Translating Stereotypes: The Semiotics of Disability Representation in Cinema

Indira Karamcheti posits that all acts of representation are perforce acts of translation from being to saying, experience to memory, presence to absence (Karamcheti, 185). Like translation, representation also is a twice-written discourse that transforms the original by supplementation. Unlike linguistic translation, it does not deface, displace, and replace but supplements it. To elaborate more specifically in the context of this paper, it can be said that representation is a kind of translation of identities, cultures; ideologies, etc. which are portrayed and constructed in cultural narratives such as literature, cinema, and other media. Thus, representation here does not involve just reflection but construction, negotiation and dissemination through narrative structure. Additionally, media narratives are shaped by the cultural, social, and historical contexts in which they are created.