Disability In Full Metal Alchemist

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Television is no stranger to the subject of disability and Full Metal Alchemist in particular is rife with disability. One could argue in fact that disability is the central focus of the show. Whereas many shows may use disability as a way to make villains seem more sinister, Full Metal Alchemist instead shows the disabilities of its characters in a positive light. Full Metal Alchemist normalizes disability and uses it as an obstacle for the protagonists to overcome. The anime show Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is the most popular and most liked anime. The show is 64 episodes long and contains heavy topics like death, religion, sacrifice, disability, and war. The story follows the lives of the Elric brothers, two young boys who are orphans …show more content…

Another prominent example of disability in the fullmetal universe is the presence of chimeras. According to Greek mythology, a chimera was a terrifying hybrid composed of several animals at once. Similarly in Fullmetal Alchemist, there exist a handful of people who are referred to chimeras. They are usually shown as physically disfigured because they are the result of unethical experiments to achieve their chimera status. While critics of this argument might find labeling chimeras as disabled to be a stretch, I think there are strong parallels to the other disabilities in the show. Chimeras are partly or mostly animal, which brings to question what defines humanity. Like with the Elric brothers, chimeras have physical benefits that come with their hybrid nature, but they still seek to be cured and returned to normal human bodies. A consistent theme in Fullmetal Alchemist is that these chimeras and those with automails are still human and have good in them. The narrative of Fullmetal Alchemist attacks the standard definition of humanity and what makes a person human (Sadler 1). The traditional school of thought is to label someone as human as long as they still have traces of their human nature left. Fullmetal Alchemist shatters this view with characters missing so much of their physical humanity. Even Alphonse who is just a suit of armor still has his human soul and shows more humanity than those of evil nature. There seems to be a theme of human spirit and will being more important in determining humanity than the physical

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