The Perfect Prosthetic: Disability Tropes

The perfect prosthetic is a super common trope surrounding amputees and people with limb differences who use a prosthetic limb, so let's talk about it!

Contents:
00:00 Intro
03:46 What is the Perfect Prosthetic?
04:51 Why is it so common?
10:56 How to avoid it
30:51 Red Flags
36:35 How NOT to Avoid it
43:55 Why should it be avoided at all
45:41 In this trope's defence
46:37 End screens

Links and Stuff:

The art in the background:

Music provided by Chillhop Music

[someuser]

Also fun fact : the author of full metal alchemist actually used to work with disabled people and she interviewed them and asked them about their experiences when she made her Manga. But she also acknowledged that she wouldn't be able to fully understand it as she isn't disabled herself.

[williamsmith]

I think it's totally valid to write a power fantasy where technology is advanced and cool and people with disabilities can choose to have augmentations that are equal to or better than abled-body parts, but there also isn't nearly enough limited interesting interpretations that reflect actual people's experiences in some way. Honestly the fact that FMA is one of the only pieces of media I have seen that *does* do a more realistic depiction is tragic, because it is very compelling when done right and has a lot of potential for stories.

[Skullkiddawn]

While I don’t have a limb difference myself, I’d personally become so desensitized to this trope until I played through the game Horizon Forbidden West and found myself gobsmacked when a new limb was not treated as an instant fix. One of your companions is a recent amputee (Above elbow.), and after a quest to help him build and test a prosthetic arm his response is that while he’s thankful for it as a tool it isn’t a 1:1 replacement and he prefers not to wear it outside of battle because it doesn’t feel like part of him.

[SLM]

I wrote this on Tumblr and I'll write it here, not everyone needs a prosthetic for everything. It honestly takes away a lot of cool and creative character building by just having a prosthetic be a one size fits all fix. From my personal life, I have only needed a prosthetic once and for one specific thing, playing my violin. I learned and adapted to do everything else without a prosthetic. I wish more media would acknowledge and show characters with varying levels of prosthetic use. Not only is it more realistic, but you can do a lot of show-don't-tell characterization as well.

[ratman]

Most prosethetics in media arent disability representation theyre sick ass robot limb representation, mcree from overwatch isnt missing an arm he just has a sick ass robot arm

[ArgonIstenem]

Many of my characters are either active duty military and/or mercenaries, and one of them lost their left eye in an explosion. I'd really like to see a video discussing the topic of how blindness and other types of disability are approached in media. A personal friend of mine actually lost an eye when he was younger, and I've talked with him about it. It was very eye-opening (no pun intended) to hear about how it impacts his daily life.

[carafurry]

Ive been working on a disabled character, this is very helpful for me. I'm not disabled, but the character's missing arm is important for the story. I really want to show his struggle and grief with life, and the missing arm seems to be the best way to visualize that to the audience. It also will intrigue people to go back and try to figure out how he might have lost his arm.

[specterknight]

One of my dnd friends has a character who has a missing arm but instead of having a prosthetic arm he uses mage hand.

[floridasavannah]

I think the "woe is me" trope is somewhat acceptable, especially if it was lost unexpectedly or in a traumatic event. It's like a physical reminder of that trauma and can feel like mourning a loss. Now, I understand you're probably referring to when they spend the whole time being "woe is me" and sad, but I don't think it should be skipped for someone who lost a limb during the storyline.

[VirtuesOfSin]

I think most of the "Perfect Prosthetics" trope comes from the fact that we are viewing these characters after they've already fully adapted to the prosthetic and are skilled or gifted enough to have learned to use the disadvantage to their advantage. I have a friend who has an arm prosthetic, and I've seen them use specialized attachments for stuff like drawing. I wasn't around when she got her prosthetic, and it's only an elbow-up prosthetic (Still has a bendable elbow) but I can only imagine the adaption phase was a lot worse than her current phase was.

Especially for futuristic shows like Treasure Planet, I can definitely see that being a good representation of a prosthetic for someone who has time to adapt to it. Sure, it seems like a flat-out upgrade, but there are several times in the movie where people take advantage of the disability by disabling or targeting the prosthetics, and it shows that he constantly has to perform adjustments to the pieces of equipment.

Sure, a lot of disabled people and characters have more or less stress than others (i.e.: A hand amputee is different than a below the elbow amputee is different than above elbow amputee, and it's easier to conceal or forget about the amputee's disability until it affects them again). I'm not saying forgetting about a disability is not bad, but depending on the severity of the amputation, it might go unnoticed for longer periods than not.

Regarding the Wheelchair in DnD/Pathfinder argument, I'm on the "If it fits in the setting logically" fence. As someone who has used a wheelchair for a short section of my life (about 2 years recovering from 3rd degree burns on my feet) - ain't no way I would ever go offroading or into dungeons with a basic wheelchair - I did mention basic because I'm sure there are more advanced but more expensive options available, especially in a magical setting. I can see spellcasters being wheelchair bound but a duel-wielding rogues would definitely have a harder time moving and wielding a weapon simultaneously.

(Edit) One thing that I just thought of and wanted to point out is that usually Cybernetics and Prosthetics are different in high-fantasy because Cybernetics usually outweigh the risk or detriment of having them. Usually, to the point, people disfigure themselves to obtain them without having a disability. I guess what I'm saying is that that's the main differential between cybernetics and prosthetics is if a person is willing to lose something for an upgrade, like replacing their eyes for upgraded laser eyes despite not having vision problems or blindness, then that would make it cybernetic implants.

[Flutters_Shygal]

I am writing this cyberpunk story where the main character is disabled. Double below the knee amputee. I have been taking notes through this video, and I've come up with a few ideas: 1) her prosthetics are bulky and high-tech, using pistons for shock absorption. However, this is not for the betterment of the prosthetics or the person, this is purely as a way to lock people into a payment plan. The prosthetics contain a circuit that keeps contact with the company that made it, and as soon as your subscription wears off, the pistons lock up. Now: the main character is a mechanic and has been able to maintain the mechanical parts of these limbs, but is also trying out many ways with scraps found around, on how to make a low-tech replacement. Something that's lighter, and easier to use. She also has a couple wheelchairs around for different purposes, and uses those whenever either her legs lock up yet again, or whenever she is around the house, or just whenever she feels like. She doesn't (currently) have different legs, but this is not by choice, this is because her set of legs has been mandated, and approval for even a second pair is tedious, if not impossible, especially since these new mechanical limbs are touted as "the best of the best" and "you wouldn't need another one ever again" (which would be pure lies)

[jacobcox]

4:01 To be fair, John Silver is a better representation of someone with prosthetics than a lot of other characters. It's not just a part of his design, the prosthetics are a part of his character, he uses his eye to scan the environment, he uses his hand in all sorts of creative ways, his leg breaks and it affects him for the rest of the movie. He has a reason to have such advanced prosthetics with so many features because he's a pirate. Pirates live very dangerous lives and typically get into situations where they are without a tool they need, so having a highly dextrous prosthetic hand that has 10x more interchangable tools than a swiss army knife comes in handy very often. At one point, Jim Hawkins stabs the pneumatic shock absorber in Silver's leg and throughout the rest of the movie Silver uses his prosthetic arm as a crutch to help him move. We also see him doing some maintenance on his prosthetic leg. These are things that a lot of shows and movies don't portray. The prosthetic is just treated like a normal limb and the audience just forgets it exists until the writers bring it up again.

[someuser]

5:07 I guess there's Toph from avatar though. She's blind but she's not really depressed about it. She even jokes about it sometimes. And idk if you'd wanna include stinkmeaner from the boondocks but if you do then there's also him. He's also blind but doesn't really care. He even told his doctor "at least I don't have to look at your ugly as no more" when he lost his sight.

I guess there's also Eli from half life 2. He has one of those sprinting feet but he pretty much just acts like he has a normal foot.

[StoryBird]

44:50 Jaws as a movie is a double-edged sword, it caused a lot of negative stigma around sharks but if the movie hadn't put sharks into the public conscious we wouldn't have nearly as much research into sharks as we do today. It's negative effects can't be ignored but pretending there were only negatives is just bad faith. It's nice that sharks are becoming more appreciated nowadays :3

[tortillasconsal]

This actually helps me so much with writing my disabled character. Specially since her story dives more into her looking for a good prosthetic and coming to terms with her "new limb" rather than mourning the loss of her arm

[spamhands]

Although I'm not disabled; it makes me think of my own OC, she's an arm and leg amputee on the right side.
She used to have a perfect prosthetic, super futuristic and makes her disability a non-issue, along with a bit of "woe is me" in early drawings.
Now, with reworking how she lost her limbs to be not stupid, she just has regular contemporary prosthesis, and even chooses not to use her arm prosthetic, as she's not always the most physically comfortable with it or it gets in the way of her day to day.
My rework of my OC is thanks to re-reading Katawa Shoujo, where all of the girls' problems are not from their disabilities, it's from problems anyone would have, like not being accepted by your family or not accepting help from others. I very much love their emphasis that these characters are people, not "other."
I also love that one of the designers of LEGO Rock Raiders made the group's leader, Chief, a left arm amputee with a teal prosthetic. He wanted to create an amputee character that isn't "othered", either from woe is me, being a villain, or from having wacky prosthetic powers.

[albtraumeryoctogram]

I read your tumblr post on this earlier and now I found this recommended to me lol.
While I've yet to watch full metal alchemist, I did read somewhere that Ed was right handed before becoming an amputee and had to start using his left hand for delicate work, like writing, afterwards. Since this is a drawback of the metal limb that is everpresent even when the metal arm functions as intended, I wouldn't consider his prosthetic as perfect.
Anyway, thanks for the informative video! My amputee characters have avoided this trope, thankfully, but I'll include some more of these details in their stories where I can.

[SuperKipArt]

Great video!

Also, about Full Metal Alchemist, I can't remember if it was mentioned in the anime, but in the manga it was implied that the weight of his prosthetics caused Ed's growth to be stunted.

[jacquespiette]

why doesnt this have more views??? its really intresting and gave me a lot of insight for some of my characters who are amputees

[SordidEuphemism]

Thank you for this. One of my stories has a recurring character who has lost a limb, and receives a prosthetic. I'll give the entire story a re-read with this in mind and edit where needed. All the best!