Cross-Cultural Differences in the Representation of Disability in Literature

Abstract

The proposed paper compares Mahesh Dattani’sTara (1995) and Robert Zemeckis’s film Forrest Gump (1994) based on the novel Forrest Gump (Winston Groom, 1986) with reference to literary theories, imperfect definitions, terminologies, and models revolving around disability citing critics like Simi Linton, Shilpaa Anand, etc.

How Indian literature centers around the ideas about disability that prevail throughout Indian society, Dattani’sTara (a two-act play) - reflects upon this very idea of stereotypical norms in India regarding disabled individuals around the late twentieth century. Dattani has made the reader/viewer contemplate the possible day-to-day problems the disabled go through, which leads them, however unwillingly, prone to being a focal point in society. The idea of impairment can unquestionably be considered relevant through the presentation of the missing limb because of which the protagonists’ narratives are noteworthy.

Forrest Gump turns out to be another apt choice for our study. In the west, the disabled go through problems undoubtedly different from the east. For instance, the protagonist’s low intelligence makes the other characters in the film take advantage of his other merits, like physical strength. Such a study of disability makes western ideas interesting for Indian scholars and vice versa. The protagonists’ specific problems remain in focus throughout the texts and visual representations. I try to examine how the lives of the disabled are portrayed in various forms of literature, and how ideas like setting, timeline, money, etc., play crucial roles in bringing changes in different narratives.