Disability Representation

From the beginning, the disabled person is presented negatively, even before he is introduced to the audience, This is evident from the phrase; "Last summer I decide to kill my brother." This tells the audience immediately that the main characters brother has done something wrong or is generally a pain in the neck. We then see him sleeping which is immediately followed by a cut of a bomb going off which suggests that he is very troublesome. The audience is also aware that he has a disability (down syndrome).

In the next scene we see a close up shot of the disabled boy (Ben) examining his food which makes him appear foolish, the voice over also describes him as a; "Potatoes with eyes." This suggests to the audience that he is a useless burden. This is enhanced by the fact that his brother states that he finished his favourite cereal. We then see him through the eyes of David which is a burden. Ben is also presented as gullible which is shown from that fact that he believes the obvious lye that David told him about how pigs are killed. The audience is then lead to believe that David is helpless which is shown by the fact that he couldn't even go to the toilet on his own without; "making a mess." The way that David looks at Ben as a reaction shot to seeing him eating shows that David is discussed by his brother.

All the shots of David on his own seem to be close ups which could suggest that he is seen as waste of space. Ben is also presented as not having a mind of his own which is shown from the long shot of both David and Ben walking to the bus stop, David is leading whilst  Ben is trailing behind slowly which makes him appear lost and hopeless without David. Ben is again seen as a burden from the fact that Davids friends don't expect David to be able to go out because he might be; "Babysitting." Meanwhile, Ben is in the background looking lost which leads the audience to believe that he is dependent on David to Know what to do, he also isn't with anybody which makes him appear like a loner. When David leaves Ben, we immediately feel sorry for Ben because of the immediate slow music that plays, the look on Ben's face also appears hurt, he also appears out of place on the bus on his own which also makes us feel sorry for him, However the audience is also made to feel sorry for David because of the voice over which suggests that he normally has to constantly look after Ben and that this was the first time they had been separated.