The Bodies of Film Club Takes a Critical Look at Disabilities in Cinema
The club is a collaboration between KPU faculty and students with disabilities
Fiona Whittington-Walsh, a faculty member in Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Sociology department, organized the Bodies of Film Club to analyze how people with intellectual disabilities are represented in movies. Five KPU students joined her in the club, all of whom have disabilities themselves, to offer their critiques and perspectives on films like What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Forrest Gump, and Rain Man.
The club gathered before a small audience on Nov. 10 to discuss their progress so far, including how they go about analyzing films, the findings from those analyses, and events they have taken part in.
Throughout their time together, they have discovered that people with intellectual disabilities are often confined to stereotypes in film, such as being violent, childish, pitiful, or dependent. While they find many artistic representations of intellectual disabilities inaccurate and offensive, they have also seen movies that provide a realistic insight into what it means to have a disability.
The five students in The Bodies of Film Club—Kya Bezanson, Emma Sawatzky, Colton Turner, Christian Burton, and Katie Miller—each have different roles to play and different backstories. Bezanson, the creative leader, has Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and has a happy life with both foster and adopted children. Sawatzky, whose brilliant memory has earned her the title of “the collective memory” of the club, has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Developmental Coordination Disorder, and loves writing short stories. Burton, the technical expert and fact-checker, “learns slowly with reading and writing” but is savvy with technology. The country music and rodeo-loving Turner is the club researcher and Miller, who has a particularly bright personality, is the emotional centre of the club.
“It’s a unique thing you’re doing when you show people the difference of what actual people with disabilities are compared to what the movies are,” says Sawatzky.
Miller continues, “I wanted to help people view society in a different way and give them my insight and let them see that the media isn’t always correct … Like, we’re not asexual beings. Stuff like that.”
Turner appreciates the amount of interest he has witnessed in response to the Bodies of Film Club’s presentations, and Bezanson is glad to be practicing critical thinking skills in a welcoming environment.
Since they first started watching movies together, the members have grown closer as friends than they had ever anticipated. As a researcher and professor, Whittington-Walsh sees herself as a “humble listener” led by “honesty, trust, and mutual support,” although she too feels that bonding is essential to the Bodies of Film Club.
“I like how we’re not judgemental,” says Sawatzky. “We’re very accepting and we’re very open.”
Whittington-Walsh adds, “I had my own analyses of these films before we watch them, and it changes once I watch them with the group, because you guys are the experts. I’m so proud of these five young people—the Fab Five! They’re becoming leaders in the province of self-advocates.”
“You guys have changed my life,” says Fiona, to her student members. “We’re stuck together for a long time.”
The Bodies of Film Club has celebrated many special events since they met, presenting films at festivals and conferences. Other exciting plans are coming up in the future as well. They’ll be attending Sprout Film Festival and the Inclusion B.C. Film Festival this year, the latter of which falls on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. At KPU, the Club will help present two films about people with autism at the KDocs closing night gala.
