TIMED CONTION - ESSAY ON DISABILITY - 52MIN

how is disability represented through the micro elements?

in this essay i am going to talk about how disabilty is represented in the clip coming down the mountain throught the 4 macro elements mise-en-scene, cinematography, sound and editing. The first areas i will talk about is cinematography and how it has been used to represent disability.

the first shot is a mid shot of the physically able boy Ben connoting he is the main character and the protagonist of this tv drama show. following this shot is a low angle establishing shot of the estate where the brothers live, the shot is zooming in as it is shown connoting this is a singnificant place, their shelter and somewhere where they will always feel safe. futhermore the zoom is an editing technique which is one of the macro elemts, leading the shot from outside to inside.

once we are inside the house we see a extreme close up shot of the disabled brother looking at the spoon full of weatabix, this conotes that he doesnt really have a care in the world about things that are important but of things that intrest him such as the food that he likes as he is glaring at it as if it was really fasinating.

The next shot we see is a close up shot of Ben as his mother is kissing his diabled brother before leaving conoting the disabled boy is much more important and needs lots of love however the facial expression of the physically able boy signifies he feels left out and also need to feel loved and isnt because his brother is disabled.

Moreover there are lots of high and low angles used in this clip. The first low angle we see is of Ben with a gun in his hand with an eye line match aiming at his brother, this coonotes he is jealous of the attention his brother gets and wants to kill him as he has said this in the clip too. Fouthermore this shows that disabled people get more attention as they are inferior and need support in life and with out it they could end up being effected more mentally which means the phuysically brother would have to be treated un equally conforming the stereotype of disabled people.

moving on a high angle is used on Ben however does not look week or vulnerable as his takes up most of the shot making him look dominant incontrast to his disabled brother who is on the ground looking up at Ben. Because Bens brother is disabled he hasnt got the power to climp the tree and is something we would expect a disabled person to do which confroms the stereotype of a disabled person not being able to things for them selves and need other to do it.

.Editing is used to porttray the representation of disability. montage editing is used at random in this clip cross cutting from ben to black and white shotd of animals the pace of the shots are slightly which may be in away representing the way Ben feels about his disabled brother this conforms the way a someone who is physically able and has a member of family is not able.

another editing used was the 180 degree rule at the begining on the midshot of ben panning from one side to the other to help us establish he is our main character the protagonist. shot reverse shot has been used several time to portray the relationship between the two brothers. the shot present how they feel towards each other as the phisically ables facial expression signifies he doesnt like his brother for various reasons and the disabled facial expression insinuates that he doesnt really know what is going on around him as he is fouccussed on what is on his hands.

another editiing technique used is eyeline match, this is used to show what the disable character is looking at which was a sausage, once he sees is he takes it this conforms the stereotype that they dont really know whats going on in the world as he took food of someone elses plate.

another aspect that shows the representation of disability is the mise en scene. The mise en scene show the mother kissing the disabled sons head connoting she needs to show effectionate to him in order for him to feel normal and part of the familly.

when the mother leaves the father is holding a prop which is the knife this weapon makes him look dominant and powerful as a knife has various meaning behind which makes him look intimdating and superior.

the costume and makeup of most people are casual, t shirts, shirts, hoodys and blouse even for the disable boy connoting equality helping the lessabled boy to fit in and feel like he isnt diferant. the costume of the strangers on the streets were also casual however most of them were wearing black connoting they are the antagonist in the disabled boys eyes as they as differant to him and will need to be protected from them inorder for him to feel safe and lead a normal life.

futhermore whne they are sitting at the bus the disabled boy always has a prop with him some kind of and it changes every day connoting he is a child and is pretty much innocent doesent know what he is doing and just wants to have fun.

also when the cinematography showed the disabled boy to be week and vulnerable when ben was up on the tree the diabled boy had an icecream on his hand this signifies and reinforces the idea that he is jsut like a child as he is taking great pleasure in licking the icecream as he looke really happy.

lastly rules of third have been used to show the positioning of the characters the disabled guy is loacted at the centre of the shot signifying he is the main attention with is able brother on oside and the antagonist which is just a stranger on the other connoting his vulnerability when he is with strangers and that he will always need someone with him th balance out the weekness so no harm will be in his way.

The last aspect of the macro element is sound which also helps in conveying the representation of disablity. the first sound we hear is the diagetic voice over of Ben at the Begining of the clip connoting that he could be the disabled character in the clip "if i was thinking straight i would have had to kill him in a sensible way" this makes him seem as he is mentally disabled subverting the stereotype of a an able person.

futhermor the diagetic dialect between the brothers connote that they have a normal brotherly realtionship as all brother have moments of stupidity like this one, over the weetabix "but i like weetabix" this connotes that disabled people only think for them selves as thats all they actualy can do they cant really take into consideration of other people as others have to take iconsideration of the situation he is in.

also when the disabled brother talks he has a slight speach impairment making it harder to understand this conforms the stereotype of disabled people not being able to express them selves as able much as able people can. while the brothers fight over the weetabix the perants take ove the disabled brothers side "ben that was abit selfish" even though it was clearly understandable as disabled boy did take 8 pieces the perants took his side this was only becaue it would have hurt the disabled brother feeling and he wouldnt have really uderstoond what he done wrong so the only way to solve it was to put the blame on the able brother.

and last but not least the diagetic dialouge "i need a poo" connotes that the disabled boy needs to let everyone know what he is doing so they know his where about and also to support him if he needed any which in many cases he would. this also confrom the stereotype as most disabled people do not know how to handle themsleves in situations like this.