Samples and summary of faculty scholarly activities - St. John Fisher ...

"Gotta go now": Rethinking the use of The Mighty and Simon Birch in the
Middle School Classroom Katrina Arndt Special Education Department Ralph C.
Wilson, Jr. School of Education St. John Fisher College E-mail: karndt@sjfc.edu Julia M.
White, Ph.D. University of Rochester Rochester, New York Andrea Chervenak. M.S.
Rochester, New York
Abstract
Critical film analysis in the context of disability studies is introduced, and implications of disability
portrayals in film are discussed. Two films often used in middle school classrooms, Simon Birch and The
Mighty, are introduced and briefly summarized. The films are critiqued using Norden's conceptualizations
of stereotypic roles for characters with disabilities including the "sweet innocent" and "comic
misadventurer." Finally, the importance of critical screening is outlined and ways that teachers can use
these films in ways that are respectful of people with disabilities based on criteria developed by Safran
(2000) are offered.
Film is a powerful medium that can affect how students think about people, places, cultures, and issues.
Films with characters with disabilities are often shown in classrooms (for example, To Kill a Mockingbird,
Of Mice and Men, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Glass Menagerie, Moby Dick, Gattaca, A Beautiful
Mind). How and when movies are used in schools is important, as viewings with little analysis or reflection
may have unintended consequences, sending the message that inaccurate or exaggerated stereotypes
about disability are accurate and acceptable (Chervenak 2006; Longmore 1985; Norden 1994).
Uninformed readings of film may reinforce negative and inaccurate beliefs and stereotypes about
disability, and may perpetuate stigma status of people with disabilities. In educational settings, teachers
can foster engagement and empathy through careful choices and active reading of films (Considine and
Baker 2006).
In this article the authors critique two films commonly used in middle school classrooms, Simon Birch and
The Mighty, that portray young adolescent boys with physical disabilities as both pitiable and heroic, and
then discuss the implications of these portrayals. The Mighty, the film adaptation of Rodman Philbrick's
novel Freak the Mighty, is typically used in middle school classrooms to reinforce literature units in which
the novel is studied. Simon Birch is suggested by John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany, and both films
focus on friendships between two outcast boys and have been used in middle school classrooms to
reinforce themes of relationships, friendships, identity, and the heroic spirit.
In three semesters of informal surveys in one author's undergraduate elementary education course on
integrating students with disability labels into general education settings, when asked if they had seen
Simon Birch as middle or high school students, typical replies were "Awwww!" "I felt so sad for Simon!"
and "I cried so hard!" Both films are of the sentimental coming-of-age genre in which girls are largely
absent, and follow formulaic conventions of the buddy-picture, including chases, overturned fruit carts,
and "boys-will-be-boys" pranks (Ebert 1998). These films are usually presented as positive and
empowering representations of disability, as models to nondisabled students or "normates," about
overcoming adversity, leading selfless lives, and heroism. Yet these films are mired in the presentation of
these boys as both selfless heroes and pitiable individuals, whose heroism and sacrifice emanate directly
from their "afflictions."
Film is typically used in schools from a "protectionist approach" in which media audiences are considered
to be "passive victims" and print media is valued over visual media (Kellner and Share 2007, 60). In
classrooms, students often read a book and then watch the movie. While we may support critical