Friday, October 17, 2008
"Blindness" Controversy
I was genuinely surprised after seeing the trailor for the movie Blindness. Perhaps I am naieve to think that people (movie producers, well-known actors, people in general) are more aware of controversial topics than the creation of this movie would suggest. Maybe I'm crazy and these people never thought something controversial would come out of this movie, but I can't see how this could be true. After reading the first article posted on the TE448 blog, I looked at the comments posted beneath. 3 out of 4 people were saddened and surprised at the movie. One woman said, "being the mother of a blind child, I can say that when I first saw the previews on TV, I had a feeling of sadness. It makes my heart sad that a movie portraying blindness as an epidemic could be made. I fight the daily war to make people see not what my daughter CANNOT do, but what she CAN do!" Something that I think needs to be the forefront in the argument against this movie needs to be that there are real, hard-working, good people who happen to be blind and can successfully live in this world. Having not seen it myself, I can gather from the trailor and the articles that the movie portrays people who are blind as infantile, sick, and blindness as something that ruins lives. These stereotypes/misconceptions are hurtful and completely untrue. Something that is the most surprising to me is that people who are supposedly intelligent could write, direct, and act in a movie that is so insulting to group of people.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
You responded very passionately - I think the quote from the parent is powerful. That insider's perspective is very meaningful in thinking about this issue. Do you agree that it would be interesting to hear the actors',producers' argument for doing a movie like this? We only get a glimpse of their side...
I too was surprised after seeing the trailor. At first I thought that people must be overreacting, that the concept couldn't be so bad. But after seeing the trailor I saw how bad it was.
I was amazed to see how the disability of blindness was portrayed so negatively. I couldn't believe that it had passed through the movie studio without any contest. It clearly demeans people who can't see. Reducing them to scared, crying, helpless people who all rely on the one person that can see. This couldn't be farther from the truth. Blind people are extremely self sufficient and are completely capable of helping themselves. I was astonished that this movie would ignore that and would portray blind people in such a negative way.
Post a Comment