Erika:
Welcome to Invalid Culture, a podcast dedicated to excavating the strangest and most baffling representations of disability in popular culture. Unlike other podcasts that review films you’ve probably heard of, Invalid Culture is all about the abyss of pop culture adjacent media that just never quite broke through because, well, they’re just awful. I’m your host, Erika.
Jeff:
I’m your other host, Jeff. It’s time now for us to think about some culture that might just be invalid.
[Theme song: “Arguing with Strangers” by Mvll Crimes, a choppy punk song with lyrics “I’m arguing with strangers on the internet – not going out today because I’m feeling too upset. Arguing with strangers on the internet and I’m winning. AND I’M WINNING!!”]
Erika:
Jeff, how are you doing today?
Jeff:
I am excited to be back. I feel like I haven’t watched a terrible movie in so long.
Erika:
Well, I would be able to say the same if I hadn’t just recently watched Touched by Grace. Safe to say I am happy to be back, coasting as we are, straight through the second full year. Are we into the third year of pandemic now? I’ve actually lost count.
Jeff:
I don’t know. I think we’re still in 2020, so we’ll just see where we pop out the other side.
Erika:
Perfect.
Jeff:
I think so. I think so. Speaking of what it feels like to be in a global pandemic, this episode, we watched a thrilling film called Touched by Grace, which had all of the same what is happening that we have experienced in COVID. Now, I’m all of our loyal listeners have listened to the, or have watched rather, the movie before, but in case you have not yet managed to watch this amazing film, let’s give you a little bit of a breakdown.
What is Touch by Grace? Well, Local mean girl, Cara is moving away from her best friends forever after pulling a totally sweet, albeit, fat shaming prank on a fellow youth. Now, in her new city, she has no friends, but it’s okay because Cara’s thirsty mom encourages her to befriend cafe worker and high school, 35-year-old senior Brandon, and eventually connects with the other local mean girls, Quinn and Skyler.
One day, went out taking pictures at a playground, for reasons, Cara meets and befriends Grace, a person with Down syndrome. Cara begins to become a better person or something, but still wants to impress her new friends. Skyler and Quinn, her new mean girlfriends decide then to play an epic senior prank modeled after a prank that Cara claims to have played at her own school, which includes getting Grace nominated prom queen and then humiliated her before the school by making her sing on stage.
But wait, Brandon, the cafe worker, and his brother Ben, who is essentially the Down syndrome version of Dr. Ruth, surprised Cara and Grace within awesome promposal that involves a gorilla costume and pop in a million balloons with a group of very cool Christian teens. The plan succeeds and eventually Grace will have some sort of attack of some version on stage while singing and legit dies.
Her preacher then gives an impassioned speech, repeatedly clarified that Grace was a broken blight on society. Lessons were learned, I suppose. No one is charged for manslaughter and the movie ends. Perhaps most importantly though, the box description of this movie explains it is inspired by real bullying events that our teenagers in our community have witnessed happening in their local high schools. Did we witness a murder, Erika?
Erika:
We witnessed some violence, that’s for sure.
Jeff:
I think that is completely fair. Okay, if we take a high view of the film, what were your general impressions of this beautiful piece of art?
Erika:
I think my most general impression was that I felt, in some ways, that we were watching a recap of season one of Invalid Culture. It was as though every theme we had discovered discussed during the first season was recapped for us in this film with, of course, some notable additions. I’m pretty pumped to be getting into those additions today, but yeah, I think just like your standard train wreck.
Jeff:
Yeah. I have to be honest with our viewers. I started watching this film a couple weeks before Erika and I watched it. I got about halfway through and I stopped it because I knew that this was going to be the first episode of our season because this movie is so ridiculous, so absurd, but yet, I don’t know, there’s something about this movie that brought me back that made me want to watch it again. Part of it was because I wanted to see some of the just borderline human rights violations that occurred in this film.
Number two, I was enamored with the fact that the film seemed to actually have a lot of insight into people with disabilities, but seem to have almost zero insight on people that do not have disabilities. This is, I think, the first film I’ve ever watched where I’m like, “Have you never met a non-disabled person ever,” because none of the non-disabled characters behaved like real people in this film. That, I thought, was just such a beautiful inversion. I knew we had to do it.
Erika:
Shall we get into some of what the critics had to say?
Jeff:
Yeah, absolutely. There are people much smarter than us that have words to say about this film.
Erika:
We are looking here exclusively at the popular critics. Shall we begin with Judy F. from Christian Cinema?
Jeff:
Absolutely.
Erika:
Judy F. gave this film five Stars and said, “What a wonderful movie. As a child that was teased due to my walking handicap, I saw an excellent lesson for all to watch and learn from. Thanks for the great movie.”
Jeff:
Now, I want to talk about this a lot more later, but what lesson did this film… I do not actually know what the lesson that is being learned by this film.
Erika:
No.
Jeff:
I have no idea.
Erika:
I was going to ask you the exact same question.
Jeff:
I actually am more partial with another Christian cinema reviewer. Two stars from iOSC. Yup, that is right, iOS is in the Mac operating system for your phone. iOSC, two stars, “I enjoyed the film.”
Erika:
Jeff, you found my review. That was me, iOSC, two stars, “I enjoyed the film.” Shall we move on to Amazon? Honestly, I mean, I guess Amazon has everything. Part of me is a little bit surprised that this film is on Amazon.
Jeff:
Yeah. It’s barely on Amazon. You can buy it on Amazon. It is very expensive, very expensive.
Erika:
Okay. That means that Amazon is aware of it but does not actually have it.
Jeff:
Precisely.
Erika:
All right. Another five star review. We have Carolyn Kowalski, “Yes. Great movie. Teaches kids to respect and appreciate each other. Also working with special ed kids and adults, which I do every day at the grocery store. Sara Cicilian was great in this movie. She was one my scouts in high school, so I was very anxious to own and watch one of her movies.”
Jeff:
I love this review because of this weird admission right in the middle. Why do you believe that Carolyn needed to disclose to us that they work with special ed kids and adults in grocery stores?
Erika:
I’m just having trouble processing what that means.
Jeff:
I wonder if this is an appeal to authority. I know disabled people, therefore, I can assess that this is a good film.
Erika:
Oh, yup, yup.
Jeff:
You know who has figured it out, is our reviewer Wimpy Charlie, four stars explains, “It’s an excellent movie, but perfect for teenagers. I would recommend this movies for teenagers to watch.” This is actually something we’ve seen a lot in a lot of the reviews. A lot of people believe that this is a film for teenagers, and I would strongly debate that point.
Erika:
Yeah. I would advise, I mean, I would not advise anyone to watch this movie, but especially not teenagers.
Jeff:
No. I think the lessons that teenagers would learn from this film is how to murder someone with Down Syndrome.
Erika:
How to murder, how make fun of. I just don’t, I mean, the film as we know it is called Touched by Grace, but the alternative title is the Senior Prank.
Jeff:
Yes. Yes. That’s a good point. The movie was originally going to be called, The Senior Prank. The Prank is the heart of the movie.
Erika:
Yeah. No, definitely not for teens.
Jeff:
We have one last review and this one I’m going to turn over to you, Erika. This one comes from the YouTube channel that is hosting this entire film free for you to watch right now, Christian Movies on YouTube.
Erika:
From Kate Pearson,” I absolutely loved this film. If only everyone could see the world through Grace’s eyes. I used to work and look after people with Down syndrome, and I always wanted to have a child with the condition too. The way they see life and the amount of love they have in their hearts, we see life and stress and worry about stupid things. We get upset and argue with others, but people who have this disability are so loving, pure and see life full of color and compassion as well as full of happiness.
God only gives children with disabilities to special parents. It makes me sad that, although, it was only a film, that there are so many judgmental people out there who are so sad and unsatisfied in their own lives that they have to be nasty and ugly to others because they see them as different, but God made us all different for a reason. He gave us compassion to use it. Some people say manners don’t cost anything. Well, neither does compassion or love. Use it.” Xxxx Kate Brit Flag xxxxx.
Jeff:
Okay. There is a lot going on. I don’t even know where to start.
Erika:
I strongly suspect that Kate Pearson had a role in creating this film.
Jeff:
Interesting. This is a hot take. Tell me more.
Erika:
I am hearing themes of the film that none of the other, let’s say “objective reviewers” have picked up on. The idea that the world is such a cruel place, which again, I am baffled that none of the other reviews picked up on this because that was probably the most striking feature of this film for me.
Jeff:
Should, absolutely, yes, absolutely.
Erika:
As we will unpack ourselves shortly, there really seems to be a description in this review from Kate about the way that disabled people are different in a very good, trust me, listen to me, honestly, I swear, very good way, but different, and that’s kind of what I was getting from the film as well.
Jeff:
Now, what do you think about the desire to have a child, the idea that almost like this has pet vibes to me, where it’s like, “Oh, I’ve always wanted a Corgi dog and I’ve always wanted a Down syndrome child.”
Erika:
Yup. I mean, right on brand for this kind of peculiar objectification that we see come through in this film. A bit of out of alignment with a message that came straight from the dialogue of the film where it is stated that disabled people, no matter how much people are willing to care for them, are actually extreme burdens on society.
Jeff:
Right. Yeah and what is perhaps the best eulogy of all time. I find that this really leans into this idea that people down syndrome are these sharabic, angelic, loving in all ways, simple people that see the best in life, which strikes me as the belief of someone who doesn’t actually have any sort of interactions with people without Down syndrome, which isn’t to say that they are monsters, but that people with Down syndrome are complex people because they’re people.
Erika:
Yeah. As I read this review, I think like, “Oh, I’ve heard this before. I’ve seen this represented before.” It’s not what I got from the film. It’s not what I get from real life, but I’ve definitely heard this narrative before.
Jeff:
Yeah. It feels like it comes from the Special Needs Mom “branded” TM. This idea that, it’s like this desire to make them valuable. Well, they’re not valuable in all the ways that we see other people valuable. Maybe they’re good spirited nature, that could be the way that they’re valuable and there’s a productive value in that because it helps us to be better people and to see the world through their eyes.
There was a lot of that, I think, in a lot of the other reviews as well. This idea of wanting to see the world in the way that Grace sees the world, which I find particularly bizarre in this film, where Grace doesn’t actually have that much of a role in the film other than being a friend, eventually being a date, talking about wanting to tell her to preach, to give her testimony as to her relationship with God and then dying. That’s Grace’s arc. I don’t really actually understand what people are learning from Grace in this film.
Erika:
No. I don’t think that Grace is a character, a properly developed character in this film. Grace is, I spent this whole film just wanting to know more about Grace and this film does not deliver on that in any way.
Jeff:
Hot take, hot counter argument, I thought the other character with Down syndrome, Ben, the brother of Brandon, I actually felt the kind of opposite. Ben actually kind of felt like what people were saying Grace is like. Ben was kind of loving and happy go lucky and was living his best life as a rocker. He was sort of doing all these things, but the movie is not Touched by Ben. It’s Touched by Grace. I wonder, because I think Touched by Ben is probably a very different Christian film probably.
Erika:
Whew. Yup. Yup. Just to yank us back on track here. I would agree with you fully, not all aspects, but I did overall really enjoy the Ben plot line character representation. I mean, what is that? What is that? What is it that the supporting actor has no depth of character and then this random side plot character has so much?
Jeff:
Yeah, it’s a huge question. Maybe this is just about actors, actor ability. Maybe Ben was just a better actor than Grace, but if you think about what we know about Ben, there’s actually a pretty good list of stuff, of things that we know about Ben, whereas Grace, we know that she is obsessed with a butterfly metaphor. This idea of the ugly caterpillar becoming a beautiful butterfly that is core to her personality. She appears to American Idol and she dies. She has many medical conditions, apparently.
Erika:
Yes, extremely ill despite appearing fine all of the time.
Jeff:
She has a bad heart. That’s like the most distinct of the medical problems that were given is that she has a bad heart and maybe asthma, but that’s never actually described. I’m not really sure. This movie was a train wreck, but it is time for us, I think, to get a little bit more analytical. To start our journey through this film, let’s play that old fun game of name that trope. Erika, what was a great disability trope that you found in this film?
Erika:
One of the clearest messages coming out of this portrayal is that the world is overtly hostile towards disabled people in the most extreme and dramatic ways. I don’t think in representation or in real life, have I ever seen more abject disablism.
Jeff:
Yeah.
Erika:
Including, I mean, this film also flashed me back to elementary school when I think some 20 to 30 years ago, the sort of public imagination about disability was maybe a little bit less educated, a little less PC and eight-year-olds were using the R word and certain hand gestures and of mocked slurred speech to make fun of each other. I really did not expect to see that from teenagers in a, what was this, 2014 production.
Jeff:
This was not an old movie, correct. Yes.
Erika:
Yes and not just teenagers, but the mother, the mother of the…
Jeff:
The mother-
Erika:
The protagonist mother has, just to the point that she sees disabled people walk into a restaurant and says, “We need to leave immediately.”
Jeff:
Yeah. She’s like, “What is this, a Special Olympics?” There was three disabled people. We’re not even talking, it was a small group of friends.
Erika:
She’s just appalled to find out that her daughter’s new friend has Down syndrome.
Jeff:
Horrified.
Erika:
How could you? How could you?
Jeff:
A shame on the family.
Erika:
Yeah.
Jeff:
Oh, 100%. The mother was hands down my favorite character in this film because her discrimination was both so kind of real, but also so extreme. This was cranked up to 13. No one would be able to watch this and not be like, “That was a horrible thing for you to do or say.” I’m like in equal parts honored and impressed by, but also kind of horrified by.
The level that this film decided to go at like stereotypes and discrimination against people with intellectual disabilities, because some of it is like, yeah, it’s dead on, but it’s always taken to the most extreme level, a level that I’m like, I actually don’t think, I mean, it’s bad up there for disabled people everywhere, yes, but I don’t think it’s ever this overtly and randomly and casually terrible.
Erika:
To the point that the actors, at some point, seem visibly uncomfortable with their character portrayals.
Jeff:
Okay. We have to address this great scene, my favorite scene, the scene that I paused the movie afterwards and immediately texted Erika, Skyler and Quinn start to do a pantomime and in a very brilliant way, I would argue. First, Quinn does what a century sounds like somebody with hearing loss or a deaf person trying to talk, sort of the slurred speech and Skyler is like, “No. You idiot. She’s not deaf. She’s this.” Then, does the Donald Trump cerebral palsy sort of hand beat it on the chest, this slurred version of the R word? If you look in these two actor’s eyes during the scene, you can see the exact moment they realize they’re going to hell.
Erika:
Which, I think that’s a beautiful segue into trope two, because I think that’s actually part of the point of this film, is using disability to find God, to find a path to redemption, and these mean girls that you were just describing, they’re the non-religious crew. This is kind of a clear setup in this film where we have the non-religious folks are extremely and overtly prejudiced towards disability. Then, the religious folks are extremely compassionate and caring.
Jeff:
Yeah. I mean, you kind of know what you’re getting into when you start a movie and it’s called Touched by Grace, we’re all about to be touched by this disabled person. Yes, but I think you’ve made a really interesting point though here too, that there’s actually two roles being played here. It’s not just about how is disabled person going to teach us how to be better people, but there seems to also be some clear instruction about the role that nondisabled people need to play in the lives of disabled people.
Erika:
Yeah. I was getting this strong able bodied saviorism where we have these non-disabled or non-apparently disabled main characters. Brandon is the dreamy, far too old to be in high school.
Jeff:
Easily 45 years old. That guy has a 401(k).
Erika:
Yeah. I mean, the mom knows this because the mom starts to hit on him immediately and then sort of realizes, “Oh shoot, are you a high school senior? I should be setting you up with my daughter, actually.”
Jeff:
Yeah. Phenomenal pivot there.
Erika:
Yeah. This is in the smoothie shop where Brandon works. We have, and Brandon, you mentioned the second character with Down syndrome is Ben, who it turns out to be Brandon’s brother. Brandon is the brother to men with Down syndrome and he knows Grace from the smoothie shop or from school, oh, I guess, from youth group.
Jeff:
It’s probably from youth group, yeah.
Erika:
Right. They’re all kind of connected. Brandon is just so impressed with the, I can’t remember his words exactly, but how naturally Cara is able to treat disabled people like equals. She assures him that it’s not…
Jeff:
Well, not-
Erika:
… natural at all for her and she’s trying very hard.
Jeff:
Which to be fair, I would also be impressed if my first introduction to you was your mother being like, “We have to leave this place. There’s a disabled person here.”
Erika:
Right. We watched this arc. I think really this is what the film is about. The arc of the main, the primary arc of this film is watching Cara’s evolution as a human away from this fat shaming bully to secular, fat shaming, bully to this found, saved, caring person, and we sort of rely on Grace in the film to help, to be able to see this evolution in Cara from sort of an ignorant hatred to this care, albeit a pity-laced care. There’s always sort of I’m doing it because I care for her, not because I actually see her as my equal, but because I understand that the good thing to do is to treat her as an equal.
Jeff:
That there’s value, because I will also get access to this understanding of a different way of seeing the world, but I will see this beauty, once you stop paying attention to the, and they say more than once, disgusting, hairy caterpillar into the beautiful butterfly…
Erika:
Yeah.
Jeff:
… which is maybe a puberty. Is this a puberty text? Is the hairy, disgusting caterpillar like puberty?
Erika:
I mean, okay, I think at face value, it seems that this butterfly metaphor, and for anyone who might not have watched the film yet, the only thing we know about Grace is that she really loves butterflies and is actively…
Jeff:
Harvesting.
Erika:
… fostering these caterpillars in their process of metamorphosis. On the surface, you have this noble message that it’s what’s on the inside that counts, but, I mean, ultimately it’s not really about inner beauty because it’s not like you have the beautiful thing that stays on the inside. It’s really about metamorphosis. It’s really about shedding this ugly interior and letting your inner beauty shine or as I read it, finding God.
Jeff:
Becoming sort of a beautiful, better person in the life of the Lord.
Erika:
I assume this is the direction that you were going in when you called this trope the disabled as patron saint.
Jeff:
Right. Yeah. Not quite spirit guide, exactly, but this totem that symbolizes or evokes or maybe materializes these deeper teachings, these deeper teachings of care and compassion and seeing the best in people and caring for people. I think looking at this through the lens of metamorphosis, kind of does explain this awkward moment at the very beginning of the film when Cara meets Grace for the first time and she sort of like doesn’t want to be friends with her, and then Grace mentions that she’s friends with Brandon and that she can help set Cara up with Brandon. Now, all of a sudden Cara’s like, “Yes, I will be your friend.”
Erika:
Okay. That’s just really interesting to juxtapose with Ben being the, how does he self-describe as the?
Jeff:
The doctor of love.
Erika:
The doctor of love. They’re both this sort of conduit to relationship or to love.
Jeff:
Yeah. They facilitate the relationships, despite the fact that central in the movie is Grace’s anxiety, literal to the point that she has some sort of medical attack that requires a puffer after she gets sprayed with a milkshake, but this anxiety that she will not find love and that no one will ever ask her to prom. Then, Brandon’s like, “Well, I do have someone who can ask you to prom,” but really it’s because now I’m able to ask Cara to prom.
It’s like I really do wonder how the Ben-Grace relationship acts as this way of sanitizing the life’s sexual desire of Cara and Brandon. Cara and Brandon want to pork, but you can’t because this is a Christian film. Instead, they’re going to go on this innocent date with Ben and Grace, because it’s obviously innocent. They have Down syndrome. They’re not sexual beings. Therefore, Brandon and Cara can also then go on this date and it’s safe and it’s not sexual because they’re all just friends in the Lord, but they would’ve porked probably if Grace hadn’t died.
Erika:
Yeah. That was the curve ball that no one saw coming. I mean, okay, looking back, the film is full of this gratuitous medicalization. The foreshadowing was 100% there. It just seemed so illogical. Yeah, we heard that she needs her meds, she needs her meds, she needs her meds…
Jeff:
And a new heart.
Erika:
… and a new heart. Her mom sort of shamefully draws attention to the medical equipment in her bedroom. “Oh, don’t look at that,” but do.
Jeff:
Which is sitting beside her butterflies.
Erika:
Oh.
Jeff:
Currently these are gross, hairy caterpillars, and that’s where the medical equipment is sitting.
Erika:
To be totally fair, the foreshadowing was there, but I think literally as we were watching it, we were saying, “No. No. They’re not. They’re not. They wouldn’t.” Then, flash forward, and you’re clearly at a funeral.
Jeff:
Yeah. This, I honestly, I’m going to go out on a limb here, this is one of the most shocking disability deaths at the end of a film, which we should have seen it coming, but the way the film is going and the tone of the film, you would never imagine that they were just going to slaughter this girl at the end. It felt like she would have trouble and she would make a recovery because of her faith in God, there was going to be this Christic pure movie. That’s really what it really felt like.
I really felt like all this, she’s sick and she’s sick and dying, felt like it was more setting up that, and then they were just like, “No. Rug pulled out. She dead.” I was thrilled, thrilled. I had cheered. I was so excited. I couldn’t believe it. I was like, I didn’t think I was going to get this, but once again, the disabled character must die.
Erika:
I don’t think I had time to be thrilled. I mean, I can’t say I would’ve been thrilled, but I don’t think I had time to before we launched straight into the eulogy to end all disabled eulogies.
Jeff:
We have to play this clip. We have to just let people hear it because it is the most beautiful eulogy that has ever been given for a disabled person. I have to tell you, I almost Graced at the end of this eulogy. I literally almost died watching this. If you’re driving right now, please pull over, just in case you also die.
Speaker 3:
Internationally renowned nurse and journalist, Claire Rayner, once stated that, “The hard facts are that it is costly in terms of human effort, compassion, energy, and finite resources such as money to care for individuals with handicaps. People who are not yet parents should ask themselves if they have the right to inflict such burdens on others; however, willing they are, themselves to take their share of the burden in the beginning.”
This philosophy has been echoed throughout most so-called advanced civilizations. In fact, because of this philosophy, over 90% of Down syndrome babies are aborted before they ever have a chance to take a breath, but we are here today because we believe in the words of First Corinthians 1:27, that God shows the foolish things of this world to shame the wise.
God shows the weak things of this world to shame the strong. We are here because one of the weak things, one of the least in this world, Grace Elizabeth Young touched our lives with the brightness of her strength and changed our lives forever with the light of Jesus shining in her smile. Let’s pray.
Erika:
He quotes a nurse, a nurse who says it’s expensive and requires a lot of human resources to care for people with handicaps and that those who are not yet parents should ask themselves whether they really have the right to inflict such burden on others.
Jeff:
Yeah, which then connects to the horrifying stat that we are regularly aborting people with Down syndrome. Then, he pivots again to repeatedly assure us that Grace is a weak, despicable person who is there to shame and humble the strong and intelligent, and that she did. She was a successful vessel for the message being sent by the Lord through this person. Then, it ends, and that’s all we get at the funeral.
Erika:
That was the point at which I went, “Oh, this is a pro-life propaganda film?” Now, I see, the whole time I’m wondering, but why disability? Why was disability in this film? Then, it was just like, “Oh, there’s the convergence.”
Jeff:
Yeah, but funny enough though, it’s like it’s dropped in there, but then it also isn’t really touched again really after either? I thought it was about to get really preachy after this, but it kind of doesn’t. I wonder, I’m starting to wonder if this was a funding thing. If in order to get this film that they wanted to tell this story about bullying and acceptance, but they also needed money to make this thing work to be able to do it.
I honestly wonder if they were, they applied to some point grant that was if money for pro-life propaganda films, and they were like, “Okay, well, we’ll just put this scene in there.” Why do you think that at no point did they decide that the eulogy should be complimentary of this person?
Erika:
Again, because I think in this film, Grace was never a person. Grace was always an object. What do you have to say about an object at its funeral? Only praise for what it did for the human people around it.
Jeff:
I know, I think this is interesting because in some ways then the film itself serve, there’s this meta thing happening in the film in which the film objectifies Grace in order to tell two different sort of, one sort of religiously motivated and one sort of more propaganda ideology motivated sort of lesson, that there’s these two lessons that are happening here, which is like pro-life, yes and beauty and compassion is the Christic way.
Then, if you step back even further, then you have this meta metaphor of Down syndrome becoming this useful tool in the arsenal of pro-life campaigners that Grace becomes this symbol of the problem with abortion, that we’re going to kill all these people, which again, the stats do say is actually fairly accurate, that people do actively choose to abort fetuses of disabled people, but yet the film never actually gives us any real understanding about why Grace’s life is valuable outside of how she is useful to showing people the way to God, basically.
This is like double objectification that’s happening of disabled people both within the text, beside the text, outside the text. It’s just like, it’s like a nesting doll of objectification.
Erika:
All right, why don’t we move on to our next segment, I’m sorry, can we talk about?
Jeff:
Yeah. I have a hot, a scorching hot take. After now, we have spent most of this podcast kind of pilfering this truly horrendous film, I have a hot take, and my hot take is that this film, I wonder, does this film perhaps almost certainly unintentionally provide a [inaudible 00:38:39] critique of the electing of disabled people as prom king or queen within high schools?
Many of you probably know it. If you don’t know, there’s this viral trend, right, where teenagers will elect often the person with Down syndrome, but not always, sometimes it’s other various disabilities, elect them as prom king, prom queen, and then it makes the news about how great it is that these local non-disabled children have given of themselves and seeing the inner beauty of these disabled people and made them prom king.
This movie, though, presents this inversion in which not only do they make them prom king and prom queen, but then they mock them to death at the end. Grace starts singing and everyone in the auditorium is dying of laughter. This is the funniest thing they have ever seen, and in some ways, I wonder, is this the perfect critique, the perfect critique of these prom king things where it’s never about the person with Down syndrome. It’s not about Ben being the doctor of love and loving rock and roll or Grace wanting to see the inner beauty or being a good singer, it’s all about the emotional enjoyment of the viewing audience and the voting audience.
Erika:
Jeff, I have a gift for you.
Jeff:
Oh, I cannot wait.
Erika:
I don’t know if this throws a wrench into your theory or helps it along, but when I looked on IMDB and I couldn’t find any information about Amber House, the actor who plays Grace, I did a little bit of poking around the web and you will not believe what I found. What I found was a headline, “Dream come true for family after daughter with Down syndrome is asked to the prom.”
Jeff:
What?
Erika:
Covered on both the dailymail.co.uk and Huffington Post.
Jeff:
What?
Erika:
It turns out…
Jeff:
No?
Erika:
… that according to Huffington Post, Amber’s mom actually ran a campaign. Amber’s mom desperately wanted Amber to be asked to the prom and felt that no one would ask her, and she just really wanted her to have that life experience. It was unsuccessful, but it turned out that unrelated to that, a choir friend had actually invited Grace to prom already.
Jeff:
Whoa! Wait a minute.
Erika:
Yes. It was a little hard, unfortunately, in my viewing area. I could not actually watch the live news clip. I just was able to read the article, which is a real shame because I really wanted to see the interview with the promposer. Interestingly, in the Huffington Post article, the articles about Amber and someone else who also got promposed and then was elected Queen, the prom queen. I just, I got the feeling reading this, did they find Amber as an actor through this media story?
Jeff:
Which came first? Did the movie come before the promposal?
Erika:
The promposal came first.
Jeff:
What? Okay, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. These people saw this article and were like, “We should get this girl to be in our movie in which she gets elected prom queen and dies.”
Erika:
Yes, I believe that’s what happened.
Jeff:
This is the weirdest film of all time.
Erika:
Okay. The other little fun piece of trivia that I picked up on while researching actors was that the actor that played Ben, Frank Stephens is actually a fairly active advocate, including, conflict, I think he’s had some communication with Obama or was critiquing Ann Coulter about her use of slurs against mentally disabled people when referring to Obama.
Jeff:
What?
Erika:
I just found this really fascinating because I know in our first season when we sort of noticed some trends where when there were disabled actors involved in the film, there seemed to be some better representation we suspected because the actors were lending some critique to the film. I wondered, just given that the Ben/Frank actor is a seasoned advocate, if perhaps that’s how his character got to be, have a little more depth and be a bit of a cooler character where it seems that Amber’s not an experienced actor and perhaps maybe not as much experience in this kind of setting and not having say, the confidence to push back on the filmmakers to shape her character at all?
Jeff:
Unbelievable.
Erika:
I’m really sorry for hijacking your, I’m sorry, can we talk about, but-
Jeff:
No. I want to talk more about this. Okay, wait a minute. Okay. I’m sorry. I’m just processing this. I need to go back for half a second. Did you say that she had a date for the prom, but her mom was like, “No. She needs a better date for the prom?”
Erika:
No. No. Her mom, no, no, no, no, no. Her mom did not, okay, before, I guess before the household prom conversation comes up, because that’s a totally normal thing, before that came up, Mom actually led a campaign to try and find her daughter a date. To me, this just aligned miraculously with when we were talking earlier in the film about how that parent trope of my child is broken, but I to have to try and give this, redeem the value of my broken child.
According to the Huffington Post article, although, her parents said she never had a problem making friends, they were concerned she would have difficulty finding a date. Peggy’s mom started a campaign for a prom date a few months ahead. That was unsuccessful, but meanwhile, Amber already had a date and her mom just didn’t know about it yet.
Jeff:
That’s even better than my original suspicion…
Erika:
Yes.
Jeff:
… in some ways. I also like, what would you have done, Erika, if you’d found out that your mom had been running a campaign to find you a prom date when you were in high school? Would you have been touched by grace?
Erika:
I mean, I guess it might have been nice to have a prom date, but I just wanted to round that participation from mom out and actually, I want to just contrast in this Huffington Post article. Matt was the promoser. He said, “Grace was my number one choice. I know her from choir. I really like her. She’s awesome. She’s fun, great to hang out with.”
Mom said she was amazed. This is a quote, “I started crying. I’m just so proud of the young man who would step up and take her and that she’s able to do this and have that experience with all of her friends.” Whether my mom went out of her way to try and find me a prom date or not, I think the part that wouldn’t sit so well with me if my mom said that she was just so proud of the person who would step up and take me.
Jeff:
I’m pretty sad right now, actually, that during at my wedding that my parents didn’t get up during their speech and say how proud they were of my partner stepping up and taking me off their hands. Incredible. I find it, this is so tough because the response to this, we’re sort of laughing and cackling at this, and the response to this is always kind of the same, which is, “Well, you don’t get how hard it is. We do. We live it every day. We see what they go through,” which I’m not going to deny.
At the same time, I honestly really wonder, are these utterances really the deep, deep, genuine belief of these parents or are these parents merely playing out this script, the script that you have to play out if you’re going to get the coverage, which you want for reasons, reasons that actually probably actually translated into their daughter being at film in which she’s killed at prom. I really wonder that though.
I wonder how authentic are these or is it just people playing the part, playing the part that they’ve seen so far, playing the part of the hell has no fury, the special needs mom, or because that was a big thing in a movie that we’re going to hear from a little later this season in our Valentine’s special coming in several months or this trope right about, “Oh, my poor child is such the least of us.”
Erika:
I suspect most parents, probably their imagination of what a good life is relates to their own life experiences. If they want their child to have what they had, and the teen years are sort of a difficult, they’re their transitional point in life where life is directed largely by parents until the young person is getting to that point in their life where they’re able to lead their own life and really kind of center their own life around their own personality.
I wonder if this is sort a teenage, a bit of a teenage issue as well, or whether, I guess, it might be constrained a bit too by parental or societal perceptions of what’s appropriate for people at different ages, different life stages, or even different abilities.
We have done our deep dive into the themes. We’ve heard from the critics. Now, it’s time to get trivial. Let’s look at some fun facts about the film. Jeff, you want to kick us off?
Jeff:
Yeah. Our first little segment is, you might remember me from such films as, and if you were watching this film and thinking, “I feel like this Cara girl looks a little familiar.” This is, of course, our actor, Stacey Bradshaw, probably the most “famous in this film,” predominantly because of her appearances in several anti-choice films, including playing the lead in the understatement of the year, controversial film called Unplanned, which you may have heard of before.
Stacey has also been in other films that are anti-choice, such as a short film, which I’m trying to get my hands on, called Wheelchair. Stacey is not the star in this, but she does appear in it. This is a short film about a mother of a three-year-old who temporarily needs to use a wheelchair and is allegedly a “pro-life” mini film, which I have no idea what is going on there.
Erika:
Then, we also have Sara Cicilian, a former scout perhaps who plays mean girlfriend, Quinn, who interestingly enough is listed as Drunk Girl number one in The Dark Tower and was in a Fall Out Boy music video.
Jeff:
Two very different career paths for these two women.
Erika:
We didn’t get the actor’s name on this list, but character Skyler may or may not stunt double for Blake Lively.
Jeff:
Yeah, they definitely were looking for the great life brand, Blake Lively, for that character. Absolutely.
Erika:
Now, I know this is one of your favorite segments, the equipment facts, no wheelchairs to speak of in this film, so no quickie identifiers here, but we did have a couple of devices on Grace’s bedside table. What were they? Research and speculation can only get us so far.
Jeff:
I have no idea what these two things are. There is this gray device with a giant butterfly sticker on it, and I’m guessing that that butterfly sticker is covering the brand name, which means I could have probably figured it out, but they covered it. Then, there’s this tube thing, with a tube thing, with a tube, with a nipple on it and I just have no idea. I have never seen this device. I’m wondering if it’s a feeding device maybe, or if anybody knows what the heck these two devices are, please email us because I just have no idea.
Erika:
Yeah, I’m guessing that since Grace’s medical condition was entirely fabricated, the medical equipment on her bedside table was whatever the heck we could get our hands on that looks like it helps her breathe.
Jeff:
Sort of, yeah. It was sort of gestured as medicine and breathing apparatus. The gray device might be a suction device of some variety, but it does not look like any of the types of suction devices I’ve ever seen. I haven’t seen all of them. I’m not like a suction device aficionado. I mean, I have one, but I use, because I do have breathing problems and these are not the devices I would’ve seen.
Then, Grace also uses a puffer, which is also, I don’t understand because they say that she has problems breathing, that she has heart problems. Maybe they’re saying she has asthma. I’m not sure.
Erika:
Yeah. Is that the two times that she has unclear whether it’s an asthma attack or an anxiety attack and…
Jeff:
Or a heart attack.
Erika:
… it’s like, me, “Get her, her medicine. Where are your meds? Where are your meds?” It’s unclear what meds.
Jeff:
It’s a puffer, which, yeah. I don’t know what is happening in this whole situation. I also find it hard to believe that somebody who has “heart problems” wouldn’t have an EKG or some sort of heart monitoring device beside the bed.
Erika:
Yeah. Onto production facts, we have Donald Leow, producer, director of such Christian hits as For the Glory and Badge of Faith.
Jeff:
I really want to watch Badge of Faith. There are prop guns in Badge of Faith. I want to see it.
Erika:
Yeah. Well-
Jeff:
No disabled people that I know of.
Erika:
Yeah, that on your own time, I guess.
Jeff:
That one’s just for me, my private viewing.
Erika:
Then, we have, we really don’t have anything for production facts for this film. We know written by Chris and Katherine Craddock, who as far as research can tell us, have basically done nothing else.
Jeff:
Yeah. There is a reference throughout the text about a Christian youth group that seems to be very active in the United States. There are divisions of this youth group in Canada, but shockingly, none in our hometown in London, Ontario. We had no means of trying to find out anything really more about these people. I have no idea if they paid to be involved or if they paid to make the film maybe, but I will say I think every actor in this film had strong Sunday School, Christian Youth Group vibes, every single one of them, even like the adults. Would you say that’s fair, Erika?
Erika:
Yeah. Even the mean girls who notably were not wearing crosses around their necks, if they weren’t acting mean girl and were wearing crosses around their neck, they fit in well with the rest of the cast.
Jeff:
I wouldn’t be shocked if most of the people in this film are all a part of the same youth group.
Erika:
Yeah. Well, how else would they have multiple T-shirts in the film that have the youth group name on them.
Jeff:
It is that time, our favorite time of every episode where it is time for us to rate this film. For those of you who have not listened to the show before, we have our very own Invalid Culture scale, which measures the quality of film based on four scientifically designed questions. He puts his tongue firmly in cheek. The way this game works is like golf, the lower the score for the film, the better the film is.
Let’s start out with question number one. Question number one, Erika, on a scale of one to five, with five being the least accurate, how accurate does this film portray disability?
Erika:
I’m really torn on this one, but I think I’m going to go with a four out five. I am giving mercy for Ben because I thought Ben was a pretty decently portrayed character. I also thought that, although overblown, the ableism was in the direction of reality.
Jeff:
Yeah, I also gave it a four.
Erika:
Okay.
Jeff:
I took off marks for a different reason. I took off marks because the biomedical of this film was just complete nonsense. I mean, yes, people with Down syndrome do have chronic heart conditions. Typically, people with Down syndrome could have problems breathing. All of those things are accurate, but the way that it was just smashed together in this jambalaya of medicalism, I felt was, definitely should have removed a mark. I agree. I think the ableism, although, on steroids, I think was kind of accurate to the ways that people think about intellectual disability at times.
Erika:
Onto the next question, with five being the hardest, how hard was it to get through this film?
Jeff:
I always struggle with this question, always, but it’s because I am a weirdo who loves terrible films, but I gave this one a four. It wasn’t the hardest thing I’ve ever watched. There were some trying moments, but I think the thing about this film is that it takes very seriously that old school like filmmaker’s motto, which is that every scene should increase the drama from the previous scene, but this movie starts with a fat shaming of a teenager whose parents come outside and scream, “Why do you hate our daughter?” It has to go up from there.
This thing just ratchets every scene is just more extreme and unbelievable than the last. That kept me hooked. I’m giving it a four. Sorry. I guess, I shot the other way around, I’m giving this a two, a two out of five. I felt that it was actually very easy to get through this film.
Erika:
Wow. I gave this one a four because I did find it cringe factor alone made it hard to get through this film. I was physically uncomfortable watch. I was so distracted by just the silliest little things, like why are they selling popcorn in a smoothie shop and why are there clearly no drinks in the drink until it gets spilled? There were just so many, they’re not even disability related bits, but just the film production had so many cringy and then it’s just, oh gosh, I can’t, that’s a separate episode. We’ll just leave it at a four.
Jeff:
Yeah. I mean the production of this film was fairly bad. This was YouTube quality film making. I’m so sorry everyone involved, but actually I’m kind of not sorry. All right. Question number three, scale of one to five, with five being the maximum, how often did you laugh at things that were not supposed to be funny?
Erika:
I think that’s a five for me. I laughed…
Jeff:
Easy five.
Erika:
… constantly at this film.
Jeff:
Easy Five. This movie was unintentionally hilarious. Even the things that were trying to be funny, were hilarious because they were so cringy.
Erika:
Yup. I’m with you there.
Jeff:
Easy five.
Erika:
Yeah. Our last category, how many steps back has this film put disabled people with five being the most?
Jeff:
I gave this a 3.5. I don’t think it set us back a lot. There were definitely some questions. I think the preacher’s sermon alone set us back at least one step. I’m going to give it a 3.5.
Erika:
I’m going to have to give this one a generous four for well-intentioned because although, I don’t think it hit the mark by any means, I do think that there was some well-intentioned here.
Jeff:
Okay. Drum roll please. That means this has achieved our third award. Our third rate a crime may have been committed. I think that’s fair because that scene of the two girls definitely felt like something that would be shown at the UN.
Erika:
Yeah, I had a feeling of being violated at some points in this film.
Jeff:
Absolutely. I definitely gagged at least once while watching this film. This concludes another episode of Invalid Culture. Thank you for joining us. I hope you enjoyed it or not. Did you have a film you would like for us to cover on the pod or even better? Do you want to be a victim on Invalid Culture? Head a word to our website, invalidculture.com and submit. We would love to hear from you. That’s it for this episode. Catch you next month and until then, stay Invalid.
[Outro verse from the chorus of “Arguing with Strangers” by Mvll Crimes]