Identity Constructions of People with Disability in German Film. An Analysis of the sensory Disabilities Deafness and Blindness in Jenseits der Stille and Erbsen auf Halb Sechs

People with Disability;German Film;Jenseits der Stille;Erbsen auf Halb Sechs;Deafness;Blindness;Film;Intercultural German Studies

Geyer, Anne

University of Waterloo

关键词: People with Disability;    German Film;    Jenseits der Stille;    Erbsen auf Halb Sechs;    Deafness;    Blindness;    Film;    Intercultural German Studies;   

Others  :  https://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/bitstream/10012/8407/1/Geyer_Anne.pdf

瑞士|英语

来源: UWSPACE Waterloo Institutional Repository

【 摘 要 】

To date, the subject of disability has been highly disregarded in Germany’s academia. Inthe field of Arts, the topic is a derivative. This thesis makes a contribution to the disciplineof Disability Studies and approaches the problematic from the field of German Studies.The analysis focuses on the sensory disabilities deafness and blindness and its depiction inthe movies Jenseits der Stille und Erbsen auf Halb Sechs. The goal of this paper is toattract notice to the ways of representation of disability in German media in general. Onthe one hand, film reflects generally accepted public attitudes. But since film is a massmedia, it has the potency to alter and question the communal opinion on the other hand.Thus, it can change society’s mindset about people with disability. Furthermore, this paperpoints out the different starting points for further liberal arts oriented approaches forinvestigations of disability in the media.However, the film analysis is based on two theses. The first one claims that the focus in therepresentation of people with disability does not concentrate on the human beings. On thecontrary, it rather concentrates on the disability itself and the consequences that spring ofit. The second thesis pursues this thought and says that the movies not only focus on thedepiction of disability. In fact the disabled figures define themselves by their handicap and,in return, are defined by their physical aberrance by their social surroundings, which isforemost not disabled. Thereby, the disability forms an almost insuperable interpersonalobstacle.The analysis of the two movies is done along three research questions. The first oneconcerns the connection of physical handicap and the way people with disability think andact in relation to their surroundings and life in general. The second question is whatfactors, like gender, social class, or age, are crucial in self- and external perception, andtherefore, in the formation of identity. The last investigation concentrates on the specialabilities of people with disability, and scrutinizes if the aptitudes serve as compensationsfor their disabilities.The basis of this paper is Michel Foucault’s theory of mechanisms of societal exclusion,and the construction of categories such as norm and abnormity. Especially his worksWahnsinn und Gesellschaft, Überwachen und Strafen and his lecture course of DieAnormalen are essential in this perspective. In addition, the cultural and social currents inthe disability studies serve as fundamental approaches. These two theories help to identifythe vague term disability, and consequently, the object of investigation in this paper.In summary, the analysis of Jenseits der Stille and Erbsen auf Halb Sechs shows that therepresentation of disabled people in German film is predominantly stereotypic. Therein,disablement means great misfortune, and the loss of the central position in discourse. Thedisabled figures are socially alienated from their non-disabled surroundings. The isolation,however, is brought about by discursive mechanisms such as the power of medicine. Inboth movies, the disabled and non-disabled people are focused on the disability in their selfand external perception. Accordingly, disability is linked to the feeling of shame, a lack ofacceptance and the stigmatization of deviants. Self-acceptance can only be accomplishedoutside of the discourse of the normal, in which disabled are stigmatized. This paperreveals that the representation of people with disability in German film still shows a ratherstereotypic image. Therefore, they tend to confirm societal prejudices rather than tochallenge them.