essay

1. Amy Watson
Theory Essay: How are disabilities presented in films and TV series in the present day?
Disability has been portrayed on screen for many years, however between past and present there has been
some changes over how these disabilities are portrayed. An example of this is the contrast between Rain
Man: a film from 1989, and The A Word: a TV series from 2020. Rain Man and The A Word portray the
condition known as Autism in two different fashions. The key theme within the film Rain Man is the
character Raymond is being portrayed as a ‘’Autistic Savant’’. Rain Man made a total $345 million at the
box office, and became one of the highest grossing film in 1988. It was also a rate of 15, meaning it was
meant to be watched by older viewers. After reading Bluhmer and Katz’s Uses and Gratification, and after
reviewing the possible reasons of why people may watch Rain Man, I would say the reason for why they
would watch the film is because of Diversion, meaning that they rather take on escapism and have a good
time rather than learning new facts.
Within The A Word, the main character Joe displays some more modern traits that some people with autism
require or possess, such as lack of speech and wearing headphones. Once a week at 9pm, The A Word was
broadcasted on BBC 1. It was watched by 4.7 million viewers, and had a 23% share of the audience
(Wikipiedia). Applying audience theory, I would say that the A Word is appealing to a Mass audience. This
is because it was shown on a popular channel: BBC 1, and the time was a perfect schedule of 9pm. It’s not
too late or early, and is the perfect time for lots of viewers to watch it. It would attract large viewing figures.
In terms of reception theory, as portrayed by Stuart Hall, as well as decoding the thoughts and feelings from
both films depending on review of Rotten Tomatoes , it’s fair to say there both square off to a dual score,
means that there hasn’t been a change in personal thoughts or feelings from the viewing audience worldwide.