Posted this on Canvas, but was encouraged to post it here too!
Was looking up our poet Kenny Fries who I think we have read two poems from him, Excavation and today’s poem. He made his own test that is similar to the Bechdel test which determines if a creative work has a fair representation of women. This test is called the Fries test and can be used to determine if a creative (fiction) work has a fair representation of disabled people. Here is a link Dr. Foss provided to a short reading by Fries himself on this test. And here is what Dr. Foss said on Canvas!
“He (Fries) shouts out Good Kings Bad Kings as one of only a couple of novels he can think of as passing the test! He also mentions the important short fiction collection The Right Way to be Crippled and Naked: The Fiction of Disability, from which I selected a number of our contemporary short stories, and the equally important Beauty is a Verb: The New Disability Poetry, from which I selected a number of our contemporary poems.”
This is the criteria according to Wikipedia, but I think it varies based on what type of creative work it is!
- have more than one disabled character;
- the disabled characters need to have their own narrative purpose other than the education and profit of a nondisabled character;
- the characters’ disability should not be eradicated either by curing or killing.
Can ya’ll think of any creative works that pass this test? Honestly it is the first bullet that kinda stumped me. So many works that I enjoy that have what I feel is a good representation of a disabled character, that character is usually the only one. Feel free to reply to this with ones that completely pass this test or ones that don’t at all because it’s fun to laugh at bad representation sometimes. Also list some that don’t pass, but don’t completely fail either. Here are some recommendations that I have that I enjoyed.
A Silent Voice: Anime movie about a teenage boy trying to make amends with a deaf girl he and his classmates bullied in elementary school. (WARNING: PHYSICAL ABUSE,VERBAL ABUSE, AND SUICIDAL IDEATION) I like it because I feel that they don’t let the boy off so easy and he isn’t making amends just to make himself feel better, but I also haven’t seen this since it came out, so it’d be fun to watch it knowing what I know now from this class. Does not pass because she is the only disabled character (well an argument can be made for the main character, but if you have seen this or do watch it let’s talk about it!) and she does have her own purpose, but a lot of it does revolve around the main character bettering himself. It’s not bad to do both, but because this is such a common trope I don’t want to ignore that.
Atypical: Netflix TV show about an autistic boy named Sam and his family. (3 seasons with the 4th season coming out sometime in the Fall) This show has a lot of issues with the main character not being played by someone on the spectrum and neither is the main writer for the show, but one thing I do appreciate was that in season 2 and 3, they hired autistic writers and actors because the main writer did care about having that representation. I think they definitely could have hired an autistic main character from the beginning, but it is Hollywood. I’m surprised they even acknowledged it. I think this does pass the test and the address a lot of issues such as police brutality and the mistreatment of disabled people especially Neurodivergent people by the police, but because our MAIN CHARACTER is not played by an autistic person I don’t want to fully applaud them for passing the test. A lot more needs to be done.
It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini: (WARNING FOR SUICIDAL IDEATION, SELF HARM, HOSPITALIZATION, and EATING DISORDERS) A book about a teenager who is diagnosed with clinical anxiety and later admitted to a psychiatric ward. One of my favorite books all time! The author himself has been admitted into psychiatric wards, so it is the most accurate writing of one I have ever read. There are also disabled people of color in the book too which isn’t in the Fries test, but I think should be. This book doesn’t try to profit off of teen anxiety and romanticize anything. It’s very real and has a great message. It does pass the test, but I do have an issue with the only time you meet other disabled people is in the psychiatric ward even though the character later learns that disabled people are all around him, I feel like it is cop out to say, “look at all the disability representation!” when the setting is kind of an obvious one instead of a more typical one.
That’s all I have for now! Please let me know if you have any that pass, fail, or kind of almost pass! Also I’d like to know what everyone thinks should be added to the Fries test for criteria? This is not the end all be all of representation, but I think it is a good start!
