On Thursday, Dec. 13, Netflix released director Susanne Bier’s
Bird Box
(2018), a psychological thriller about a mysterious entity that takes the form of one’s greatest fears, causing victims to take their own lives in an effort to escape what haunts them. Despite the tragic premise, the film became an internet sensation, inspiring many hilarious memes and videos centered around the questions of: What if we had to sacrifice our sight in order to survive? What does it mean to look at life through fabric? Naturally, people took the film’s concept too far, some driving, running and, hand holding children with blindfolds.
The “Bird Box Challenge” sparked controversy, but the film itself invites viewers to reconsider the relationship between disability and the environment. In the film, sight is a disadvantage, as the creatures rely on their victims’ ability to see them.
Bird Box
is one example of recent films that engage with the idea of the differently abled.
Director John Krasinski’s
A Quiet Place
(2018) and Director Mike Flanagan’s
Hush
(2016) also allow viewers to consider how disability is portrayed in film. By putting a character’s disability in tension with the environment, these films show the ways in which the differently abled suffer or survive in high intensity situations such as a post-apocalyptic future in
Bird Box
and
A Quiet Place
or a masked killer in
Hush
.
Although these films seem to use disability as a plot device, they also respect the limitations and strengths unique to the differently abled. Like most thrillers, these films ask the viewer to reconsider the idea of “normal.” Certain unusual circumstances (i.e. mysterious creatures or ruthless killers ) disorient the viewer as the main characters must deal with forces that do not typically plague the average person. However, unlike most thrillers, the focus on a particular sense, whether it’s sight in
Bird Box
or hearing in
A Quiet Place
and
Hush
, demand that viewers also reconsider the definition of disabled people. The term “disabled” tends to focus on a certain limitation rather than on difference. The films explore the limitations of the differently abled protagonists within them, but they also highlight the strengths of these protagonists. This nuanced treatment of ability is possible because the respective environments already force a new normal on its inhabitants.
For example, similar to the function of blindness in
Bird Box
, Krasinski’s
A Quiet Place
reveals the way in which deafness can be helpful in a world where sightless creatures attack sound. In the film, the Abbott family struggles to survive as these creatures disrupt their family dynamic and terrorize their world. Though they are often unable to speak to each other, the family is able to communicate because the oldest child, Regan Abbott (Millicent Simmonds) is deaf. Sign language has been common in their household, giving the Abbots a unique advantage. Other families would instinctively whisper or resort to silence if they had to abandon their usual way of communicating. It is important to note that Regan’s inability to hear initially causes tension in her family. She does not know when she’s making a noise that could be fatal to herself or to her family. She seems redeemed by the fact that she plays such a huge role in protecting her family, supporting the idea that she is not a liability but an asset to her loved ones. Regan’s deafness is not only a strength for herself but for her family, as well. Regan’s hearing aid becomes a tool to combat these creatures who have a sensitivity to sound, later acting as the only known weapon against them.
In
Hush
, deaf writer Madison Young (Kate Siegel) must only save herself from the threat of a masked killer (John Gallagher Jr.). Unlike Regan who takes on terrifying creatures with her family, Madison braves the killer alone. Worse, her inability to hear her neighbor’s frantic pleas excite the killer who quickly realizes that Madison is unlike any of his past victims. He toys with her because he believes that she will be an interesting and challenging target. In a long, arduous game of cat and mouse, Madison proves a formidable opponent as her life hangs in the balance. Granted, her writing also plays a significant role in her understanding of the possible favorable outcomes. She mentally breaks down her strengthens and weaknesses, and uses this process to plan her every move, taking into account how her inability to hear could be perceived. For example, she uses the killer’s ability to hear to her advantage, distracting and stunning him with loud noises to aid in her survival. She relies on his limited understanding of what she is capable of, gaining the upper hand from his ignorance. Ultimately, this saves her from a death that had befallen countless victims before her. The film suggests that Madison’s unique position in life gives her an advantage that the other victims did not have and saves her from meeting the same unfortunate end. This film gives viewers a chance to see how a deaf woman bests a sighted man, beating the odds against her disability and gender.
In
Bird Box
, Malorie (Sandra Bullock) is not differently abled in a traditional sense as Regan and Madison are. However, sight functions as a disability because seeing the mysterious creatures leads to death. Thus, Malorie must operate a new, treacherous landscape without a sense on which she has always depended. In order to survive or feign some sense of normalcy, she must live blindfolded. This is ironic because, in today’s society, our surroundings favor those who can see. Therefore, it is difficult for the blind to successfully navigate everyday life without assistance. However, in this film, it is those with sight who remain helpless and vulnerable because sight is a threat to their survival. Blindness becomes a crucial asset in existing within this apocalypse. Thus, the main characters black out windows and blindfold themselves to stay alive. Life won’t be easy, but surely it is possible to adapt and to feel out this new existence?
When one of the occupants, pregnant Olympia (Danielle Macdonald), allows stranger Gary (Tom Hollander) into their safe haven, viewers find out that the danger refuses to be kept outside and in the dark. The existence of Gary contradicts those who may have thought that they could survive life blindfolded because his mental illness protects him from getting killed by the creatures. Therefore, humans without mental disabilities must now consider the fact that there are members of the community who will gladly force sight upon not only those who can see but those free from mental illness and mental disorders as well. As with Regan and Madison’s deafness, Malorie must constantly confront how her sight puts her at risk. Again, it appears that only the truly blind are capable of living with a degree of normalcy. In this reality, the blind are victors of their environment and their circumstance. They are not as vulnerable as their sighted counterparts. The film reinforces the blind’s being differently abled rather than disabled when Malorie, and the two children accompanying her (one hers and the other Olympia’s), finds shelter in a former school for the blind where most of the community cannot see.
Though it is easy to get distracted by the blindfolds in the film, it is important to recognize that the blindfolds do not represent true blindness and security. The community of blind people fulfill this role. Blindfolds can easily be taken off or dropped, and when that happens those once blindfolded can only shut their eyes and hope. The truly blind are able to laugh and play and live almost exactly as they have done in a place devised to honor their difference and in a world forced to see value in that difference.
In addition to being full of tension, powerful storytelling and strong female protagonists, these films demonstrate that we should be more considerate to those differently abled from ourselves, especially because a sudden change in our environment can put us at the disadvantage. The films also teach us to recognize the richness in difference, as the differently abled inspire us to re-evaluate our dependence on certain senses, and to reconsider our discomfort in having to negotiate a new normal. Hopefully, it will not take such dramatic conditions for us to empathize with one another and to construct a world in which we can all live to our fullest. I would love to see more films like
Hush
,
A Quiet Place
or
Bird Box
because they offer a complex yet interesting perspective on interpreting disability on the big and small screen.
