Radiation: Big bang theory
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I'm pretty sure Sacha was referring to the times when women were banned from appearing on stage
Thanks, Lucy. Imagine persuading people after the ban was lifted that women were capable of performing those female characters - and the problems finding many who were capable when they had not had a chance to prove themselves or build experience.
Craig, attitudes about disability are the same type of social phenomenon as attiudes about race. There's a long and ugly history for both, still unfolding. I'm not in the mood to go into any more depth tonight when I suspect few others here disagree with that. However we can discuss it ad infinitum when my new blog is ready.
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Breaking Bad was particularly awesome last night, especially the opening song, and as I'm not clever enough to embed a YouTube clip, here's the link.
You could have asked me! Why don't we talk any more? All we do now is watch tennis. Are we trying to recapture the lost tendon-ness of our relationship?
Anyway, trick is that there's no trick. Just paste the URL of the clip in the comment box.
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And wasn't that tennis awesome tonight? I don't recall a match when so many completely impossible shots were made to look easy, or if not easy, then just down right miraculous. Worthy of a final. Not so sure about the Waltzing Matilda afterwards though.
Of course that was just the earlier game, now it's NADA and MURR. When am I going to sleep?
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tendon-ness
sweet
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Breaking Bad was particularly awesome last night
My favourite television event for a dozen years, or at least since the Sopranos. I have had to devour the entire thing in an *coff* out-of-band fashion.
specially the opening song
Indeed. Also trying to obtain the "Breaking Bad Pirate SoundtracK", whatever that may turn out to be.
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Barney on How I Met Your Mother
has the best lines
"you can call it a ninja star danger-jock if you want"
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and going back to that Glee scene with the deaf choir - dad-dom means I'm home of a Friday now... - that did strike a very odd tone. Would they have got up and taken over with any other choir? It struck me as extremely patronising.
Am I the first person in the thread to out myself as a big fat choir nerd? I think I might be. There is something really special about spontaneously singing with another group: blending, adjusting, smiling at the stranger next to you. I understand the concerns about the lead-in to the scene, but I can't actually come up with a superior alternative - the visiting choir was too horrified to join the hairography, an announced "group sing" wouldn't have been as powerful,...
I guess everyone is going to read that scene through their own experiences, but me? I cried when I watched it. And then I rewound it and cried again.
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I can't actually come up with a superior alternative
I can - let the Deaf choir sing their own song. In full.
Do a magical blend with one of the many other choirs the gleeks have sung with and yet somehow resisted the urge to "rescue". Oh and the Deaf choir was never invited to join the gleek performance.
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Are you saying that the Deaf choir is somehow special and exempt from being considered in the pool of choirs for this scene?
Because I find that WAY more offensive.
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Oh and in case you thought that was a good example of sign singing, check this lo-fi local solo example - note the more expressive body language and facial expressions and imagine a whole group doing it like that:
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I thought it was a shame that Glee couldn't seem to find a singer in a wheelchair
Ok this is starting to bug me. I really don't understand the need for characters to be acted by actors with the same skills or lack thereof.
Temperance Brennan is NOT a scientist. Not even close, really trust me on this, nothing about her portrayal of a scientist rings true. Her partner is NOT an FBI agent. Do we demand that only gay actors play gay parts and vice versa? Do we require actors to learn to play the piano when the part requires them to touch a keyboard or do we accept that the hands might belong to a different person?
These are fictional roles played by actors.
If you want to criticize the actor in the wheelchair for getting something wrong, that's OK. But for not really being the character he portrays?
And no it's not the same as blackface which was instituted to exclude Negroes and humiliate at the same time. In this case a person in a wheelchair could have auditioned and won the role as easily as anyone else. You can't possibly be suggesting that only wheelchair bound people be allowed to play wheelchair roles can you?
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Are you saying that the Deaf choir is somehow special and exempt from being considered in the pool of choirs for this scene?
No, Amy, I'm saying that it is the only one to my knowledge that ever has been treated this way on the show. I believe there's a word for that.
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Bart, it's not just about skills, it's about culture. That's the connection with blackface. And disabled performers are excluded from performing in many ways, including the unchecked ignorance of producers and casting agents.
And no I'm not saying that they shouldn't have to be be able to act or sing or whatever, but there will be a period where extra investment is needed to get things off the ground - just as there was when other groups started being included.
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treated this way
???
I really don't understand the grief about "treatment".
It's not about "helping". (Helping how? For what?) That is a very ableist interpretation. You don't sing or play with other people to HELP them. You do it because you want to make music together.
There were two guest choirs in this episode. They might have done this scene with the other one (although there would be obvious health and safety issues with regard to being kicked in the face during some of that dancing). There would have been plenty of ways to criticise that choice too. But saying they shouldn't have done it with the Deaf choir? I just don't buy it. The Deaf choir is allowed to be about more than just pedgagogical "ooo look, a Deaf choir" value, right?
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but there will be a period where extra investment is needed to get things off the ground - just as there was when other groups started being included.
Yup I really get that Sacha. But I really also think that aiming at Glee is the wrong target for two reasons.
Glee actually tries to get things as right as it can. There are a bunch of producers and directors much more deserving of criticism than those who create and perform in Glee
And Glee is pure sillyness. It isn't a docudrama or some deep meaningful study of the human condition. It is a simple piece of fluff that sometimes takes the time to try and say something meaningful and some of those times actually gets pretty close to the mark.But even if we were talking about a show that looked at the human condition in a serious way I really don't expect the actors to be selected based on whether or not they have a particular physical condition. What I expect is that they be selected based on how well they can portray what is needed.
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Amy there's context that I just do not have time to go into now but please accept that yes there is "treatment" and there is "helping" going on in the way the scene was set up, scripted, acted and cut to fit prevailing stereotypes about disability. Can pick up more later but I'm off to work now.
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What I expect is that they be selected based on how well they can portray what is needed.
So you'd expect to see more women playing men and vice versa?
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Oh and we're talking about Glee because that is what has been on screen. There are plenty of other examples (which I'm hoping to discuss on my new blog when it's ready), but please don't assume that people's understanding about what disability means only comes from 'serious' documentaries. Although they're largely disease-of-the-week crud too.
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You seem to think that because I disagree with you I must not understand your point.
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If you want to criticize the actor in the wheelchair for getting something wrong, that's OK. But for not really being the character he portrays?
I think someone should point out that while 'able-bodied' people can play a character in a wheelchair, the reverse doesn't apply. Given that the only role that an actor in a wheelchair can play, is a character in a wheelchair, it'd be nice if they got those roles sometimes. It's not like characters in wheelchairs get that many roles in TV or film to start with.
Unless we don't want people in wheelchairs to aspire to be actors.
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Given that the only role that an actor in a wheelchair can play, is a character in a wheelchair, it'd be nice if they got those roles sometimes.
To change angle a little, it would be nice if roles being cast weren't assumed to be able-bodied (and probably white) unless specifically stated otherwise. I suspect it'll be a long time coming, though.
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I'm glad they made a movie about Stephen Hawking while he could still do it himself. If they cast Tom Cruise in the role (oh wait, he did a wheelchair role already) I'd have to move to Mars.
Now, where are those guys with that rocket...
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It's not like characters in wheelchairs get that many roles in TV or film to start with.
I've thought a lot about this kind of thing ever since I saw post-accident Christopher Reeve as the male lead in the remake of Rear Window.
Also: Marlee Matlin.
I wish I had something more intelligent to add.
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I definitely think they should make a movie about Stephen Hawking while he could still do it himself.
A Brief History of Time by Errol Morris.
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A Brief History of Time by Errol Morris.
Don't know where you got your quote from, because I said something completely different, as you can see ;-)
Anypoo, off to Mars I go...
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