The film industry is flawed enough when it comes to casting disabled actors and writing disabled characters (just take a look at Music). The holiday season with everyone’s favorite movies and the new batch of cookie cutter Hallmark holiday movies is no exception. In fact, holiday movies are worse with representation than “every day” movies. In “every day” movies, disabled characters make up 5.2% of the cast; a heartbreakingly low statistic, but still more representation than holiday films.
Lifetime released their first holiday movie with a disabled lead character this year. Out of 30 movies scheduled to be released from October through December, one has a disabled lead.
The disabled community is celebrating this small advancement because it is the first of its kind, and still deserves to be celebrated, even if it should have been done years ago. None of the Holiday Classics™, the ones watched every year and found on “classic holiday movie lists by Oprah” feature a disabled lead, actor, or character anywhere within the plot. However, that has not stopped disabled and abled “allies” from connecting with characters who are not necessarily disabled-coded. Let’s review some classics and their disability representation by disabled people.
Nightmare Before Christmas: Both a Halloween and a Christmas classic, this stop motion film from 1993 has been a topic of disability representation debate for years. According to psychologist Anthony Tobia, the film is a metaphor for narcolepsy as seen through the title of the film (Nightmare = narcolepsy) and Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King, is the perfect representation for it. Jack runs from his fears by going through the tree doors (subsequently derailing Christmas), and this is somehow a representation of narcolepsy, nightmares, and cataplexy. In addition, Tobia asserts that the Boogieman is a representation for gambling–as seen in his name. Tobia breaks down the Boogieman’s name and pairs it with each letter for a gambling addiction disorder; this one is slightly more believable, given the Boogieman’s association with dice.
The Grinch (all versions): A grumpy Grinch lives atop a mountain, excluded from society for his differences… yeah, there’s bound to be some psychological evaluation here. However, despite his antisocial personality and curmudgeon tendencies, no disabled person is relating with the Grinch in a true manner. Some might jokingly agree that they would rather be left alone, much like he is, but no one from the disabled community is praising any version of this film as good representation for a mental (whether it be anxiety or autism) disorder.
The Polar Express: A boy boards a train to learn the true meaning of Christmas, and in the process there’s an important hot chocolate song. There is no disability representation in this movie.
Love, Actually: This classic film pans the focus on nine separate romances, each straight and abled. The only disability representation in this film comes in the form of a main character’s “mentally ill brother” (as described by the film synopsis) who the character loses their love interest over. Yes, the woman does not get the man because she has to help care for her mentally disabled brother. Stunning representation. In addition, numerous fat jokes are scattered throughout–to the point where that is one character’s entire personality–driving home the idea that to be liked is to be skinny.
Miracle on 34th Street: The premise of this movie is a man being committed to a mental institution because he believed he was Santa. Enough said.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: Somehow, a film about bullying those with differences has become a beloved holiday classic. Rudolph was born with a glowing red nose, marking him as different from the rest of his reindeer community (and this, folks, is truly a disability metaphor). This difference caused him to be excluded from reindeer games, childhood fun, and generally outcast from reindeer society… until he was deemed useful by society (almost like a disabled person can become “good PR” for an abled company…). There’s more that can be said about this film, but Rudolph, having been born with a genetic difference, is scorned by society until he is able to do something none of them are able to do, much like disabled people are forgotten until deemed useful. Some of these other films may be reaching for disability representation (or when they do have it, it’s done extremely poorly), but this hits the nail on the head. While this representation perfectly portrays what it is like to be a disabled person and only acknowledged when you are “useful,” better and healthier representation comes from movies appreciating disabled people and characters without needing them to save the day.
Hallmark has made 136 original holiday movies, none of which feature a disabled main character. One would think a company (like Hallmark) with a perfected cookie cutter movie plot generator (there are 12 genres of Hallmark Holiday Movies™), that it would be simple to insert a disabled character as a lead in one of their 40 movies being released this year.
Lifetime has managed to do so with Christmas Ever After. Starring Ali Stroker, an advocate for disability rights both on and off the screen, this groundbreaking film ticks all the boxes of a cookie cutter holiday film while still managing an originality aspect by casting the first ever disabled lead.
While there is still a long way to go, progress is being made–beyond the films we praise as holiday classics masquerading as disability representation. There are real people, such as Ali Stroker, who are actively making a difference in the film industry for disabled people.
