Many of you are probably seeing the trailer for "Wonder: The Movie" and as a parent of a child with a disability, I would like to tell you why I am so angry about it and why I don't find it inspiring at all.
The entire point of the book "Wonder" was showing that children with disabilities are exactly the same as children who are not. They are not "heroes" or sideshows to be pitied and prayed for. Auggie is powerful and brilliant, but he is also moody and struggles. The other people in the book are complicated and neither perfect or villains. That is what makes it so good.
So, back to the movie. Hollywood has cast a young boy, an excellent little actor, as Auggie. This child does not have a craniofacial syndrome. He has typical physical development. They have used make-up to try to "disfigure" the child's face to imitate Auggie's syndrome. This is outrageous. If you want to celebrate diversity in this world, you cast a child with a craniofacial syndrome. If you think that audiences "don't want to look at a kid like that" during the movie, you suck and have missed the entire point of the story.
This is essentially able-bodied "black face". They have taken a role where it is a critical plot point that the child has a physical characteristic, and chosen to cast a child without that characteristic and used make-up to mimic it. This was a chance for children and adults with craniofacial syndromes to finally "be seen" and instead, they give it to someone who does not have this condition.
Miss Kat loves the book "Wonder" but I do not think our family can support this film.
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