Sep 8, 2023 3 min read

Animated Film and Disability

On a white background, an illustration of a women with red hair, wearing a purple dress and a green jacket falling into large black hole. The Image is from My Depression: The Up, and Down, and Up of It (Robert Marianetti, Elizabeth Swados, and David Wachtenheim, 2014), courtesy of Rosalind Lichter. © Elizabeth Swados. The text “Slava Greenberg” appears in capitals in green font at the top of the image. The title of the book, “Animated Film and Disability” appear in large, all capitals in green font. The subtitle “Cripping Spectatorship” appears in smaller red font at the bottom of the image.

Sometimes social media isn't total garbage. As I scrolled my timeline on Twitter, someone shared a Tweet by Slava Greenberg about his book Animated Film and Disability: Cripping Spectatorship published by Indiana University available now. I was immediately intrigued and am happy to offer 1 paperback and 1 e-book to you gorgeous subscribers. Details below.

About the book

While many live-action films portray disability as a spectacle, "crip animation" (a genre of animated films that celebrates disabled people's lived experiences) uses a variety of techniques like clay animation, puppets, pixilation, and computer-generated animation to represent the inner worlds of people with disabilities. Crip animation has the potential to challenge the ableist gaze and immerse viewers in an alternative bodily experience.

In Animated Film and Disability, Slava Greenberg analyzes over 30 animated works about disabilities, including Rocks in My Pockets, An Eyeful of Sound, and A Shift in Perception. He considers the ableism of live-action cinematography, the involvement of filmmakers with disabilities in the production process, and the evocation of the spectators' senses of sight and hearing, consequently subverting traditional spectatorship and listenership hierarchies. In addition, Greenberg explores physical and sensory accessibility in theaters and suggests new ways to accommodate cinematic screenings.

Offering an introduction to disability studies and crip theory for film, media, and animation scholars, Animated Film and Disability demonstrates that crip animation has the power to breach the spectator's comfort, evoking awareness of their own bodies and, in certain cases, their social privileges.

About the author

Slava Greenberg is a Casden Institute postdoctoral teaching fellow at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts and Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies. His research explores the potential of mainstream and emerging media forms to offer transformative experiences in reference to disability studies, trans studies, and gender. His articles have appeared in Film Quarterly, TSQ, Animation, The Moving Image, Journal ofFeminist Studies in Religion, Review of Disability Studies, and Jewish Film and New Media. He has also contributed to anthologies on disability and documentary, accent studies, queer television studies, and new media. He is currently writing a second book focusing on the history and visual culture of gender dysphoria through the lens of trans and crip theories.

Details

1) Any disabled person in the US is eligible for this giveaway. You do not need to disclose any details about your disability.

If you already received a book from one of my previous giveaways, please consider letting other people have a chance.

2) The first 2 people will receive a paperback or e-book. If you do not receive a reply that means the books have been claimed or you did not include all the required information.

3) Send an email to DisabilityVisibilityProject@gmail.com with ‘Slava Greenberg Giveaway’ in the title of the message. Do not reply to this post!!

4) Include the following information in your message:

First and last name
Mailing address
Preferred format: paperback or e-book

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