Aaron Krug

2/26/05

Forbidden Knowledge

Prof. Newlands

Differing Perspectives

            As a class we watched a film by Harrell Fletcher (The Forbidden Zone) about a man named David Jarvey and his love of a certain Star Trek episode. Mr. Jarvey has Downs’ Syndrome, and he identified with a character that was hurt in the episode, and so the filmmakers followed him around, having him act out the events that had happened, encouraging him to think as if he was there with this character and these events really took place. Though under the auspices of higher art, I felt that this entire film was an abuse of a mentally handicapped individual, this feeling stemming especially from the attitudes displayed by some of the crew and people around Mr. Jarvey during the film.

            When these concerns were brought to light as a class we were asked to read an article called The Interpretation of Ordinary Landscapes, mostly to remind us that everyone sees things from a different perspectives and that we should not be so quick to pass judgment upon the actions of others because of it. While I see this as a good point in regards to everyday things and regular art, this was not the case here. When this film was undertaken, it was undertaken with the knowledge by all involved that it would be centering on a mentally handicapped individual. Now whether or not I think it is bad art is a question of perspective, but when dealing with other people, especially people who are disadvantaged like Mr. Jarvey, those of us who are lucky enough not to be disadvantaged must take special care so as to be above reproach when dealing with the mentally handicapped. I was disappointed that so many people just let this go because they didn’t want to insult anyone’s art. Higher art has a special responsibility to be accountable to itself because they refuse to be held accountable to anyone else, and while this usually works out, this is a case where someone dropped the ball. In all things regarding someone who is mentally handicapped, I think the ‘artists’ involved should constantly be thinking about whether or not their art can be viewed as offensive. If not, then they should find some new way to express themselves.