How has the media portrayed Stuttering
Hi Everyone! My name is Isaiah, and I am a second-year Post-Baccalaureate student studying to be an SLP. I wanted to ask how you have felt the media has historically perceived stuttering, and whether it is currently changing to what you would like to see?
The media has historically portrayed stuttering as a character flaw or illness. In early movies, stuttering is a sign of low intelligence or something to be laughed at. There are countless examples of this, from “Waterboy” to “A Fish Called Wanda”. Today, in the last 10-15 years, there has been much more positive representation. Stuttering has begun to be viewed more as a neutral part of a person. There was recently a contestant on Survivor who stuttered openly, with the host discussing it with him. The larger movie/TV industry is also getting better, with recent TV shows having characters who stutter openly.
Thank you for the question.
Historically, media has been cruel to showcase invisible disabilities as something to laugh at! Be it stuttering, Tourette’s, Nerodivergent conditions, etc.
Indian film industry had a blockbuster movie where one of the 4 main characters was unable to speak,so he would communicate by sounds and gestures, and he was the main laughing point of the whole movie, which had 4-5 sequels. The career of that actor really took off after that, and he is now known for that role only. It did not help the case of people who sutter, or people with speech variations AT ALL, more over it made us comic, something worth laughing at!
I was re-watching Harry Potter , first movie, last night with the kids (just a little before-bed ritual) and I realised that the character, professor Quirell had a stutter , or a speech variation and the whole characetr was defined by that – he was considered timid,shy and at-times stupid (which we know at the last that he was not), which indicated that people with speech variations are not intellingent(??) enough to NOT do stupid things! or are not considered generally harmful as they cannot be smart enought to harm (??) – I hope I am able to express what I am thinking.
Having said so, I believe media representation is now changing and we see people with disbilities taking up their space and owning up to their character, which is nice.
Thank you for this fascinating question, Isaiah!
Since I’m not much of a film fan or TV fan, I may not be the most informed respondent for this question. But I will do my best!
Traditionally, the depiction of people who stutter in films and TV has just been horrid, until about 16 years ago, when things started changing,
There were films like “A Fish Called Wanda”, where stuttering was basically included for increased laughs. There were the Porky Pig cartoons, which I and many others who stutter couldn’t stand – they ridiculed stuttering. “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” had a stuttering character with special mental/emotional problems. There have been scenes in films implying that stuttering was some kind of behavorial deficiency that could be “fixed” with the right kind of attitude adjustment.
Stuttering was virtually never shown as a natural difference of speech that many happen to have. Stuttering characters were teased and humiliated, or were meant to increase laughs in a comedy, or the stuttering was depicted as a symptom of a mental/emotional disorder.
What started to change all this was the award-winning film “The King’s Speech” (2010). For the first time, a widely seen film had as its central cnaracter a non-fictional well-known and well-admired person who had a stuttering problem – and whose stuttering experiences were treated with sensitivity, realism, and compassion. Stuttering was not there for laughs; it was not there to show teasing or people making fun of the person; it was not there to imply that the person had some kind of mental/emotional disorder.
The stuttering was treated with respect and kindness, in a knowledgeable and understanding way, and as a disorder that the person just happened to have. it showed that national leaders, even in times of war and crisis, can stutter – it showed that people who stutter can hold very highly esteemed positions, and be a leader and role model for millions.
I’m aware that there have been many other positive depictions of stuttering in films and TV in subsequent years, though I’m not personally familiar with them. And I’m also aware that stuttering for laughs, stuttering for teasing, and stuttering as a symptom of a mental/emotional disorder, are disappearing from the media. And that pleases me a great deal.
Maybe other respondents to this question will give more recent examples of this welcome change of perspective.
In any case, I wish you well in your coming career.
– Paul