Cartooning the Other
‘Freaked and Othered bodies in Comics’ - ‘…focus not so much on the construction of disability as on the construction of normalcy.’
I found the exploration on how and why people generate this idea of ‘The Normate’ fascinating, especially how this social baseline of a white, able bodied male is not only idealised but also functions as a sanity anchor by which the other is checked against. The article discussed how the medicalised Other is shunned due to them being a living reminder of the frailty of life and how this reality is found too disturbing to be allowed residence with ‘The Normate’ and is thus ostracised from the social space.
‘Diversity in Disney films: critical essays on race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and disability’ - ‘My aim would be to make the beast so human, so sympathetic, so superior to men, that his transformation into Prince Charming would come as a terrible blow to Beauty…’
What interested me in this book chapter was in seeing the extent to which The Other can be portrayed. Looking at how Disneys’s approach to the character of the beast, while intent on portraying a figure of the supernatural - a monster - the resulting character resembled more of an exotic man whom is socially awkward. In contrast there was Cocteau’s earlier film that sought to both highlight the inner animal of The Beast, but also contrasting that with an opposing humanity to rival that of the cliched Prince Charming.