Very Special Webisodes: Web Series, Disability, and Cultural Accessibility
Elizabeth Ellcessor / Indiana University
March 23, 2015 Elizabeth Ellcessor / Indiana University
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2015 Oscar Winners Julianne Moore and Eddie Redmayne both portrayed characters with disabilities.Web series, or independent television, are exciting spaces for the development of innovative episodic video narratives. Series such as Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog (2008), The Guild (2007-2013), Awkward Black Girl (2011-present), and The Lizzie Bennet Diaries (2012-13)—among countless others—have indicated the new frontiers of film style, representation, and audience engagement that are possible in a converged media landscape. More recently, web series such as Broad City (2009-11) have made the transition to television, and web series creators such as Issa Rae have earned development deals.
Many web series arise from dissatisfaction with existing media, and particularly a dissatisfaction with representation. Aymar Jean Christian argues that the production of independent television is a way that fans-turned-producers may intervene in representations via series “aimed at underserved niches, primarily people of color, women, and gay people.”1 In other words, creators may transform critiques of existing representations into content that provides alternatives. Furthermore, they may do so by operating outside of oppressive industry structures, as the web enables [...]