From the [UK] Guardian, criticism of Bafta’s cancellation of ‘Last American Freak Show’ screening

Mat Fraser, an actor with disabilities, takes the British film academy to task for cancelling the screening of a documentary made by and about people with disabilities. In explaining the cancellation, a Bafta manager said “Last American Freak Show” made her feel “uncomfortable.” That’s just the point, says Fraser: films need to accept “the need to stare and ask questions about disabled people, instead of the pretense of PC’s awful politeness.”

Heaven forbid that anyone should be made to feel uncomfortable by a film about disability made by a disabled person … OK, no more bitter crip anger, but come on! We wouldn’t put up with a white or straight person’s reacting fearfully to a black or gay film-maker’s viewpoint …

Fraser is the writer of “Thalidomide!! A Musical” and “Born Freak.” He describes himself as an actor, poet, musician, writer and “thalidomide ninja.”

Richard Butchins, director of “Last American Freak Show” responds to the cancellation on his Guardian Unlimited blog:

Now, I know it presents an unusual version of disability, showing people deliberately displaying their deformity in a challenging and confrontational way, but it’s also a road trip that a rather unlikely group of protagonists take along America’s west coast, performing and carousing as they go.

… The whole debacle shows how little thought and care is given to disability either by the film and TV industry or by society in general.

Coverage of the London International Disability Film Festival in the Guardian here.

See an earlier post here about staring: Why do we stare? Man without legs attempts to find out

This entry was posted on Friday, February 15th, 2008 at 8:26 am and is filed under NOT2BEMISSED, advocacy, documentary, media, movies, public attitudes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post