Mythmaking:

Brain Injury in Popular Movies

Suzanne Evas, PhD

Coordinator, Barwon ABI Project, Barwon Health

and Hopeless Movie Nerd

• The following presentation has been rated

• Depictions of violence to people’s brains,

some naughty words now and then, and

some conceptual thinking included

The Studio Edit• Public perceptions are shaped and influenced by

popular/mass media (film, tv, news)

• Public perceptions affect public policy, which determines

legislation and funding

• Many popular/mass media portrayals of ABI (and

disability in general) rely on tropes,and stereotypes.

• We must learn to embrace and effectively use

popular/mass media if we want to change public

perceptions.

The Director’s Cut• Film & Disability Tropes

• Why stereotypes endure

• Public perceptions of ABI: Believing Myths

• Brain injury, amnesia & memory loss as plot devices

• Examples of ABI in movies (AKA The Good, the Bad

and the Ugly)

• Changing the conversation through popular media

• Discussion: Action plan for next 12 months

Disability Tropes in Film & TV

A trope is “a recurring image or

representation in the mainstream

culture that is widely recognisable.”

Disability Tropes in Film & TV(Barnes, 1992) The disabled person as:

• pitiable or pathetic

• An object of curiosity or

violence

• Sinister or evil

• The super cripple

• Atmosphere

• Laughable

• His/her own worst enemy

• A burden

• Non-sexual

• Unable to participate in

daily life

• (tvtropes.com) Single episode disability

• Eternal innocence

Disability Tropes in Film & TVShakespeare (1999) :

• "a lazy short-cut….

• "impairment is made the most important thing"

• "objectified and distanced from the audience“

• “not accurate or fair reflections of the actual experience

of disabled people.”

• “reinforce negative attitudes towards disabled people,

and ignorance about the nature of disability"

• "crude, one-dimensional and simplistic."

Why Stereotypes endure

• Repetition in fiction

• Generalisation to other forms of media

• Conformity/Culture reinforcement

• Human need to organise and catagorise people easily

• Reinforce discrimination, exploitation, marginalisation

(Bagliari & Shapiro, 2012)

Believing Media Myths

• 2010 survey in Britain. 38% of respondents said their

knowledge of brain injury was learned from the media

(Chapman & Hudson)

Believing Media MythsStatement % agreed (UK,

2010)

% agreed

(US, 2006)

When people are knocked unconscious, most wake up

shortly with no lasting effects. (F)77% 48%

After head injury, people can forget who they are and not

recognise others, but be normal in every other way. (F)91% 93%

How quickly a person recovers depends mainly on how

hard they work at recovering. (F)50% 53%

Emotional problems after head injury are usually not

related to brain damage. (F)32% 16%

Complete recovery from a severe head injury is not

possible, no matter how badly the person wants to

recover. (T)

27% 28%

Brain injury, amnesia & memory loss as

plot devicesAs a storytelling trope:

• outline for a mystery tale as protagonist tries to discover

their past and how they lost their memory

• backstory and exposition can be spread out over the

course of the story as new facts are gradually uncovered

• opportunity for twist endings (Shaw-Williams, 2014)

• Allows audience to identify with character as we also

have to discover what is happening at same time (Baker,

2014)

Examples of ABI in movies

Examples of ABI in movies

Examples of ABI in movies

Examples of ABI in movies

Changing the conversation

“I want to collide pop

culture with science.“

- Dr. Neil deGrass Tyson

Embracing pop culture to educate

Challenge: As a sector, how can

we better embrace popular

media to educate the public

about ABI?

Your ideas?

Barriers to harnessing mass media?

Blue sky ideas?

Opportunities?

Action Plan for next 12 months?

Credits• Baglieri, S & Shapiro, A. (2012). Disability Studies and the Inclusive Classroom: Critical

Practices for Creating Least Restrictive Attitudes. Routledge.

• Barnes, C. (1992). Disabling Imagery and the Media. BCOPD, Ryburn Publishing.

• Baker, C (2014). I Can't Remember Why, But Movies About Amnesia Are Awesome |

Angry Nerd. Online https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTpZAWccWTY

• Baxendale, S (2004) Memories aren’t made of this: Amnesia at the movies, BMJ,

329(7480): 1480–1483

• Chapman, RC & Hudson, JM (2010). Beliefs about brain injury in Britain, Brain Injury,

24(6):797-801

• Guilmette, TJ & Paglia, MF (2004) The public’s misconceptions about traumatic brain

injury: A follow up survey, Archives of clinical neuropsychology, 19 (2): 183-189

• Shakespeare, T. (1999) Art and lies? Representations of disability on film. In: Corker,

M. and French, S. (eds.) Disability Discourse Buckingham: Open University Press: 164-

172

• Shaw-Williams, H. (2014) H. Shaw-Williams, Before I Go to Sleep’ Trailer: Nicole

Kidman’s ‘Memento’ Nightmare. Online http://screenrant.com/before-i-go-to-sleep-

trailer-2014/

• http://www.disabilityplanet.co.uk/critical-analysis.html

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disability_in_the_media