The representation of disability in the clip shows fascinating contrasts between characters with a disability and those without.
The character of Ben has the mental disability Down Syndrome. His character portrays a stereotypical image of someone with a mental disability as he is shown throughout the extract as dependent on others, especially his brother David. During the final scene on the bus, the non-diegetic sound of David’s voice says that they have never been more than half a mile apart. This shows that David is always there for Ben and he doesn’t really leave his side. This reinforces the stereotype of disabled people, the fact that they can’t do things on their own and that they need someone to rely on for everything. During the scene in the kitchen, Ben shouts “I need a poo”. This is seen as a funny comedic line which is stereotypical as people with a mental disability are seen as inferior and peculiar compared to an able human.
The character of David is portrayed as a stereotypical teenager. His views on his disabled brother Ben are fairly extreme. For example, the opening line of the extract is “Last summer I decided to kill my brother”. This shows that David isn’t very close to his brother. It’s non diegetic as it’s David’s thoughts speaking. They show the room in a bird’s eye view so the contrast between both halves of the room can be clearly seen. David’s half of the room, dull boring and colourless. Whereas Ben’s side is colourful and vibrant almost childlike. This continues the stereotype of Ben and his disability. During the kitchen scene, David tells Ben a story about how pigs are killed to make bacon. Shot reverse shot is used to show the look on David’s face when he tells the story, then it switches to Ben’s innocent face. This shows the audience how David is trying to wind up his disabled brother.
This extract shows very stereotypical representations of disabled and able people.
Extract 2
The representation of physical ability and disability presents to us as the audience different aspect on how physical disability and ability affects the characters in everyday life.
The audience is first greeted with a high angle shot looking down into Ben and David’s room and immediately we can see a split between both sides. One side is colourful and the other is dull showing the audience that they are binary opposites of each other. The camera pans round David’s face to show his facial expression which is pure hatred towards Ben which is backed up by his dialogue “I decided to kill my brother”. Stereotypically Ben is shown with cartoonish bed sheets and children’s toys suggesting he is incapable of doing things you’d associate with his age group. We also get a close up of bens face as David is doing a voice over to clearly elaborate on the face Ben has Down syndrome. Montages of evolutionary pictures are shown matching David’s voice over talking about evolution a chemical. This is shown to show ben is a burden on David and that his voice is stereotypically used as humour and less of a serious issue since ben calls him “A potato with eye tentacles”. This phrase also could have a duel meaning suggesting that Ben is as incapable as a vegetable, a word people use to be demeaning towards people with a disability and therefore he can’t participate normally in daily life which is another stereotype. The way David treats ben can almost be described as sinister as he constantly saying derogatory things to Ben like how he yells at him for the Weetabix and explains in graphic detail how pigs are killed.
Ben’s mother and father treat him almost completely opposite to have David treats him. When Ben and David are having a dispute in the kitchen about the Weetabix the camera shot focuses on bens mother as she says “now that wasn’t very nice ben now was it” almost as it she was talking to a child. The shows that she is almost pitiful of ben and maybe feels bad for the way he turned out so she is more overprotective which is stereotypically how a abled bodied person would react in that scenario. Ben’s father acts slightly different as in he talks about ben like he isn’t even in the room. This is shown when Ben says “I need a poo” is a stereotypically humorous style and his dad tells David to go with him as he doesn’t want him to “make a mess like last time” whilst ben is still in the room. This shows that the father is ashamed as ben as to cope with the disappointment ignore the fact he exists. The phase the father said is also more evidence to show that Ben cannot do things normal people can do in daily life adding to the stereotype of a disabled person.
Extract 3
The non-diegetic sound in the film was a voice over from David (main character) and his thoughts about his younger brother Ben who has Down syndrome and considered a burden by David.in the beginning of the film we see a montage editing of evolution. David thinks that when mankind evolve disabled people have not yet managed to evolved David is deliberately unkind to Ben. There is tension between the two binary oppositions. In the kitchen scene where David and Ben are eating breakfast, shot reverse shot, close up and ark are used for effect during their conversation. Shot reverse shot is used when either David or Ben is talking. A close up shot of Ben is taken when he and his brother are arguing over the Weetabix and as he is fantasising about killing his brother. Flashbacks are also used when David is thinking about him and his families previous holidays. An extreme close up is taken later showing Ben in a more sympathetic light. This makes the audience feel sympathetic towards Ben. Towards the end diegetic sound of dialogue in the background when Ben is left alone find his own way back home, the slow and sad music is then lowered to gain more sympathy for Ben from the audience. David refers to Ben as an abnormal kid when he says “normal kids”. Throw editing, inter close up from David to Ben is used to show the expressions of the two characters. David’s face reflects pure hatred and anger towards his brother whereas Bens face portrays innocence as he sleeps peaceful in his bed. This interpretation is also reflexes of the structure and colour scheme of their room. Ben and David share rooms, birds eye view angle shows you a clear image of their room. On the left side of the room everything is colourful and bright. This could a reflection of Ben’s autistic mind and how he likes things to be. On the other hand, there is David’s side of the room. This half is very dull and gloomy; this also could represent David’s thoughts about his life. Ben is a stereotypical representation of a disabled person. This mother treats him as if he as a baby -or a small child- and talks down to him. In some ways David is a representation of teenager; he likes to go out with his friends and likes to go to parties. He also dresses like a regular teenager. However, you could argue that David is not a regular teenager. This is because he has to always look after his younger brother, making sure that he doesn’t get in trouble or gets lost or gets hurt.
Extract 4
Coming Down the Mountain opens with a birds-eye shot of the boys’ bedroom to emphasise the binary opposition with a split down the middle of the room; although this is explored in greater detail in terms of mise-en-scene, having the shot looking down on the boys immediately presents the viewer with an outsider’s view of their relationship, without a character’s viewpoint altering anything. We are shown immediately that there is an emotional rift between the two boys where the physical one might not be so evident, due to their dissimilar interests and the physical distance in their placements in the shot. This particular shot is also interesting in the sense that we are exposed to Ben’s face as he sleeps on his back, which is quite a vulnerable position to be in, and also exposes the physical aspect of his disability. David, however, as the representation of an able-bodied person, is upright, guarded, and therefore we can only see the top of his head. Here, we see helplessness in the disabled representation, whereas the able are more capable of reserving themselves and being in control of their actions. During David’s narration, there is a close up on Ben when he speaks about, “a potato with eye sockets”, which immediately shows that he is referring to his brother in such a way. Essentially, Ben is being described as a vegetable with eyes. This isn’t just a physical comparison, but also mental; he is presenting people with Downs syndrome as being oblivious, inhuman, and incapable. Comedic relief aside, he is telling the audience that his brother and people like him are so dependent on others that they cannot function by themselves, and are more akin to food than they are people. Frequent close up shots on David show hateful expressions in his face to contrast with Ben’s oblivious looks, which gives us insight from both perspectives. Ben is shown to be naïve, as he doesn’t notice that his brother doesn’t like him, or at least does nothing to retaliate; David, on the other hand, is hateful, unsympathetic to Ben’s vulnerability, and has no desire to help him. Here, we are shown a representation of disabled people as a burden, one whose impact leaves collateral damage in the lives of people around him. During the kitchen scene, the camera shows many extreme close ups on Ben’s face, which is uncomfortable for some viewers due to his physical disability. Ben is given a regular close up – perhaps this is to emphasise to the viewer how discomforting and affronting Ben’s presence is in David’s life. Alternatively, it could be a physical representation of the extreme attention the family seems to give to Ben, while David is relegated to the sidelines, and seen as immature for protesting against the favouritism. There are subtle differences in camera angles in the final scene, in which David leaves Ben to go home by himself. The camera is always slightly above Ben, dwarfing him. As a viewer, we are looking down on him, creating vulnerability compared to David, who the camera is slightly below eye level with – he looks taller, more powerful, and in control. Again, we are given a clear image of David’s superiority in the relationship as an able-bodied person. Ben, who depends on him, and is afraid to travel home by himself, is forced to submissively agree to the more able, and therefore more powerful, David.
The montage edit of prehistoric man and creatures in the beginning gives the impression that able-bodied people are the natural products of evolution, whereas the disabled are abnormal, as if they are nature’s flukes. Cuts between shots from Ben to David (and vice versa) show a severe contrast between two boys. For example, in the opening, a frowning, upright, thoughtful David cuts to a sleeping, innocent, childlike Ben – David is the one that plans to kill his brother, being intelligent enough to do so, whereas Ben, the disabled brother, has no power to stop the violence that is to be inflicted on him. It happens again in scene one, in which Ben stares dumbly at his Weetabix before he eats it, only to cut to David frowning in distaste and disgust, his face scrunched – this communicates that disability is strange and disgusting, and they are opposite to able-bodied people in every way. The increase in pace in the tense moment of David trying to snatch the Weetabix ends on a prolonged shot of Ben being shielded by Dad. It is noticeable here how David’s shots at the breakfast table tend to feature him alone, whereas the whole family are on Ben’s side of the kitchen, perhaps emphasising the family split.
David narrates throughout the extract to give an insight into David’s perspective on Ben. Here, we see the divide in the representation of able and disabled people. For instance, David’s description of “normal kids” in opposition to “kids like Ben” divides the two into separate groups. There is also the admission of, “I had to get some space” after David leaves Ben to go home by himself. Again, we are shown that the disabled character is suffocating the abled one, and becoming the very bane of his life, to the point that he will put him in danger just to have some relief. The jolly, diegetic music from radio after the opening immediately sets a domestic scene of a family in the kitchen together, listening to a radio, suggesting that there is a sense of normality to this family. However, the lyrics, “wouldn’t it be nice if we were older” seem to parallel with David’s feelings that, if he weren’t a teenager under the command of his parents, he’d have freedom from the burden of Ben. When David is telling lies about killing pigs, there is a muffled, diegetic police siren sound as the story comes to a climax. As well as linking into David’s illegal plot to kill his brother and his troublemaker representation, it creates a starker contrast to Ben’s innocence, which is further shown by the non-diegetic music drowning out the ambience when he is on bus later in the extract. Perhaps this suggests his disconnection with the world around him because of his disability, and how he struggles to keep up with or blend into society because of it.
In terms of mise-en-scene, the panning shot around David’s half of the bedroom reveals a poster of the rock band Bring Me the Horizon. Immediately, we are influenced by stereotypes to interpret that David is a problem child, as the sort of teenagers that listen to such music are often seen as parent-hating delinquents. On the contrary, Ben’s messy and colourful room can be perceived as childish, therefore suggesting a lack in mental development that makes him inferior to the able. In the aforementioned scene, Ben is wearing a patterned shirt for pyjamas, which makes him seem emotionally younger than David. The latter seems to have been sleeping without a shirt, perhaps portraying him as more mature and masculine than his boyish sibling. The actors’ skill also plays a part; Mum coddles Ben, and speaks to him patronisingly, as if to a baby. This representation reflects a mother’s need to show her children love, but also shows how the disabled can be mollycoddled too much, and treated as inferior just because they aren’t like ‘normal’ people. Her insistence on calling David selfish for wanting Ben to share the Weetabix furthers this representation, showing that she will spoil Ben to ‘make up for’ his disability, and will punish David for acting out against the unequal treatment. Even the way she bids Ben goodbye and kisses him on her way out of the house, but completely ignores David, emphasises how she treats her disabled child as fragile, but doesn’t have as much care for the emotions of her able son. Dad doesn’t seem to have as much of a bias, but refers to Ben as if he isn’t in the room, as if he’s subhuman and can’t understand people talking about him. Once again, the disabled are seen as lesser beings that cannot be communicated with in the same way as the able. The costume in final scene is cleverly chosen to symbolise different traits about the boys. Ben wears a white hoodie, the colour of purity and innocence. This continues to portray him as the golden child that can do no wrong, and weakens him in comparison to David. The latter wears all dark colours, and appears more rugged. Due to his ability, which Ben doesn’t have, he is seen as the less innocent of the two, and is literally perceived as the black sheep of the family due to his awareness that treating Ben the way his parents do is pointless and unfair.
