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Have you ever seen "Murderball," the doc about quad rugby-- & what did you think?

chronic_and_iconic

The documentary "Murderball," about quad rugby, really meant a lot to me when I first saw it in college-- just the fact that they were real people, shown with warts and all, seemed novel and important. The best summary I could come up with is:

It’s a hell of a sports saga about quad rugby (murderball) teams, international rivalries, and competition at the highest levels. It’s also a human story about people who have been through some ****... and come out the other side with pride, self-confidence and the desire to slam into others in an armored chair.

I wrote a blog post about the movie-- "Murderball: Massacring Misconceptions"-- but I'd really love to hear from other people, both in chairs and out of them, about what it meant (or means) to you! And if you've never seen it, well, there's a link in the post, what are you waiting for?

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Tori_Scope

For context, I'm not a wheelchair user.

I've seen it, and found it really interesting @chronic_and_iconic

I feel the same way as you, in that I liked that they're shown to be real people with flaws. I think disabled people are often infantilised in the media and inaccurate, stereotypical representations are propagated. I enjoyed that this railed against that quite a lot. I'll have to give your blog post a read! It's been a while since I've seen it, so I might have to rewatch it too.

Are there any other documentaries about disability that you'd recommend?

chronic_and_iconic

Yeah, @Tori_Scope actually I saw another one really recently that I quite enjoyed, let me dig up the link. OK, it's called "Born Freak" and hosted by a guy named paul sapin who was born with an arm deformity, I actually recognized him because he's an actor and was a main character in the American Horror Story season that was about the circus/freak show. Anyway, it's a documentary where he investigates the old circus freak life, and even gets up and does the whole act that a guy with the same deformity as him did a hundred years ago, and tries to parse the difference the difference between being an actor and being a freak... man, i could write a whole dang blog post on this too! But really really recommend it, and I'd love to hear your thoughts if you end up watching either of them again! (This movie is also on youtube, but the end of it is cut off there.) https://www.sapinxray.com/portfolio/born-freak

Tori_Scope

I haven't seen that one @chronic_and_iconic. I love watching documentaries, so I'll have to give it a watch! Thank you for the recommendation

I reckon you should write a blog post on it if you feel you have something to say! I'd read it.

I enjoyed reading your blog about Murderball, which I read today. I found the following paragraph of yours particularly profound:

For him, as for many others, quad rugby promised normalcy, competition, masculinity. It was one shining hope, a lifeline among the new limitations that would define the rest of his life. And it’s obviously not just the sport, it’s the people. It’s the community and the understanding, both of the limitations of quad life and the desire to still take risks and experience thrills.