Date of Graduation
5-2025
Degree Type
Dissertation/Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts (BA)
Advisor(s)
Margaret Schwartz
Abstract
In disability studies, “cure” can refer both to literal cures and to the cultural belief that disabilities are problems with the body that can and should be solved through these medical interventions. In recent years, disability scholars have written about this topic of cure critically, but an academic media analysis approach to cure has yet to be taken, despite the prevalence of narratives where disabled characters are cured. This thesis explores how cure shapes disabled stories that are told through film and television, by viewing a sample of over 50 films and 70 episodes of television focused on disabled characters and considering further examples. Then, through a qualitative study of these texts, this thesis proposes new frameworks through which cure influences narratives within two genres that emerged as significant: the medical procedural and body horror. Both genres place their narrative focus on the nonnormative body; in this way, both genres establish disability as their primary conflict. The medical procedural features the process of curing a disabled body as its episodic plot structure, whereas body horror features the process of disabling abled bodies as its framework of horror. Further academic research is needed to explore the role of cure in the narratives of these genres and others not theorized here.
Recommended Citation
"THE NARRATIVE EFFECTS OF CURE ON REPRESENTATIONS OF DISABILITY IN THE MEDICAL PROCEDURAL AND BODY HORROR GENRES" (2025). FCRH Honors Program Theses. 1.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/honorsprogram_fcrh_theses/1
