Short Film: Silent Things

Analyse the representation of disability in the short film 'Silent Things'.

Jake is an avid kite flyer

Jake is protagonist of the short film and we see in the first scene flying the kite and meticulously putting it together. He suffers from Asperger's syndrome and a common characteristic of this disorder is the repetition and fascination of a particular interest or ability, in Jakes case it is the flying of his kite. When Amy, the young girl, approaches Jake and they talk to one another, Amy is led to believe that they relate, because both of them (in her eyes) have been misfortunate in life, however, Jakes disorder (Asperger's syndrome) effects everything he does, especially interacting with others socially. Amy does not understand Jakes disorder and how it effects his judgement, she therefore unintentionally has power over him when she asks him to go to France. 

Amy, Charlotte and Jake (picutred left to right)

The other woman who accompany's Jake at the beginning , Charlotte, is suffering from Asperger's syndrome as well as jake although it is not specifically said that she is during the short film. It is visible when she questions Jakes ability to make a friend so quickly and easily; She is confused by this ability and doesn't understand it. When Charlotte is seen by herself or entering a scene, the sound becomes muffled and non-diegetic ambient noise is played, suggesting how she feels; isolated from others and her surroundings because of her disability and low levels of social interaction.

When jake and Amy are waiting to get on the ferry, Jake gets very stressful and isolated because of the high amount of people and the busy area. The director conveys this by employing a deep, industrial sounding soundtrack, diegetic only to Jake, to show how his levels of stress are rising. The editing pace gets faster and several ECU shots of Jakes face show his discomfort with his surroundings, alongside POV shots of people walking in front

CU shot showing Jakes discomfort 

of him quickly. Amy does not know how to react or help Jakes situation and is embarrassed by him greatly to the point that she lies to the security men about their intentions, making it suspect for Jake being with such a young girl. He is then questioned by the police and misunderstood greatly due to several of the characters lack of knowledge and understanding of his particular disability. Jake is presented as powerless during the short film, this is communicated by him being persuaded by the young girl, being misunderstood and probed by the security and then the police. This shows how severe his disability and how people with Asperger's don't socialise in the same way as able-bodied people and how without proper knowledge they can be misunderstood and labelled.