The Disabled in Disaster Zone: Representation, Vulnerability, and Narrative Prosthesis in 2018: Everyone is a Hero

Abstract

The Malayalam movie 2018: Everyone is a Hero, directed by Jude Anthany Joseph, is set against the backdrop of the Kerala floods of 2018. The movie portrays various vulnerable groups affected by the flood and how they mitigated the natural disaster. This paper critically examines the portrayal of disability and vulnerability in the movie, mainly focusing on the characters of Bhasi Chettan, a person with visual impairment, and Aby, a child with intellectual disability. Using theoretical frameworks like Mitchell and Snyder’s Narrative Prosthesis and Ato Quayson’s
Aesthetic Nervousness, the paper uses a close textual and cinematic analysis to explore how characters with disabilities are used to enhance the emotional depth of the narrative as well as a medium to develop the protagonist’s heroism. It examines the stereotypical and ableist representation of the characters and their vulnerabilities, alongside capturing the increased vulnerability of disabled individuals during and after a natural disaster. The characters are sometimes valorised and sometimes antagonised to push the narrative, which reveals the tension between authentic representation and narrative necessity. The analysis highlights the need for more ethical portrayals of disability within survival narratives and stresses the relevance
of considering people with different disabilities in disaster risk reduction and response planning.