Comedy crosses the disability divide
Darren (left) and James laughing it up on set.A 40-something man in a Mickey Mouse t-shirt trips up again and again in a tireless challenge with a skipping rope - another man steps in to show him how it's done.
This is a scene from Michael Noonan's first film Unlikely Travellers, recently bought by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and screened at the Brisbane International Film Festival in August. The film features Darren, the man with the skipping rope who happens to have an intellectual disability, and James, a 21-year-old with Asperger's syndrome.
Comedy is a complex genre that has caught the interest of many filmmakers. But it is the uncomfortable pairing of disability and humour that has stirred controversy lately. The issue emerged in relation to Michael's latest television program, Darren and James: Downunder Mystery Tour, which also stars Darren and James.
"It's my nature to be funny," Darren says.
"We've never been in front of a camera before so it's good for me to have my own words to say and to say them from my heart and mind. Even when I don't mean to be funny, it comes out in a good way."
So now, we ask Michael, what's so funny? "The aim is to challenge the misconception about people with a disability - to show them as people who can be engaging, funny, real and where disability is not an issue," he says.
When we say, "I laughed my heart out at it," are we laughing with or at the subject? This subject is examined in Michael's doctoral thesis, Laughing with the disabled: creating comedy that confronts, offends and entertains, of which Darren and James: Downunder Mystery Tour forms a part. The intention between this and Unlikely Travellers is the same but the comedy is emphasised in Michael's latest.
Unlikely Travellers is the brainchild of John Hart, Chief Executive Officer of Spectrum, a Queensland-based organisation that aims to link people with a disability with the community.
John's instructions to Michael were, "Make it funny, engaging, something people will want to watch". The result, Unlikely Travellers, has strong general appeal. It follows the pair on their trip to Egypt and focuses on their personalities. When they interview support workers for the journey for example, Darren's key screening question is, "Do you dance?"
Spectrum's Group General Manager, Melanie Armstrong, has worked with Darren and James on both productions and says, "Darren knows he's funny and has a good understanding of humour. He expects the laughs".
"People are well-intentioned but misguided in terms of what people with a disability can and can't do. Darren and James have strongly protective families but it is others who are trying to shelter them. Let's not do that here," she says.
The debate has only strengthened Michael's philosophy in exploring issues of representation. "If these guys get a response based on who they are, all the better, because people will forget they have a disability," he says.
Last updated November 2007