In mainstream movies and TV, characters with disabilities have all too often been subjects of pity, scorn and denigration.
It is never articulated, but this last fact is the subject of some pity.
Frieda, like Charlotte, has never had any marriage prospects and is the subject of others' pity as a result.
To illustrate what is meant: on a naïve understanding of catharsis which may be correct despite its naïveté the audience (the subject) undergoes catharsis by having the emotions (the matter) of pity and fear it experiences purged (the nature).
They might not be a subject obviously deserving of pity but I've always felt a little sorry for celebrities who win awards.
There is a version of this documentary that flattens its subject into an eccentric figure of pity.
The courage, can-do spirit, kindness and compassion with which my son approaches his daily challenges should be an inspiration — not the subject of bullying, contempt or pity.
In "Howard Hughes: The Biography of a Texas Billionaire" (Random House; revised edition, 1972), he leavened his enigmatic subject's life with a dose of pity.
It often means being the subject of gossip or the recipient of pity.
The remix turns out to have a complex subject: the various ways in which a dark and distorted version of gay life has been an object of pity, horror, and fascination for straight audiences, even "enlightened" ones, through the years.
