The movie Blindness premiered last Friday, starring Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo. It’s based on the 1995 novel by Nobel Prize-winner Jose Saramago — I listened to the audio version of the book years ago, when it was first publishsed.
The book was praised for its use of blindness as a metaphor — a bunch of people in one city suddenly go blind, and the government quarantines them, afraid the blindness is contagious. Anyone trying to escape is killed immediately.
The prisoners are supposed to be given food and supplies, but that turns out to be an empty promise. It’s a survival story, kind of like the TV show lost. And they really are. Lost, I mean. Example: when the blind inmates can’t find their way to the bathrooms, they simply relieve themselves on the floor or in their own beds. Not exactly a positive look at what happens to people who lose their sight!
And so, when Blindness premiered as a movie last Friday, blind activists came out to protest. Here’s a description from an Associated Press story:
For Marc Maurer, who’s blind, such a scenario – as shown in the movie “Blindness” – is not a clever allegory for a breakdown in society. Instead, it’s an offensive and chilling depiction that Maurer fears could undermine efforts to integrate blind people into the mainstream.
“The movie portrays blind people as monsters, and I believe it to be a lie,” said Maurer, president of the Baltimore-based National Federation of the Blind.
“Blindness doesn’t turn decent people into monsters.”
I chose to stay home rather than join the protest — I explain why in an essay called Blindness over Blindness. I recorded the essay for Chicago Public Radio early last week, and it aired while I was in Little Rock. If you missed it (like I did!) you can listen to the essay online — once you get to the Chicago Public Radio page, there’s a little button thing there you have to click to play, I think it either says “download” or pop out,” can’t remember now. And in the end, maybe it’s not worth all that trouble to hear the essay — Blindness got bad reviews from movie critics. Unlike the newly-blind in the film, few movie-goers are falling over themselves to live the metaphor.
Hi Beth!
I totally agree with you that this film should make people realize that rehab is important for those experiencing vision loss. Unfortunately though, peoples views are greatly influenced by what they see, read or hear in the media. Like you said this film only confirms the negative stereotypes of blind people. I guess there is a positive thing — this film got low ratings. Apparently not very many people are interested in seeing a bunch of blind people being lost and relieving themselves on the floor or bed (I don’t blame the sighted public!) *smile* You said you read the book. Do you know if it also cause protests from blind activists when it first came out?
Sandra
I don’t remember any talk of protests
from blind activists when the book first came out, and the book was fairly popular. This kind of bothers me. If the blind community was so upset by this story, why didn’t they protest the book? Could it be that the movie protest is just an attention-getting device? If so, isn’t it possible that the protest gives the movie more attention than it might have received otherwise? Dunno.
Yeah. I would’ve thought that if this novel had been such an issue, then blind activists would have voiced their opinions back then. We can’t argue that blind people didn’t have access to the book, because of course it was produced both in audio and Braille. I have to tell you I wouldn’t have even known about this movie if it hadn’t been for the news of the protests, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.
Sandra
You know, that’s funny. I hadn’t heard anything about the movie version, either, until I got an email from a friend about the protest.
Wow! All of the people I know either found out of the movie because of the protests, or because I told them about it. No wonder the film got such low ratings this week!
Sandra
My partner, who reads things a lot more carefully than I usually do, had an interesting comment about the book. That the point of it was really that society is tetering on the edge of immorality, i.e. if no one can see what anyone else is doing, then the temptation to look slovenly, sleep around, commit crimes, etc is irresistible. Kind of a Lord of the Flies vibe, if you will. I’m wondering if using the blindness as metaphor came through much more in the book and if the movie was much more simplistic, sensationalistic and therefore, insulting. Perhaps that is why the book wasn’t protested? Here I am, throwing out ideas about a book I haven’t read and movie I haven’t seen and don’t intend to….but I’ll definitely listen to your essay, Beth!
Wow, you will think I’m exaggerating, but when I described this book to Mike (my partner) I said, “Its “Lord of the Flies” for the blind.
Hi. I haven’t seen the movie (nor do I intend to), but I reviewed the book a while back: http://www.defectiveyeti.com/archives/001377.html.
The book is not really about blindness, per se. It is a about what people do in response to a huge societal upheaval. I don’t know how it plays out in the film, but in the book everyone in the known world becomes blind in the space of (as I recall) about a week. People don’t even “go” blind, they simply become it. In other words, the world that we know is suddenly replaced with another.
In this sense, it’s analogous to “Lord of the Flies” (in which the children abruptly go from “kids living in modern society” to “kids stranded on a deserted island”), or “The Stand” (where most of the world population is wiped out by a disease), or even the post-apocalyptic films of the 80’s. And just as “The Day After” wasn’t passing judgment on those who survived a nuclear war, Blindness doesn’t comment directly on people who are blind–except insofar as such people are human, and the book is a treatise on the human condition.
Hi,
I went to see, well hear if we’re getting overly technical about blindness, the movie on Tuesday. I must say that it was two of the longest hours that I’ve ever sat in a theatre. The place was almost empty. My friend Kaye, who is blind, and I, blind again, went with our dog guides to the movie. We walked through the seats and I can say that I remember bumping into a few patrons seated therein. I couldn’t help but think that when they got home, they probably quickly showered just in case the virus thing is real. I think Kaye and I did make people feel uncomfortable in the theatre if not on a disease level, then on a disability level. If it had been a movie like Year of the Dragon about Chinese mobs, I don’t think they would have been feeling as awkward with me, a Chinese person in the theatre.
Before going to the movie, I was well aware of the protests and arguments about how this movie cast blind persons in such a bad light. The concern was that members of the public would think blind people even more helpless than they do already as well as becoming more afraid of blind people, going blind themselves, and losing all self-dignity as a result of blindness. In part, I too shared that view as I was fearful that publi perception would worsen. What was I thinking?
When I sat through that movie, it occurred to me like it did to you Beth, it was “Lord of the Flies all over again. I also realized that public perception has never been on point when it comes down to persons with disabilities. Isn’t it just as harmful to have those movies about disabled people having freekish abilities and parading them around as if it was something worth celebrating because there is a perception of having overcome some sort of loss?
This movie isn’t about blindness at all. If it is, it is blindness in the context of a crisis situation. I think what people protesting have lost track of is the notion of dignity. Dignity has been aplied to the disability of blindness and this is wrong in my estimation. I do not believe that there is dignity in being blind; at times, being blind can be downright humiliating. Dignity lies within each person and how he or she holds up against life’s chalenges and choices. In this movie, there are enough characters that show the different levels of dignified behaviour; the blindness part is just minutia.
On the protests though, I do appreciate them for making people talk about disabilities. By at least talking about it, more good than bad will result from it.
Hey Beth,
One of my friends who I met in my last year of Summer In the City recommended the book to me. I started reading it and it was kind of offensive. At first, I didn’t know what to think about it. They say that being open-minded when reading is usually better if one wishes to think analytically about anything. Unfortunately, I got bored with the book and will be re-reading it later. I’m kind of curious as to how it ends. However, I have seen the trailers of this film on TV. The trailers made me angrier than the book did. I suppose I can’t pick and choose because I haven’t read the book all the way through, then again, isn’t portrayal everything when it comes to a public audience? and when a “book” is something foreign? I greatly dislike how TV has taken over reading for many people today.
Anyway, I also wanted to add that I will be reading your book very soon. I can’t wait!! It seems like because of school, reading for pleasure has turned into a task rather than a hobby. What a shame, but that’ll change shortly. I can’t wait to cuddle up with Jim, sip some cider, while reading…
Take care,
Sarah
I actually saw the movie a few weeks ago and while it was rather intense and in some places graphical, I wasn’t bothered by it. What I’m going to say might not fit well with some people, but I don’t think we should get all up-tight over something that is only staged drama. This coming from someone who has been blind since birth. On the other hand, I know all too well that there are people who lose their site later in life and have heightened sensitivity towards certain things. I totally agree that one thing we can take away from the movie “Blindness” is that it is okay to ask for help. As a matter of fact that’s what people should be doing if and when they need it. I think people should strive to be as independent as possible, and that does include those of us who are blind or visually-impaired. However, there are situations where help is warranted. This movie gives a clear picture of one of those situations, i.e., seeking out enough food. As the saying goes, the only stupid question is one that is not asked. Nobody should be ashamed to ask for help.
Blindness is a nice refreshment in the niche of apocalyptic movies. Plot is intriguing, characters are well developed. We see how people can turn into the different persons in special situation.
What a nice surprise to find someone commenting to this blog post a year after it was written –thanks for your comment, it motivated me to read this post and go through the thread of comments again — very interesting!
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