The anticipated sequel to “Finding Nemo” finally came out. The publicity team for “Finding Dory” did not hold back, and did a tremendous job building up the movie and causing a "hype.”
That movie did not disappoint.
“Finding Dory” was entertaining, funny and adorable. Multiple articles can be written about each of those categories.
I wanna talk about how disability positive that movie was.
To others, this may be contributing to an ongoing "trend" of specific communities of people finding positive representation in movies. I personally think there's a lot of fun in analyzing movies and purposefully watching them from your identity and background perspective.
Coming from a high school specifically geared towards aiding those with learning disabilities, such as ADHD, ADD, Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, OCD, Autism, Anxiety, Aspergers, or those in need of reading comprehension, and to be in an environment that always shapes and molds itself according to the students and not typical school structure, I feel like people can have a much deeper appreciation for this movie than just sheer entertainment.
It's common in movies and media to represent these disorders in negative lights, or purely for comedic value.
Dory's parents were incredibly patient with her. Without their encouragement in Dory's early childhood, she likely wouldn't have been able to find them later on. I'm also glad that these two didn't fall victim to the "Disney parent death" pandemic. That was a nice twist.
“Finding Nemo” pulled off an amazing task. It's reassuring when entertainment outlets can masterfully pull off a disabled character, maintain comedy utilizing it, but also doing so respectfully. Dory is constantly jumping (swimming) over hurdles that exist due to her short term memory loss. The best thing a movie can do for a disabled character is to celebrate each and every one of their successes. Many movies fail to do so, choosing to only highlight the failures of the individual. Likely milking for comedy.
“Finding Dory” took that achievement and applied it to the entirety of “Finding Dory.” Each newly introduced character had a "weakness" beyond their control.
Dory's friends, Destiny and Bailey have their own disabilities, and the three work together to accommodate for each of them. Dory recognizes that she needs a friend with her when navigating given directions. Destiny seizes the opportunity to leave a confining environment, and Bailey opens up to the encouragement of his friends to reactivate his echolocation.
This movie does a great job at keeping every character's disability visible, but at the same time showing off their strengths. It's amazing when a clearly disabled character's defining trait isn't their disability.
Dory is encouraged to cater to use her strength to accommodate to their disability. Dory's strength is that she makes observations that other people would define as "impulses.” From my own experiences, I personally feel that it's incredibly common in the disabled community to feel this way. Dory makes quick decision, and notices things that other people don't. To see such a common, yet misunderstood trait being proudly displayed in Pixar, a corporation known for its many age demographics, is absolutely humanizing. Even if the protagonist is a fish.
The movie puts "just keep swimming" to new depth and meaning that not even the first movie could match. Dory never gave up, and as cliché and basic as that moral sounds, it's incredibly powerful when it's said directly to a community of people that appreciates hearing it and needs to hear it.
I loved this movie.
Also, please let the takeaway of this movie be a powerful moral message or sheer entertainment and not a desire to own a blue tang. They're hard to breed in captivity. Find Dory in theaters, not at the pet store, please.
