1. ASSIGNED READINGS

Visualizing Disability in the Film Diving Bell and the Butterfly – Critical Essay

2. VIEW/ STREAM ONLINE

• To stream online the French film: 

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)

Requirement of Assignment:

Discussion :

Discussion of Disability in the French Film “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”. Share TWO posts for Module 4, in response to the TWO following questions.  Two posts must be your individual response to the questions below:

1. In your assigned reading for this week, the author Tess Jewell makes the following comment in her essay “Blinding the Screen: Visualizing Disability”:  “bodies are constructed as disabled by the wider social, political, cultural, and economic structures that regulate their existence” (p. 3, of the PDF file).  She also writes: “Bauby’s attempts to transform his own personal tragedy into a tale of self-validation” (p. 4, of the PDF file).  Discuss what you understand by these ideas, then try to illustrate them by using examples from the film to support your answer : Consider what the various ways in which the main character’s absence of physical capacity impacts various parts of his life; consider also the tools and strategies Baudy uses in order to validate himself or to ensure his existence (his sense of self) is not defined by his physical disability.  Consider who are the secondary characters who affirm and validate him, and what characters reflects biased attitudes toward him due to his physical disability.
2. Choose two other ideas that you consider important ideas in Tess Jewell’s essay assigned this week, then briefly explain why you find them important, or what they help you learn or understand better about the issue of “disability”.