Representation Of Disability In TV Drama

Stereotypes and Counter types
A common disability stereotype is that they are weak and vulnerable, most of the time you see the disabled character often with a carer to help them with everyday things. But a counter type for this would be that they are powerful and people are scared of them. For example in a TV drama if they were a bully like in bad education Leslie "Rem Dogg" Remmington is not vulnerable he is one of the bullies in the class at school.

Breaking Bad Representation Of Disability

Camera Shots/Movements
At first there is 2 close ups of each character so we as an audience begin to understand the characters emotions at this point the two characters seem agitated. Then it cuts to an long shot of the whole table and the atmosphere is tense this is backed up by everyone being silent whilst they are eating. At this point in the clip we do not know that Walter Jr is disabled as we can't tell from looking at him that he has an disability. After there is a close up of  Hank and he gives a hostile look towards Marie and this adds to the clip having a tense atmosphere. They begin to have a conversation and Walter Jr ignores them and it cuts to a close up of him and he begins to talk with anger and this is when we find out he has cerebral palsy as he has slurred speech. We also learn that he is quite a strong character as he begins to argue with his mother and blames her for what has happened like a typical teenager does. Then we see him stand up and a low angle shot of him to show he has power this is strange in media because usually the character with a disability is vulnerable and has a carer to help them but in this clip we see none of that Walter Jr is a independent teenager. As Walter Jr is talking we see a long shot of the whole table which allows us to see all the families reaction and then we see him walk off. This is against the usual role of a disabled character in movies as Walter Jr is quite powerful in his family and is very independent which is a counter type of a disabled persons stereotype.


Sound

There is not a lot of sound in this clip the only sound in the clip is the characters speech and the diegetic sound of the characters eating as we hear forks touching the plates when eating to make the scene become more realistic. The reason there isn't much sound is because it adds to the effect that the scene is tense and the clip doesn't need non diegetic sound.

Editing
In this clip there are a lot of clips to cut from character to character to show the audience there is a conversation going on also this is to allow the audience to see each of the characters reactions to the way Walter JR is behaving. But once again there isn't much editing there are just cuts to another shot.


Mise En Scene
In this clip the atmosphere is tense and this is by the scene being silent and none of the characters talking to one another. Also in this scene we find out that Walter JR's mum and dad have split up and this is causing distress on Walter Jr as it now is affecting his relationship between him and his dad. Walter Jr is a character with cerebral palsy but still lives a very normal life. He seems to blame his parents for what has happened and that's why in this scene we see him arguing with his mother as why his life is changing.

How does this Link with the other areas
If you are disabled it can cause people to be mean towards you and if you are a different ethnicity or gender cause them to be racist or sexist. But in general people with a disability are usually seen as weak an vulnerable.

Examples
Breaking Bad, Glee, Lost, House, Malcolm In The Middle, Game Of Thrones