Popcorn Disabilities: 'Fantastic Four' and the Theory of Love is Blind
Alicia Masters and how often movies love women who can't see
Welcome to this installment of Popcorn Disability, where I look at disability through the lens of popular culture. Because July is Disability Awareness Month I’ll be covering a different disabled movie every Friday in July! If you want to read the full story consider becoming a paid-subscriber. Not only do you get access to the awesomeness below, but you’ll be able to read every paid post including our monthly watch diaries, disability stories, and more. I also cross post these over at The Film Maven Patreon where you can subscribe, at the same price, without supporting Substack itself. Subscribe and show your support for independent journalism.
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Back when the new Fantastic Four movie came out I was asked by a few people how I felt about the movie erasing Ben Grimm’s blind girlfriend, Alicia Masters, from the narrative in favor of Natasha Lyonne’s fairly non-descriptive character, Rachel. Not knowing much about the Fantastic Four I had to admit I didn’t particularly mind because I’d only really seen the character, played by Kerry Washington, portrayed fairly one-note in the 2000s era takes on the material.
