seeking of some kind of weird linear resolution to prove yourself right. And been pretty rude as well, though you did make me chuckle with the whole mafia/astronaut thing and then all high and mighty about OP not answering your questions - who are you, Magnus Magnusson??

OP, totally get what yhou’re talking about. And those people who can sit in their ivory fucking towers and call PC bullshit need to go and have a good hard bloody think about what the reality of life is for some people.

I have a family member with Treacher Collins and am part of various groups. The movie has been discussed massively lately and mostly in a positive way. I haven't really seen any negativity that the main role doesn't have the condition, mostly people on the groups understand why. Some of the posts here are very idealistic, I think they might need to read up on the condition, most people with TC have inner and outer ear malformations which results in hearing loss/deafness/speech difficulties...

Fair do’s Piggy, that’s good to know...

Cont... I think at the present time it would be too hard for the actor to complete a movie, which would require absolute perfection before a scene could be completed and for the public to understand. Plus other factors in finding the star role with all the right attributes, who also happens to have Treacher Collins, in an ideal world yes but in the real world...

Flowerpot your ignorance is deafening.
Replace the words ‘disabled actor’ with ‘black actor’ and ‘abled actor’ with ‘white actor’ & rather than ‘minimise facial anomaly so it’s mainstream friendly’ replace with ‘changed natural hair so it’s mainstream friendly’
It’s really not that difficult, unless you’re of course denying the oppression, stigma, discrimination, prejudice, abuse, & gross underrepresentation that disabled people suffer at the hands of abled people.

It would be nice if actors with disabilities were cast in roles where they are playing a character that is not defined by the disability. That would be truly inclusive.

I'm pretty sure the child actor in the A Word doesn't have autism.

Not seeing as big thread about that on here!

It would be nice if actors with disabilities were cast in roles where they are playing a character that is not defined by the disability. That would be truly inclusive.

That would be nice. But in this case it truly doesn't seem like it was possible. If it's not possible, what's the solution, to just not make the movie?

I agree with you completely, OP.

It's shocking how many neurotypical and able-bodied actors take roles that require them to assume a disability or condition.

I actually can't fucking believe there are posters on here defending blacking up (it's 2017 for crying out loud) and comparing disability to being a twin or a fucking ORC. Jesus wept.

👏 👏 👏YES bananas

Well said bananas

Agreed, bananas.

Have a look at this documentary about a young child with severe treacher collins.

She is 5 years old. Has had 27 operations on her face, has more to come, she can't talk, cant hear very well so she needs to use sign language, she cant eat so is GI tube fed, she cant breathe well so has a tracheotomy, her eyes dont blink so she needs special care at night to moisturise them.

Placing this child in a movie just to make the point that someone with the disability should play the part would actually be cruel. She has so much going on with her schooling, her speech therapy, her medical care, her routine, her family, that it would be counter productive and disruptive to her life.

I dont agree OP.
There are so few sufferers and tbh there may not have been a child with severe treacher collins physically able to do the role.

I turned the A Word off after one episode and didn’t watch the rest. Nobody gets a paediatrician appointment in 45 minutes (relatively quickly). That was irritating beyond belief and in no way reflected the realities of ASD diagnosis which can take years and years and years. It went off.