Okay so my favorite thing about Finding Dory was the way it debunked disability porn. And by that, I mean it debunked the myth of self-sufficiency.
If you’re not familiar with what disability porn is, it’s generally a picture showing a disabled person, alone in a photo, accomplishing something on their own. The message is aimed towards abled people, and the message is – look at this “”“lesser human”“” doing a thing on their own! If this “”“lesser human”“” can do this thing all by themselves, then imagine what you, a superior human are capable of doing all by yourself!
In Finding Dory, Dory never does anything on her own. More importantly, neither does any other character in the movie. Dory finds help when she needs it, and she offers help when she can. Occasionally a character tells Dory, “I can’t help you. You have to do this by yourself.” And every single time that happens, the character who says that turns out to be wrong. Dory doesn’t have to do things by herself. She keeps looking for and asking for help, until she finds the help she needs.
Everything accomplished in the movie is accomplished through collaboration. The movie sends a very clear message:
You don’t have to do things alone. You’re not supposed to do things alone. Needing help does not make you a burden. Everyone needs and deserves help.
If I’d had more role models like Dory as a kid, maybe my twenties wouldn’t have been such a train wreck. I spent most of my early adulthood quite literally incapacitated by the myth of self-sufficiency. I flunked out of two different colleges because I thought I was supposed to do everything on my own. Instead of joining study groups or going to office hours, I hid in my dorm room and stopped showering.
Watching Finding Dory, was a profoundly validating experience for me. I can’t recommend this movie enough.
Things I have learned by joining the local Methodist Church’s coffee & knitting circle (where I am the only person under 60 years old):
How to double knit very, very quickly
Mrs. Jonson on the third pew won’t mind her own business, bless her heart. And she buys her pies pre-made for all the church functions.
Ways that women cheated the system in 1950s Texas to get into college and start careers. Including a memorable “He told me I wouldn’t last a week, but then 6 years later, I had to let him go because his production was way down.” *drinks sip of coffee*
We Might Be Conservative But Gosh Darn That Trump Bless His Heart He Doesn’t Know Anything About God Or Texas
And On That Note, God And Texas Are The Only Good Things Left In The World. Erin Write That Down.
How to rescue a dropped stitch and make it look like it never happened
Public schools and inclusive, desegregated education will single-handedly save the world
Sharing recipes is a sacred bonding and community-building tradition that rivals the greatest political negotiations and land deals in history
“It’s better that you prefer girls honey, the Boyfriend Curse doesn’t apply to your girlfriend and a lovin’ god’ll keep on a-lovin. You better make that girl a sweater.’”
(Boyfriend Curse = knit a sweater for a boy and he’ll leave you when you finish it)
Mrs. Barbara’s husband cheated in ‘76, resulting in a divorce. She thought it was the end of the world because her youth had already passed, but now she’s an engineer and married to a kind, good man who she met when she went back to college in ‘79.
“The only things you can trust in are God, your good sense, and the wisdom of those older women you grew up admiring. The rest is crap.”
Penhales 