Animated Film and Disability: Cripping Spectatorship

While many films portray disability as a spectacle, the cinematic field of crip animation (a term that purposefully makes readers uncomfortable) has the power to challenge the ableist gaze and immerse viewers in an alternative bodily experience.

Animation and Disability analyzes over 30 animated works that represent differently abled characters, including Finding Nemo, Inside Out, and BoJack Horseman, and contends that crip animation has the power to force viewers into a lack of sensory orientation, in turn evoking awareness of their own bodies. Slava Greenberg focuses not only on representations of internal psychological worlds and conditions but also the subjective viewpoints of people with disabilities. In addition, Greenberg explores physical and sensory accessibility in theaters and suggests new ways to accommodate cinematic screenings for differently abled and minded audiences.

Offering an introduction to disability studies and crip theory for film, media, and animation scholars, Animation and Disability demonstrates that crip animation has the power to breach the spectator's comfort, subvert tradition, and create deeper understanding.