Poster Description: Melody (Phoebe-Rae
Taylor) sits in her electric wheelchair, smiling with her arms raised in
triumph. A blue, cloudy sky is behind her, with a cloud shaped like a fish
floating past the title “Disney Original Movie, Disney Out of My Mind”
in white. “Of My” is in a white circle.
Out of My Mind was a recommendation from my good
friend Pagey; it’s based on a book by Sharon Draper, a mother of a teenage girl
who uses an electric wheelchair. My reaction was similar to when my niece got a
Barbie doll in a wheelchair with a portable ramp. As a fellow wheelchair-user,
Pagey understood why, but my niece was puzzled. She asked me, “Why are you so
excited about this?”
It was simple: we didn’t have dolls that looked like us at
her age. With the passage of time comes change, but good representation remains
essential. Just look at the heartwarming videos of beaming black girls watching
trailers of the Disney live-action The Little Mermaid, and you’ll see
how representation feels.
Growing up, I saw many films featuring characters who became
disabled later in life, played by actors who weren’t disabled in real life. As
far as I knew, that was all there was! People like me couldn’t be actors!
Movies like The Theory of Everything and Inside I’m Dancing
painted a reasonably accurate picture of how funny, ridiculous, and difficult
life can be in a wheelchair, but they are often still depressing. I wasn’t a
genius, nor was my condition debilitating (also, I wasn’t desperate to get
laid). That’s not to say James McAvoy’s or Eddie Redmayne’s transformations
aren’t astonishing, though as soon as the cameras stopped rolling, these actors
could just get up and carry on as their “normal.”. Then there are films like
the brilliant French movie The Untouchables and 2016’s Me Before You
(based on the novel by Jojo Moyes), which conform to the bleak trope that one
would be better off dead than disabled. Like, gee, thanks. That makes me feel
so comfortable in my wonky body.
Out of My Mind doesn’t have any of those issues. For
one thing, the leading actress Phoebe-Rae Taylor uses a wheelchair in real life
because she has cerebral palsy. Like me! Yay! Her character is Melody, an
intelligent and observant individual who is non-verbal. She uses a laminated
grid with common words and phrases to communicate, but this takes time and
patience for everyone involved. Phoebe-Rae Taylor is a brilliantly subtle
actress and deserves more roles. Melody frequently expresses her frustration,
distress, and anger by hitting her portable table. At the same time, the
audience hears what’s going on in Melody’s mind through Jennifer Aniston’s
voice; it’s particularly apt, as the film is set in 2001, when Friends
was still fresh on TV. It also explains why some of the costumes (by Megan
Oppenheimer) look so odd. Take it from a Noughties girl, we wore some weird
stuff back then, so it’s historically accurate!
The main crux of the film is Melody getting the support she
needs, in a world not made for her. The lovely chemistry between Taylor and her
on-screen parents (Rosemarie DeWitt and Luke Kirby) is never more palpable than
the day Melody gets her assistive technology. Finally, she can speak! I also
enjoyed her interactions with her neighbour, Mrs. V (Judith Light). While
Melody’s parents want to protect her as much as they can, Mrs. V is more
practical:
“You’re gonna have people taking
care of you the rest of your life. At some point, you better learn just because
someone wipes your ass doesn’t mean you have to kiss theirs.”
Every disabled kid should have at least one Mrs. V in their
life. Heck, everyone should have a Mrs. V, regardless of whether they are
disabled or not. Likewise, Melody’s mum is a stalwart woman when it comes to
the things her daughter needs. Bureaucracy and stuffy businessmen have nothing
on an indignantly knitting mother with a cause.
While I wasn’t surprised by the school’s reaction to outside
forces, what surprised me most is the lack of communication between school
staff. When Melody finally gets her wish and joins a mainstream classroom, the
teacher is unaware of it; even without my Governor hat on, that’s deplorable
practice! Likewise, the passive-aggressive way the same teacher excludes Melody
from reaching her full potential is shockingly audacious. Disability Awareness
Training is so essential!
The fact that Disney chose to keep Out of My Mind exclusively
on Disney+ is verging on idiotic; such positive representation has been a long
while coming. Taylor gives a subtle yet passionate performance as a young girl
who just wants to be like any twelve-year-old. Out of My Mind demonstrates
that we can have a story about disability that is both memorable, entertaining,
and, above all, hopeful. Being disabled isn't all terrible, which is why everyone should see this film. Thanks, Pagey.
My
Rating: 5 STARS OUT
OF 5
My
Sources:
Out of
My Mind poster - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5012320/
What is Out
of My Mind based on? - https://thedirect.com/article/out-of-my-mind-movie-true-story-real-life-influences
Is Out
of My Mind based on anything? - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6609765-out-of-my-mind
What’s the
name of the French film about the quadriplegic man? - https://includedmag.com/entertainment/11-great-films-and-tv-series-featuring-prominent-disabled-characters/
Who is the
costume designer for Out of My Mind? & who plays Melody’s parents,
and Mrs. V? - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5012320/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_cst_sm
Mrs. V’s
words of wisdom - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5012320/quotes/?ref_=tt_dyk_qu
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