December 5th: Lose An Arm, Gain A Hero

today I've been thinking about action movies. For me in particular, sci-fi action cause that's just my cup of tea. But i wanted to talk about some interesting things I noticed in action where disabilities and hero's journeys intersect. Let's get into that. 

​So, there's this fascinating phenomenon in action movies where a hero loses a limb whenever they're going through a huge transformation. That, or them having lost a limb in general means they went through one. 

It's a real double-edged sword, honestly. It's cool that there's this well-known disability inclusion situation in action movies. Downside, it's often not just apart of the person. It's some sort of symbol and then, later, it's something to "overcome" instead of part of their existence.

There's good examples and bad ones, so let's chat about good stuff today because I just watched like 8 hours of V Wars and I can't feel my brain much anymore, it sincerely is so dumb (maybe more on that tomorrow).

​ANYWAY. 

Any wasteland car action lovers will probably know who I'm talking about: my gal Furiosa. She lost a limb as some pre-determined point of her life and now uses a metal prosthetic. However, throughout the film nobody makes a big deal out of it, they don't make losing her arm her big backstory, its just her existence. For people with disabilities that is super refreshing, to have some with a disability have a different story than just "person with disability". 

In a world where disabled stories are so often just about the disabilities, its nice to just exist. After all, everyone with disabilities just live. We don't all stop living after we get diagnosed or get jobs or overcome whatever thing people assume we can't do. We just exist like everyone else does, in the big transformative moments and also in the small memories of everyday life. 

And I guess that adds another layer to why I like Furiosa's portrayal so much: so many other characters either have their amputation completely covered like it didn't happen (looking at you, Luke and Anakin Skywalker), or they leave it out like it's a "reminder" of their failure, loss, etc. 

Furiosa doesn't do that. She doesn't even mention how it happened. She just uses the prosthetic to make her life simpler, but doesn't hide the disabled badass that she is. 

Anyway, i know this is a short and kinda pointless post today, but let's just be the Furiosa in all of us this week, okay? I know I need it. Fearless, shameless, and still just a human doing my damn thing.