Language

English (en)

Prize Year

2025

Document Type

Unrestricted

Abstract

This essay examines how Netflix’s Love, Death + Robots (LDR) adaptation of Rich Larson’s short story “Ice” transforms its original sibling dynamic into a commentary steeped in ableist tropes. While Larson’s story portrays Sedgewick, the unmodded brother, as autonomous and confident, the episode reinterprets him through infantilizing and victimizing lenses, casting him as a disabled figure in need of rescue. The LDR episode’s decisions to downplay or embellish certain elements of Larson’s short story reveal eco-ableist and transhumanist-ableist themes that link bodily limitation to environmental incompatibility and valorize technological modification as physical superiority. Furthermore, Fletcher’s deceptive “help” exemplifies the heroic supporter trope, reframing paternalistic intervention as empowerment. By contrasting the short story’s nuanced portrayal of agency with the episode’s reliance on supercrip and heroic helper narratives, this essay reveals the need for nuanced disability representation that subverts common disability tropes rather than reinforcing them.

Comments

Dean James E. McLeod Freshman Writing Prize, 2025

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