Summary
A well know movie that portrays disabilities is the movie Frida. The movie is a about the life of the famous Mexican painter Frida Kahlo and her time with Diego Rivera. The movie seems to be more focused on Frida and the misfortunate incidents surrounding her life. One of the incidents portrayed in the movie is her physical and emotional suffering as an adult. The movie starts by showing the days that she was a happy and rebellious teen. Minutes into the movie, Frida gets in a bus accident that leaves her incapacitated for a long time. She is eventually able to walk again, but towards the end of the movie her health declines and so does her love life with Diego Rivera.
Analysis
In the movie, there is a lot of stereotypical perceptions about people with disabilities. One of the main stereotypes is that “the impairment gives disabled persons a chance to exhibit virtues they didn’t know they had, and teach the rest of us patience and courage” (Block 2). The movie shows Frida starting to paint on her cast as she cries after her teenage love leaves to Europe. She continues to paint on her cast until her father gets her materials to paint on. If one doesn’t pay enough attention to the movie, they would assume that Frida started to enjoy art and painting only after she had the accident. Frida had admired art before the accident. Her increase in painting is also attributed to her need to help her parents pay for her medical bills. After that, painting seem to become her hobby once she marries Diego. If we didn’t know she was disabled, she would’ve been considered a hardworking woman. Because we knew of her physically inabilities and about her accident, some would consider Frida a courageous person. Compared to an abled person, Frida doesn’t just get attention from her painting talent but also because of her inabilities.
Another stereotype that I saw was the common word “crippled”. In a scene Frida and a friend attend to climb an Aztec temple, but Diego stops her to see if she’s sure and she replies, “if an old man can do it, why not a cripple?” (Frida 1:29:00). According to Brown, “language is *one* tool of an oppressive system […] Ableism is systematic, institutional devaluing of bodies and minds deemed deviant, abnormal, defective, subhuman, less than” (1). Cripple is a word that falls in the category of ableist words. The use of this word demonstrates how Frida sees herself. Another example is towards the end of the movie. When talking to Diego, Frida says “I want you to burn this Judas of a body. I don’t want to be buried. I spent enough time laying down. Burn it” (Frida 1:50:50). Frida does not say any of the ableist slurs, but she does imply that she feels betrayed by her body by comparing it to Judas. Both instances of the movie were meant to take place in different times during her life. The first example was said in a sarcastic tone and the second example was more serious. Despite that, she directed those ableist comments towards herself. Her use of derogatory language towards her disability shows how much respect she has for herself for having a disability.
It is hard to determine of this movie was a stereotypical movie about disabilities. Frida suffered a lot physically and emotionally. She had medical issues and heart breaks that complicated her life. Thus, it is hard to said whether her negativity and anger was due to her disability of not. This movie is also based on a true story. If Frida really did say and feel this way in real life, it is hard to categorize this film as the typical movie about disabilities. In other words, the situations and the validity of the movie is something to consider before labeling it stereotypical.
Questions
Do you think a person’s life circumstances and experience should be considered when trying to determine if media source is stereotypical? If we thought of Frida without her physical disabilities, do you think she would have as much national and cultural recognition for her work?
Works Cited
Taymor, Julie, director. Frida. Performance by Alfred Molina, and Salma Hayek, Miramax Films, 2002.
Bʀᴏᴡɴ, Lʏᴅɪᴀ X. Z. “Ableism/Language.” Autistic Hoya, http://www.autistichoya.com/p/ableist-words-and-terms-to-avoid.html.
Block, Laurie. “Education: Essay.” Disability History Museum
Challenging Bodies 
To answer your first question; yes, I do think that not only do an individuals experiences need to be taken into account when dealing with stereotypes, but their own words as well. I think the only way we can truly gauge what is offensive/harmful to a particular group of people is to ask their input. In this day and age there are so many emerging subgroups that it is often hard to keep up with political correctness. To help combat this, society as a whole needs to pay attention to these groups.
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I found the point in your last paragraph about this being a true story very interesting. It seems that the movie has several instances of stereotyping or maybe rather derogatory depiction of disability, but if these quotes and instances are truly what Frida said then you bring up the excellent question of whether or not this is a stereotypical depiction. I think that if these are truly the feelings and stories of Frida, then the movie itself is not stereotyping but rather aspects of stereotypes can be seen in Frida’s real life. This adds an even greater impact because we see how these stereotypes truly are occurring in society and the ways in which they can affect people with disabilities as seen in one account by Frida’s story. I think it is important to remember though that this is one story and therefore does not have to be the typical response to disability especially when pointing out the issues with the degrading language used.
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If we look at Firda’s work and disregard her disabilities I believe that she would still get national recognition or least she should have. As we talked about in class, awards for art and such should not be given out just because someone has a disability, I believe that would be something like motivation porn. Firda’s work should have gotten recognition regardless if she was disabled or not just for the sake that her art was worth recognizing.
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I honestly feel like Frida would’ve still be widely recognized without her physical disabilities because her art was full of pure talent. The form in which she did her art was distinct and unique from the rest of the other artists at her time. Sooner or later she was going to find her “hidden talent” of being an artist because as stated in the summary above she did have an admiration for art. She was already interested in art but she wasn’t aware of how artistic she was herself. Being with Diego would’ve helped her too along the way to find that passion love for art because he was also a widely known artist. He saw the potential that Frida had as soon as he saw her art work. After experiencing the accident that left her with physical disabilities, she took the time to find other things she was interested. She would’ve still been recognized no matter what physical condition she was in.
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Yes, I definitely think personal experience should be considered when it comes to stereotypes that are portrayed through the media. There are so many varying stereotypes that cover whole cultures of people. There can’t be one stereotype that’s correct for every person that fits under it. Everyone lives a different life and experience everything in different ways.
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I do believe that a personal experience should be considered when trying to determine if the media source is stereotypical. A personal life circumstance provides proof for the media source. I believe that Frida wouldn’t have as much national and cultural attention without her physical disabilities. I think that she did a very good job at showing her pain and struggles through drawings and paintings. She got hold of her pain and created it into art. She would still be a great drawer and got fame for her stuff if she wouldn’t have had a disability, but not as much as she actually did with her disabilities.
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To address your second question, yes I do think that Frida would still be recognized for her work even if she did not have a disability. In fact, I studied Frida in one of my Spanish classes here at Hope, and we did not even focus on her disability. We strictly studied her work and the impact that it had on her culture. We discussed the color choices and how she portrayed herself in her art due to the experiences that she went through, but it was never about her disability – it was about how her art reflected her emotions because of the accident that she endured. I think this goes to show that, in this case, there is definitely more to her fame and recognition than solely her disability.
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This film really sounds like it tells of the life of a person who becomes disabled and is not born with a disability. It seems that Frida, before her accident, had already learned the negative views of people with disabilities. Thus, these views carried into her life with a disability. She is yet to go through the stages of self-acceptance that one who is born with a disability would have gone through by the time of Frida’s accident.
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In response to your first question, I do think it is extremely important to take into account the person’s life story and circumstances. I think that when dealing with the topic of disability, it is often not simply black and white, but a lot of grey area. It seems that this movie portrayed both sides of the emotional spectrum when it comes to someone living with a disability. The one side being that they will not let their disabilities define the activities they participate in, and the other as feeling betrayed by their body in some aspects and regretting that they physically we’re able to do more.
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I agree with Jacob in regards to your second question! The idea of “motivation porn” came to my mind when reading your question. Frida is very well known for her art and not her disability. The times where I have encountered her in school as a topic, it was always about her art and her influence and impact in the Mexican culture. Many people that I knew didn’t even know that she had a disability. Therefore, yes, if she didn’t have this disability she would still have cultural and national recognition for her work.
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