A Critical Analysis of Disability Narrative in Big World

Abstract

This paper explores how disability is represented in Chinese cinema today through a case study of the film Big World, which tells the story of Liu Chunhe, a young man living with cerebral palsy. The representation of disabled people in Chinese films has in the past tended to adopt a binary model of pity or inspiration but Big World shows a marked change in this trend in its treatment of the subjectivity, agency and inner world of the protagonist. It also demonstrates the other issues associated with disability in its filmic narratives, such as family dynamics, social stigma and welfare systems. That said it is shown that the representation remains limited by being perceived from non-disabled perspectives, as in support characters such as Ya Ya, whose motivation is lacking in depth. While this enhances visibility and invokes empathy, the risk with this method of representation is that it continues to alienate. Individual disability is represented in its inspirational or tragic form. Meaningful progress in the representation of disability may only come as the result of including the disabled voice in the creative process at every level, including scripting and performance. It is only through the medium of collaborative story telling that Chinese filmmakers may move beyond symbolic representation into authentic and equitable representation that truly reflects the diverse experiences of disabled people.