The beauty of Amelia - Disability and Feminism (Spoilers)
Hello whoever might be out there,
My task for my sociology homework is as follows:
Research disabled characters in a TV show/film you like. Answer these questions:
Are they represented by a disabled person? If not, why is this the case?
Apply your sociological theory – e.g. are they presented as inhuman as Longmore suggests?
We go for Bob's Burgers obviously, and the episode which, to me, has the best representation of disability is "Amelia", season 13 episode 22. But it is impossible to look at this episode from the perspective of disability alone, especially given that it is a primarily feminist episode. The answer? Look at them both in tandem. Getting to spend my college breaks watching my favourite show feels like an easy way out of doing "proper" work, but these thoughts aren't exclusive to this watch, or even this episode. Bob's Burgers is filled with the unserious and the serious, and it is what makes it such an incredible watch if you haven't already.
The premise of the episode is that Louise, a nine-year old, has a school project on which she must create a multimedia report on her historical hero. Amelia Earhart is not her first choice, but it instead comes to her out of spite, wanting to pick a female hero to rival the male hero of her rival, Wayne, a highly academic boy who often speaks over Louise, already symbolising the crushing of girls in the education system. Her project is beautiful, I can only endlessly recommend watching the episode for yourself if you haven't already, it is a joy like no other.
In order to bring her project to life, she recruits the help of a boy called Benj. This is where our disability representation comes in full force. Benj is a wheelchair user, and is voiced by a woman called Jackie Quinn. I had to do some research into Jackie Quinn as IMDB is shockingly lacking, but her Twitter, or X, shows her life living as a wheelchair user herself. I couldn't find the specifics of her disability, but that isn't any of our business to be completely honest. Part of disability representation is not questioning every little detail, and that is also part of basic human decency, but as you might have seen in other TV shows with representation of any minority groups, privacy somehow isn't an option. So don't take this as a lack of information, take it as a stance against invading the privacy of normal people just because they happened to have a voice acting role one time. In fact, the only evidence I have that I have found the correct Jackie Quinn is one singular reference made in one singular tweet.
Rant over, back to Benj. Benj isn't the stereotype. He isn't inspiration porn. He isn't... anything. And that is exactly why he is such good disability representation. He isn't defined by his disability or by stereotypes, both good and bad! "My Mom drives me an hour to do after school wheelchair basketball twice a week, even though I do not care for it." And I think this sums him up perfectly. He likes puppets, that's the thing he is known for and that he is the thing he enjoys. His parents must think otherwise if they are forcing him to do wheelchair basketball if he "does not care for it", but it shows how often our projections of what a wheelchair user, or people with other disabilities, should do are once again stereotypes.
Louise's own stereotypes are dismantled by Benj, whether that be about his interest in puppets or his disability is up to interpretation. I like to think it's both. "Who was your hero?" "Jim Henson." "So what did you get? For a grade? A plus plus?" "A 'C'." Because disabled people aren't confined to only talking within their disability, nor should they have expectations of overachieving. It might sound cliche to say, but they are just normal people. We have gone so far with our ideas of "othering" that our stereotypes aren't always negative, but so far positive that it is equally as realistic. And to tick the box for the homework, this proves that sociologists such as Cumberbatch and Negrine who argue media representations of the disabled rarely present them as “a person, an individual, who also happens to have a disability.” are wrong. Unless this is rare? But the media I tend to consume doesn't make this rare.
We can talk about the first actual episode of Bob's Burgers while we are on the topic of disability. One of the most iconic and recognisable scenes from the whole show, from season 1 episode 1, Human Flesh, is the toothpick scene. https://youtu.be/uUA-Quoydow?si=JZN-l8wJlwB9Dx-J You now have no excuse not to watch it, I have put it there for you. I suppose some may consider this scene offensive, but from my experience of the fandom it's the opposite. People reject this scene not because it's offensive, but because they don't believe it's true. I'm no professional, I am not here to try and diagnose characters or the people who voice them, but I do relate to Tina on a lot of levels, take that as you will.
I can't talk about "Amelia" without talking about feminism though, it's basically revision for me anyway. Louise's entire character exists to prove people wrong, and we adore her for that. Her refusal to conform is what gives her the freedom to be both funny but emotionally deep (yes I cried at the movie, her Sunny Side Up Summer verse hit right in the gut at the time, and still does now.) And she is voiced by Kristen Schaal. I love that woman.
In "Amelia", Louise confides in her fellow ostracised group for help, a solidarity of sorts. The whole episode expresses the normality of patriarchal standards in education. Heaton and Lawson argue that the hidden curriculum teaches patriarchal values in schools, and while a school project on historical heroes may be argued as the formal curriculum, I think there are definitely hidden curriculum elements to it, like Wayne's decision to make a documentary versus Louise's decision for shadow puppets. And in Louise's words; "Sometimes people with deeper, louder voices get heard more, but that doesn't want me to make my voice lower and deeper. That just makes me mad." I feel like that resonates with a lot of girls in education, and Louise's refusal to back down makes it even better. We never find out about her grade from the report, because that isn't the ultimate point. It was an arbitrary plot point for a deeper message.
The scene between Linda and Louise in the living room will always be a beautiful one for me, almost like my own Mum and I. "I bet they never said 'girls can do anything boys can do!'" "Because it ends up sounding like the opposite." This is the awareness I think we really need, because as much as the Barbie, post-modernist, "anything is possible!" attitude is awesome, it is also holding us back. We are telling young girls in the western world that "you can do anything boys can do too!" Okay? And? Was that even a thought young girls were having in the first place, or are we inadvertently diminishing their confidence by implying boys are naturally better? It's a tricky tight rope which is well addressed by the heartfelt scene, and the fact it is set on Mothers' Day makes it even sweeter in my opinion.
The recognition of Amelia Earhart by Linda is beautiful too. I know I keep saying beautiful but my brain is not on thesaurus mode right now. She is directly paralleling Louise and herself, with Amelia Earhart and her mother. "Because of her daughter, my daughter gets a glimpse of this fantastic life." And I am tearing up just thinking about that parallel, or maybe because it is late at night? Either way, all these moments combined give Louise the confidence she needs, not that she needed anymore anyway. Her goal on the surface might have been to have a better project than Wayne, but deep down she wanted to show something greater. Something about facing inequality? Or inspiration, "she makes me want to write a story for myself that's as big and as fricking cool as hers."?
Maybe that's what this homework task is? I could've had this done in twenty minutes if I really wanted to, but I didn't. I mean it isn't every day you get a chance to yap about your favourite show with such a perfect excuse, but it is an angle I always have when I'm consuming any media, it's why I started this blog in the first place. My opinions aren't going to change the world alone, and much like Louise I run on spite and the determination to prove that I am something more, but nothing's going to change with silence.
I can criticise representation in some shows and praise it in others, whether I have the authority to do that is... questionable. But when I do feel confident, I want to speak out. I want to create pamphlets or shadow puppet shows, take part in debates or... if we're doing another Bob's Burgers reference I am also going to go with taking part in debates (as reviewed in another post of mine, self-promo if this is your first time reading, wink wink.)
I want to write a story for myself that's as big and as fricking cool as hers.
Yours faithfully,
MD
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