Fishy Motives

The Finding Nemo series is a fun-filled family movie revolving around a fish who has lost his way. At first, I only noticed the surface plot of the movies - the main characters are simply looking for something/someone they have lost. After reading Nancy Mair's Disability, I noticed how much of the series is centered around disabilities as well - Dory, one of the main characters, has the mental disability of short-term memory loss. Granted, the main characters are not disabled human beings, but that is not very important to the overall theme. Contrary to Mair's generalization of disabled people on Television, Finding Nemo gives Dory a rounded character; Dory has become well-loved by many audiences around the world, even more so after Finding Dory - as the name implies, is centered around Dory. The movies effectively show Dory in a way that she is just like any other fish out there, not just "simply disabled". Everyone has feelings, obvious enough. But instead of simply taking in negative comments about her impairment without any emotion, the movie shows Dory's sensitivity towards the lash outs and comments through melancholy facial expressions. This small detail makes a big impact on Dory's character. By adding this in, Dory becomes more relatable to a human baby, who cries after mean comments as well. This changes the description from "Dory has been criticized for her disability" to "Dory is hurt from a mean comment". This connection puts Dory's disability out of perspective, effectively fleshing out her character without necessarily focusing around her disability. The Finding Nemo series is like a role model for putting disabled characters into films, moving away from those medical dramas or shows that make a disability the only defining characteristic in a person.