I understand why The National Federation of the Blind stated “The female actor is portrayed as physically, mentally and morally superior to the others because she still has her sight. Blind people in this film are portrayed as incompetent, filthy, vicious, and depraved. They are unable to do even the simplest things like dressing, bathing, and finding the bathroom. The truth is that blind people regularly do all of the same things that sighted people do.” These statements were really powerful to me because after seeing the trailer for this movie I felt the same way. Today they can make movies just about anything. I feel its wrong for our society to point out a disability and mock it in the way it looks like they do in this movie. “Blindness” points the finger at the blind community portraying them as incompetent of doing anything because they do not have their vision. In the trailer these “blind” actors acted as if they were animals crawling all over the floor losing their minds.
However, I do understand why someone would argue this point. This movie took people who have had their sight their whole life, and then randomly one day they lost it. I believe any of us would feel like they lost their mind if they went randomly blind one day. I believe that a movie premise like this would make a lot of money for box offices because it has a strange story line. All the controversy give people the drive to go see it and see for themselves what it is all about. Even I feel after personally giving negative reviews of the movie, I kind of want to go see it to see the full movie. It is sad though that they are taking a disability and portraying it negatively on the big screen.
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2 comments:
Julie- I see your point about the movie mocking blind people. If I was blind, I would not liked to be mocked. But it is fictional and the producers have a right to make and sell their work. People who go see this movie will have the choice to decide what to take from the movie. If they believe blind people are totally dependent on seeing people just from watching this movie they obviously didn't think very critically about the movie and how it relates to reality. This movie gives viewers a chance to separate reality from fiction. But it is too bad that blind people are being hurt in the process. Because I feel this way, I will choose not to see the movie. On the other hand, I do not think it is right for the movie to be censored.
I think it is relevant to think about seeing the movie - it helps you paint a bigger picture. There is nothing wrong with seeing the movie and deciding how you feel and then doing something to help promote either side of the argument after you watch it - writing an editorial would be a great way to state your feelings after the movie and would hit the public in a meaningful way. Andrea's point is valid also - that as a consumer of media we must chose to make decisions on controversial issues - you both make good points. I would encourage you to think about if you see a movie like this and feel it was inappropriate after all to voice that to the public like I mentioned above - this is part of being a citizen and having freedom of speech.
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