ENGL296 Blog

Gender and Disability ~ The Shape of Water (The Shape of water 1:23:59) This movie was something I did not expect especially when it came to this scene that is shown above. Elisa is known to be disabled as she is mute and cannot speak but is often dehumanized by society (societal norm) where the disabled are portrayed of not being able to find love because of their disability. Within the movie, from 1:23:59 to 1:25:58, Elisa tells Zelda about how she had slept with the creature, but Zelda was more shocked with whom she slept with than Elisa sleeping with anyone at all. Additionally, her relationship with the creature is portrayed as different in potential disabling in the context of relationships. The lack of cultural expectation for speech among fish and sea creatures reduces the barrier for Elisa, which grows that love for it. In the film we see how Elisa sexually advances and reinforces her deviation from asexual stereotypes. Moreover, the emotional connection with the creature that...

Difference on Display ~ 'The Beauty and the Freak' Growing up, I was always told 'do not stare, it is not polite.' As it became something I was always taught by my parents because staring is 'rude.' Being about 8-years-old I developed that norm as I still follow it until this day since it is embedded into my brain. Moreover, I used to do swimming competitively all year round, but during one summer, I had encountered someone who did not look like everyone else. He would show up on Saturday meets since his two brothers would swim, just to show support. When I first saw him, he was sitting with his family, but being very young I did not encounter or had seen any like that before. I was waiting for my turn to swim in the chair underneath a tent and he was sitting with his aunt or mom. The boy had a white collar that went around his neck to help him breath, it was almost like a respiratory device. Additionally, his lips her plumped and purple along with his tongue th...

    'Normal' Social Practice ~ Having Your Life Figured Out Growing up as a kid I feel like we all been asked what we would want to do with out lives and by our teenage years we should have already 'figured' that out. Well that 'norm' of needing to have your life figured out by the time you finish high school and having that negative idea drilled into our heads that if we do not have it figured out, bad things would come about. That would be the 'norm' I deviate from because having your life figured out does not have an age number. I believe it is okay to not know exactly of what you want to do, even in college, we are all studying a degree that we want, but for some they may not use that degree and would find themselves in a positive place in life that they did not expect.  An example is from my sophomore year of high school to my freshman year of college (fall semester,) I was determined to become an English major and become an author where I get to pu...