Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

New documentary tackles disability cliches in Hollywood
by Melissa Wasserman
2016-12-07

This article shared 1020 times since Wed Dec 7, 2016
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


Silence is not an option when it comes to disability exploitation in Hollywood films and the new documentary Code of the Freaks sets out to expose this as it begins its Kickstarter campaign.

Code of the Freaks will be a 90-minute documentary featuring local, national, and internationally known artists, activists and scholars with disabilities who critique Hollywood's ( mis )representations of disability, while addressing how these clichés and portrayals shape the real lives of both disabled and non-disabled people.

Tod Browning's 1932 cult classic Freaks inspired the documentary's title with the quote "Their code is a law unto themselves. Offend one, and you offend them all."

Code of the Freaks is driven by artists, scholars and activists—all of which have disabilities or are allies. This creative team includes Chicago-based filmmaker Salome Chasnoff; novelist Susan Nussbaum; University of Illinois at Chicago ( UIC ) faculty lecturer Aly Patsavas; UIC Director of the Program on Disability Art, Culture and Humanities Carrie Sandahl; and School of the Art Institute editor Jerzy Rose.

"It's really important to all of us and the community that we're making this film with that it's disabled people making the film about disability," said Patsavas, who lives in chronic pain. "It is a combination of these mash-ups of Hollywood's clips and interviews and conversations with disabled artists, activists, performers and scholars, focusing on their experience and analysis of these films, alongside those clips."

The project is a work in progress, so the group has recently announced its Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to complete the project. The effort is crowdfunding to raise $30,000 and runs through Dec. 18.

"We need a film for disability that can kind of do the historical overview of representations of disability in film and actually show that disability was sort of central to early film," said Patsavas, mentioning Thomas Edison's film "The Fake Beggar" is thought to be one of the first films, if not, the first film to address disabilities. "We wanted a vehicle to tell that story, but we also wanted the community voice and we wanted to bring disabled people together to have that. We felt like it was really important in this film we had an opportunity to raise the voices of disabled people and that's actually what the film is about. It's about giving the microphone to disabled people to talk about film, but in doing that we quickly realized that people were talking about their lives."

Patsavas said the more conversations the team had with the community about the topic, the more they realized those conversations are the film.

Through the interviews and clips, various topics are explored, including, disabilities with the intersections of race, class, age, gender, and sexuality in order to expose pernicious myths about disability, from the notion that heterosexual romance has curing powers to the belief that living with disability is worse than death.

Code of the Freaks seeks to reveal Hollywood's 116-year history of exploiting disability stereotypes through beloved characters and storylines, while decoding some statistics including: 20 percent of U.S. residents between 5 and 64 years-old are disabled, yet fewer than 2 percent of film and television characters are disabled; and only .05 percent of disabled characters' lines are spoken by disabled actors.

"There's something really important about the conversation that happens, but also the repetition and showing the repetition of these stories by having these clips compiled together," said Patsavas.

In terms of sexuality, Patsavas said, the role of heterosexuality in these narratives creates a big silence around disability and sexuality. The queer, disabled folks the creative team talks to ( including herself ), Patsavas said, want to actually see experiences represented in different ways within broader culture, which includes film.

"I think that the short version is that when you don't have your experiences represented on screen, when it's coupled with a total lack of access to information about disabled people's sexuality, then that's sad and that's a problem for a lot of people and I think that's a conversation we want to have," said Patsavas, who identifies as a queer woman. "What does it mean for queer disabled folks to not see their likenesses on screen? To have representations on screen that are so tied to this rehabilitative heterosexual narrative, that's part of the problem. We have no easy solutions, but that's why we're having a conversation with so many people."

Patsavas said disability also poses this giant question for people that don't live with disability, whether it is a question of "how do they live like that?" to "how do they have sex?" to "how do you get dressed in the morning?" In a narrative, she explained, there is this big question mark that has to get resolved somehow in order to answer the question for the viewers or readers. This wrap-up is usually done by curing, killing or institutionalizing those with disabilities.

"We can learn a lot from the ways that stories sort of force these narrative endings," said Patsavas. "We're not just talking about the overarching narratives, but through our film, actually, in some ways [we're] trying to offer an alternative to the representations we're critiquing by having voices of people who represent the kind of diversity heterogeneity of the community."

For more information, visit CodeOfTheFreaks.com .

To contribute to the Kickstarter campaign, visit: www.kickstarter.com/projects/codeofthefreaks/code-of-the-freaks-a-documentary-film/ .


This article shared 1020 times since Wed Dec 7, 2016
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

SHOWBIZ Lady Gaga, 'P-Valley,' Wendy Williams, Luke Evans, 'Queer Eye,' 'Transition' 2024-03-15
- Lady Gaga came to the defense of Dylan Mulvaney after a post with the trans influencer/activist for International Women's Day received hateful responses, People Magazine noted. On Instagram, Gaga stated, "It's appalling to me that a ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Jinkx Monsoon, Xavier Dolan, 'Frida,' Lena Waithe, out singer 2024-03-08
- Two-time RuPaul's Drag Race winner Jinkx Monsoon is headed back to the New York stage, joining off-Broadway's Little Shop of Horrors as Audrey beginning April 2, according to Playbill. The casting makes Monsoon the first drag ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Queer actors, icons duet, Hunter Schafer, Oscars, Elizabeth Taylor 2024-03-01
- Queer actor Kal Penn is set to star in Trust Me, I'm a Doctor—a film that chronicles the final days of actress/model Anna Nicole Smith, whose overdose death in 2007 at age 39 sparked a tabloid ...


Gay News

Dorian Film Awards: 'All of Us Strangers' takes top prizes 2024-02-27
- February 26, 2024 - Los Angeles, Ca. - For its 15th Dorian Film Awards, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics fully embraced All of Us Strangers, writer-director Andrew Haigh's fantastical and tear-inducing tale of two ...


Gay News

SAG Awards honor Streisand, few LGBTQ+ actors 2024-02-25
- Queer entertainers made their mark—although not a major one—at the 2024 Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, held Feb. 24 in Los Angeles. The event was live-streamed on Netflix for the first time. Indigenous and Two-Spirit actor ...


Gay News

WORLD Caribbean ruling, Pussy Riot, Russian raid, Canadian warning, anti-trans bar 2024-02-23
- The top court in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines dismissed a challenge to colonial-era anti-gay laws, Reuters reported. Javin Johnson and Sean Macleish—two gay men who had pushed to decriminalize ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Kristen Stewart, Rock Hudson, Talia Keys, 'True Detective,' Marvel comic 2024-02-23
- At the Berlin Film Festival, Kristen Stewart defended her photo shoot for a Rolling Stone magazine cover that went viral and divided audiences on social-media platforms, per The Hollywood Reporter. "The existence of a female body ...


Gay News

Second Glance Productions hosts LGBTQupid Soiree 2024-02-16
- In celebration of Valentine's Day, Chicago based film and media production company Second Glance hosted The LBGTQupid Soiree. The event, which was focused on spinning attitudes on this particular day, was presented at The iO ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Elton John, Hannah Gadsby, video game, Jennifer Lopez, queer thriller 2024-02-16
Video below - Sir Elton John has sold his Atlanta home and is now auctioning off more than 900 of his personal items that were kept in the 13,500-square-foot condo, The Daily Mail noted. The massive collection includes rare ...


Gay News

GALECA announces nominees for the Dorian Film Awards 2024-02-07
--From a press release - Feb. 5, 2024 - GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, consisting of over 500 entertainment critics, journalists and media icons, today announced the group's democratically chosen nominees for its 15th Dorian Film Awards. All of ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ JoJo Siwa, Tom Holland, Bowen Yang, Pet Shop Boys, Mariah Carey 2024-02-02
- In the wake of Nigel Lythgoe exiting So You Think You Can Dance, queer personality JoJo Siwa is returning to the series, per Deadline. Siwa, who was a judge on season 17 of the Fox show, will replace Lythgoe, who left ...


Gay News

Leather Archives & Museum announces 2024 Fetish Film Forum 2024-01-27
--From a press release - CHICAGO, Illinois—After a wildly successful inaugural year, including a 10-film series at the Leather Archives & Museum and a 5-film series at FACETS, the Leather Archives & Museum is thrilled to announce the continuation of Fetish ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Sundance items, Green Day, 'Wednesday,' Queerties, 'The Wiz' 2024-01-26
- At the Sundance Film Festival, Jodie Foster told Variety that the $1.4-billion success of Barbie helps confirm that Hollywood no longer views women directors as too much of a risk. She said, "With a big success ...


Gay News

WORLD Arrest in Brazil, athlete dies, Ghana attack, World Economic Forum 2024-01-26
- A 30-year-old man was arrested in Brazil on Jan. 18 for his alleged role in the stabbing murder of prominent NYC art dealer Brent Sikkema, Gay City News reported. Authorities took Cuban resident Alejandro Triana Trevez ...


Gay News

OSCARS Gladstone, Domingo receive nominations 2024-01-23
- LGBTQ+ actors Lily Gladstone and Colman Domingo were among those receiving Oscar nominations when they were announced Jan. 23. Gladstone received a Best Actress nod for her role in the Martin Scorsese-directed Killers of the Flower ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.