She’s All That: A disability retrospective

I was perusing Netflix for something to watch in the bath. I’d had a long day and wanted something lighthearted and familiar and noticed “She’s All That” in my recommendations. I’d loved the movie as a kid and didn’t remember it being too laden with gender role troubles that so many rom-coms are prone to. “She’s All That” was definitely rife with cliches and problematic bits around gender and beauty that made me groan. However, I was struck by the inclusion of Laney’s little brother Simon, a hearing aid user.

Yes, there are some goof ups around how his disability is depicted, the most obvious being when Simon is able to hear his sister yelling at him in the morning through the door. Hypothetically he shouldn’t have hearing aids on yet; it’s not generally recommended that you leave them in all the time. Unless you let those puppies breathe, reoccurring swimmer’s ear will be a real and terrible part of your life (I say this from personal experience).

Should they have selected an actor who actually wore hearing aids? Absolutely yes; there are tons of hard of hearing actors who could’ve played Simon just as well as Kieran Culkin. Better even, as they would really be able to bring an authentic experience of being disabled to the role.

For all those critiques, I still really appreciate the character of Simon. He existed on the same plane as the other supporting characters. His disability is never directly addressed, which potentially could have been really powerful had it been done the right way. However, he wasn’t there as a teaching moment to the able-bodied characters of “She’s All That.”

Growing up, I only saw my body represented by mysterious deaf dream girls who taught able-bodied boys about the beauty of music. My experience was reduced for the able-bodied people around me to make them more comfortable. If I wasn’t “inspirational” then I was just another “angry disabled person.” Simon was awkward and bullied at school, perhaps in part because of his hearing aids. But Simon was also a typical little brother, who cared for his sister but also would also mock her. They fought with each other, like most siblings do. Simon wasn’t in “She’s All That” to inspire anyone. Was Simon a deeply complex character? No. But neither was Laney Boggs or Zack Siler.

The world of movies makes it seem as though disability is a strange tragic anomaly, but the reality is that disability is very much part of all of our lives, even if we ourselves are not disabled. Simon was very much a natural part of the world of “She’s All That,” even if, admittedly, the world of “She’s All That” isn’t relatable to most of its target audience—after all, not all of us can lay claim to having Usher serving as our school radio host and DJ.

Header image credit: Cinema Blend