The Significance of Sticky

 

My latest Netflix addiction is Sons of Anarchy. Highly recommend it, just not for the squeamish, and definitely not for the kids. I just started season seven, the series' final one, and in the very first episode, I saw something I thought was pretty awesome. 

His name was Sticky, he was a crook, and he was disabled.

I've seen tons of disabled villains before, but most of those conformed to the same bad gimmicks and tropes. Like the bitter cripple bent on revenge against someone or society at large because of something related to their disability, or the innocent whose severe disability is hiding some kind of uncontrollable, deadly power. Even worse, the villain with a weaponized wheelchair.

But not Sticky! Sticky was just a run-of-the-mill, barely named, loud-mouthed gangster, only difference was he was missing his legs and in a wheelchair. 

Like any other minor antagonist on Sons of Anarchy, Sticky and his crew mouth off to the Sons and some of their allies, there's some insults and gun violence (featuring brilliant lines like "Stumpy", and "Who else wants to use the ramp?!" after a member of Sticky's crew gets shot"). What happens next though, might just be one of the best things I've seen on the show, if not TV period.

Sticky still won't cooperate, so one of the Sons takes the chains off a swing set, ties one end around another club member's motorcycle and the other to Sticky's wheelchair, and they drag him through the street! The scene was filmed from every possible angle: wide shots, close ups, shots from the guy's bike, and even ones that looked like they were from a Go-pro strapped to Sticky's head. 

Some people may look at that and see a show using a disabled character for a cheap gag, but I prefer to see it as inclusion. These types of programs routinely poke fun at or stereotype every race, ethnicity, culture, and creed imaginable but very rarely, if at all, do you see the disabled. It's almost like some unwritten taboo or something. 

So, well done Sons of Anarchy for writing in a disabled crook! I kind of hope to see more characters like Sticky in the future.

Cheers