Ableism and Disability in Iron Man 3

[sasha_feather]

laurashapiro: Stuff I have been doing

raanve: Iron Man 3: OMG Everybody

coffeeandink: Iron Man 3 redux

kate_nepveu: Iron Man 3 (Spoilers)

lettered: Iron Man 3
Cross post at LJ

Hollywood Reporter: Does Tony Stark have PTSD?

Likely more to come! Feel free to drop links in comments.

Comments

contains spoilers!

[skythrown]

I adored this movie right up until the end, where it broke my heart. They handled his panic attacks so well, and then the movie wrapped up and they cured him as an afterthought. As a metaphor for wholeness. *rageflail*

The person who wrote this post articulated it well. I really identified with that aspect of the character, and I feel kind of betrayed. But I have a lot of feelings about disability erasure in the MCU in general. (And then I have to go read good meta about the arc reactor, or that one fic where Hawkeye teaches at the SHIELD School for the Deaf, or sometimes just the comics. Because even though the comics can also be problematic at times, they handle things far better than the cinematic 'verse does.)

Er. /unintended rant

Re: contains spoilers!

[sasha_feather]

I hear you! This movie definitely had weird stuff going on with regard to embodiment and disability.

Re: contains spoilers!

[ysabetwordsmith]

Yes, I hated the erasure
aspect of the movie too: not
just because it removed the
disability, but because it
removed something that Tony
had so clearly integrated
into his self-image.

I also think that, given the
degree to which Tony clearly
self-identifies with the Iron
Man suits, Pepper's egging him
to destroy them constitutes
abuse and his going along with
it at least borders on self-harm.
Because those aren't just
tools to him, and they're more
than prosthetics; they're
personalized, they're like
peripherals. Losing them cuts
off whole ranges of mobility
and sensory access.

Does not compute, other than
people do insane things for love.

And Pepper managed to log the
worst ever example of How Not
to Respond When Someone Tells
You Intimate Secrets and Then
Has PTSD Events in Bed.