How is disability represented

using camera work, editing, mise

en scene and sound
The first character introduced is the able-bodied David, who starts the clip by narrating, saying
Last Summer I decided to kill my brother. This sets the scene for a sibling relationship filled with
conflict, and as David is shown as able-bodied, the audience quickly assumes that the brother is
different in some way, contrasting David heavily, possibly through their behaviour or through how
abled they are. This idea is later reinforced when Ben is introduced. He is visibly less abled than
every other character, and when he announces that he needs to go to the toilet,Davids
fatherdoesnt want [Ben] to make a mess again. This dialogue is an explicit reference to Ben
needing help with basic daily tasks shows the extent to which he is less abled than his brother. This
feeds into the stereotype of disabled people not being able to care for themselves, even when it
comes to the most basic tasks. One other way in which this idea is reinforced is through the
brothers walk to school, where Ben follows David. Throughout the montage, which features
repeated two-shots of different school days, it can be seen that David consistently sits in the same
place, tired and annoyed because he has to babysit, while Ben can be seen moving around and
playing with several different things while waiting for the school bus. This behaviour makes Ben
seem childish, as he is so willing to play with everything around him, and even though he seems
like an older teen, he still physically plays with everything around him, which wouldnt be socially
acceptable for people around his age. The cropping of this montage also puts each brother into
one separate half of the screen, further reiterating the contrast in behaviours between both
brothers. This links to Levi-Strausss theory of binary opposites, which states that a narrative is
driven by conflict between two contrasting characters, one of which is always weaker than the
other, usually pertaining to the differences between good and evil, but in this case being used to
show the differences between the able bodied majority and the disabled minority.

Ben is shown to process the world differently than those around him. One of the first shots of Ben
is an extreme close-up with a spoon in frame. This shot is paired with the use of shallow focus,
which exaggerates how focused Ben is on a spoon, an everyday item which most people wouldnt
look twice at. The shallow focus blurs out the spoon, but Bens face, specifically his eyes, are in full
focus, unmoving, which is what makes it seem like all of his attention is on the spoon and the
spoon only. During this scene, there are faster paced cuts between David and his parents, which
show just how fast-paced the world seems in contrast to Ben, who is featured in much longer cuts.
The contrast between the two paces of the conversation between the family and then of Ben are
used to simulate how Ben processes the world around him, in a much slower way than more abled
people than him. This means that his attention span is very different, in that he only focuses on
specific things, the idea of which is repeated later on during the end of the school day. During this
particular scene, Ben is shown standing behind Davids shoulder, taking up little of the screen. This
sidelines him, showing how he is perceived of little importance by everyone around him. During this
scene, although Ben is right behind David, he pays little attention to the conversation, focusing on
his surroundings instead. This means that even though hes been waiting for David to walk him
home, he hasnt noticed David taking about the party hes about to go to.

Ben is shown to deal with sensory overload, as during the bus scene an extreme close-up of Ben is
used, which then pans out to show all of the people behind him, who are out of focus. Through the
use of the extreme close-up, Ben seems like he has little space, and his body language
exaggerates this, as he is curved into himself, holding his bag. The use of blurring the people
behind him creates the effect of not being able to fully process whats happening, and puts the
audiences focus entirely on Ben, emphasising how distressed he is at the time and creating
sympathy for him from the audience. On top of the loud sounds coming from the people behind
him, non-diegetic laughing can be heard, specifically childrens laughter, which could link to
previous memories and possible bullying, as a stereotype of disabled people is that theyre bullied
by abled people. This idea of sensory overload is often avoided by the character as he is shown
with only two to three characters interacting with him at most at one time, for example he is shown
to ignore Davids conversation with his friend, as well as being shown repeatedly throughout the
extract to be playing with one other person alone, such as when David is looking through a
a scope at Ben playing with their father. The last scene which specifically shows the sensory
overload in effect links to Baudrillards theory of Hyperreality, which states that what you are shown
through media isnt everything that happens, and by consuming media an audience accepts a new,
filtered reality. Through simulating Bens feelings and the effect they have on him in the bus, the
audience accepts the blurry and loud version of the bus and the people on it, making the audience
feel bad for Ben through the filtered reality shown.