Popcorn Disabilities: Marlee Matlin and 'Children of a Lesser God'

Matlin's latest documentary reminds you why she's the highlight of the movie, and why William Hurt sucks

Welcome to this installment of Popcorn Disability, where I look at disability through the lens of popular culture. Because July is Disability Awareness Month I’ll be covering a different disabled movie every Friday in July! If you want to read the full story consider becoming a paid-subscriber. Not only do you get access to the awesomeness below, but you’ll be able to read every paid post including our monthly watch diaries, disability stories, and more. I also cross post these over at The Film Maven Patreon where you can subscribe, at the same price, without supporting Substack itself. Subscribe and show your support for independent journalism.

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Before the pandemic I made the sad confession that I didn’t have much of an opinion about Marlee Matlin’s career because I’d never seen the movie that garnered her the Best Actress Oscar: 1986’s Children of a Lesser God. With the history of disabled representation so haphazard, much of my avoidance of the movie was fueled by my belief that the movie’s Oscar success was indicative of another derivative take on the subject. That, as the lone Deaf woman to win an Oscar there had to be a level of pity involved in her depiction. It’s such a sad state of affairs to see how internalized ableism leaves those of us with disabilities uninterested in supporting other Deaf and disabled creatives because of how Hollywood has shown them.