Coming down the Mountain (Disability essay)

In the extract of "Coming down the mountain", i noticed that Ben (the disabled boy) is always placed below everyone else in the scene. This seems to give across the message that he is being conveyed as inferior to the others (mainly David in most shots). This is reinforcing the stereotype of incapability, as everyone who seems to stand higher than him in shots looks more capable and has to do stuff for him.

In the very first shot, the camera is angled directly above both David and Ben, this shot type immediately tells us two things. Firstly, it shows sympathy for both characters, Ben for his disability and David for having to put up with it all. Secondly, the MES in this shot shows the dived between David and Ben, as on one side of the room is all of Ben's colorful belongings and on David's side is barley any belongings and its almost all grey. I feel that this somehow challenges the stereotype of abnormality, as this is making David seem like the abnormal one.

In the scene when the Phillips's family are in the kitchen, the diegetic sound of the radio playing in the background, i picked up on that as a sort of metaphorical input for how Ben's mind works. It just sort of half plays in the background while everyone else gets on with their own business. This is reinforcing the stereotype of abnormality, because everyone else in the scene all seem to be quite "on the ball" as it were, and Ben is sort of sitting around making noise, much like the radio.

In the scene were Ben is riding his bike, the camera is angled down at him from Davids perspective. this gives the feeling that David is constantly positioning himself above Ben to get away from him almost. Also in this scene, David is seen attempting to shot Ben with a toy sniper rifle. Both of these examples reinforce the stereotype of "victim" towards Ben, when his own brother has murderous thoughts toward him.

David seems to have the most prominence through out the extract. This is to try and make the audience to relate to and empathize with him. This then makes draws the audiences direct attention away from Ben, in turn reinforcing the stereotype of "abnormality" among the disabled.

The "Shot reverse shots" used between Ben and David create juxtaposition between the two characters making the audience directly see the comparisons of the two beside each other. This again is making the stereotype of abnormality clear and reinforcing it because you are comparing Ben with his disability to another, in this case David who is (for all intensive purposes) "Normal".

The lighting throughout the extract is rather bleak, there's never a room or area shown in the extract that is brightly light. I saw this as a sort of metaphor for living with someone with a disability, it seems to make it appear that living with someone with a disability makes every aspect of your life bleak and dull. I feel like this both reinforces and challenges the stereotype of "Victim". I think this because Ben (the one who this stereotype should be aimed at) isn't the victim here, David is as he seems to come of allot worse.