Darke, Paul Anthony (1999) The cinematic construction of physical disability as identified through the application of the social model of disability to six indicative films made since 1970 : A day in the death of Joe Egg (1970), The raging moon (1970), The elephant man (1980), Whose life is it anyway? (1981), Duet for one (1987) and My left foot (1989). PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

In writing this thesis I have tried to get beneath the clichés of disability imagery to reveal
the social constructions, through cinematic processes, of images of physical impairment as
disability. The thesis must be seen in the context of other writers who have done similar
work on other marginalised groups within our society that are regularly portrayed on the
cinema screen: gays, blacks, women and, to a lesser extent, the working-class. The
construction of school of writers, using representation theory, who have over the last two
decades revealed that which had previously been taken for granted - the ideological and
cultural influences on and of imagery that have an impact upon the lived lives of those
represented - have been my guiding influence. The Social Model of disability theory has
been used as my primary methodological framework and analytical approach.
In the introduction I provide an outline of Disability Theory — i.e., the Medical Model and
the Social Model of disability - and define the theoretical framework within which the
thesis has been written to make the thesis comprehensible in the wider context of the social
construction of 'disability'. In the literature review of disability imagery writing (Chapter
One), I include writing that is journalistic rather than academic to redress the general
scarcity of writing on disabling images.
In this thesis, the cinematic techniques that construct impairment as disability, i.e.,
pathologise impairment as Other(ness), are identified. I explore three specific areas of
cinema and culture in Chapters Two, Three and Four of the thesis: the use, or non-use, of
stereotypes; the representation of the family in relation to disability, and finally, the use of
the abnormal body to pathologise impairment.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1993 Motion Pictures
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	People with disabilities in motion pictures
Official Date:	April 1999
Dates:	Date Event April 1999 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Film and Television Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Dyer, Richard, 1945-
Extent:	272 leaves
Language:	eng

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