Oct 2 2008Key Blind People Refusing to See 'Blindness'
The National Federation of the Blind is protesting the release of the film Blindness because, as NFB president Marc Maurer says it, "The movie portrays blind people as monsters and I believe it to be a lie."
I respect your decision to not consider blind people monsters. But why do you think it portrays blind people as monsters, Marc Maurer?
The NFB condemns and deplores this film, which will do substantial harm to the blind of America and the world. 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.
Wait they do? I thought blind people were monsters who did not do human things. Because the fictional story of an entire town suddenly losing their sight to a disease, then falling into a panic, is the exact same as real-world blind people who have nobly learned to adapt to life with a missing sense. Except, no it isn't.
No one thinks blind people are monsters. Blind people aren't some sort of mystery where people are wondering, "Are they monsters? Can I drink from the same coffee cup as a blind person? Should we make a special episode of Growing Pains where one of Mike's friends has blindness, and we learn if blind people are real people or monsters?" If anything, it seems like Blindness is a credit to blind people. It's saying, man, if you suddenly made me and the rest of my town blind, we would be freaking the fuck out, unable to pick out outfits or find toilets. Good job dealing with this, blind people, because our society would have a really hard time if blindness suddenly became an easily-communicable disease.
Then again, the film is looking at a 35% on Rotten Tomatoes right now, so maybe it really is awful and offensive.
(Thanks, Kyle.)
Reader Comments
1. that guy - October 2, 2008 2:14 PM
First
2. Elmo - October 2, 2008 2:18 PM
You know why these people are protesting this movie?
they're mad they can't see it
3. whistle - October 2, 2008 2:23 PM
I saw this movie and walked away with a new appreciation for blind people (like you suggested would happen) until I read about this protest. Now I fucking hates those assholes.
4. Bob - October 2, 2008 2:38 PM
And no one has yet made the comment on how ironic it is that a group of blind people said they won't see this movie. Well no shit!! You won't be seeing anything.
5. Mcfeely Smackup - October 2, 2008 2:43 PM
Marc Maurer sounds like a total douchebag looking for attention.
Congratulations Mark. Yesterday I'd never heard of you or your organization, today I think you're a bunch of douchebags. Well done.
6. Rod - October 2, 2008 2:52 PM
Alright, first off "I BELIEVE it to be a lie?" That's some amazing PR, Marc.
Seriously though, this is a stretch, even by insane political correctness standards. I fully agree with Whistle's comment.
7. GeekIndustries - October 2, 2008 2:53 PM
Cmon people... The movie uses the sighted/blind dichotomy to present the audience with its central point which is CHANGE. What Saramago tried to do was to show how change, in a global scale, can upset our frail organization. Those who can't imagine the impact of something like going blind could maybe try an exercise and walk around blindfolded for a day...then try and scale it million-fold...
Hahaha...I, as a member of the sighted comunity, would like to protest agains the movie At First Sight ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0132512/ ).
8. Elmo - October 2, 2008 2:53 PM
@ Bob
I just said that! *sigh* no one likes me
9. James - October 2, 2008 3:16 PM
Yeah how dare those bastards portray a wife staying with her husband after he goes blind! What horrific disgusting lies.
10. Winston Smith - October 2, 2008 4:02 PM
I'm offended by the fact that people with a less than room temperature IQ are allowed to protest in public.
Let's just destroy every piece of fiction on the planet for fear that people might actually believe it all to be true. Fvcking a-holes.
Why aren't there people with common sense protesting these idiot protesters?
11. craig - October 3, 2008 10:45 AM
Note to I Watch Stuff writer: Stop it. Well-thought out, common sense opinions on your website will get you nowhere. Focus on boobs. Everyone likes boobs. Even the blind.
12. Nikky Raney - October 3, 2008 12:18 PM
Since when do blind people go to movie theaters?....
13. Mike Jewell - October 3, 2008 12:25 PM
Dear Marc Maurer,
You are sincerely an idiot. In a monster movie, no one has compassion for the monster. The monster can be killed without remorse.
In this movie, the heroine can't kill the monster.
Don't you see how great of a movie it could be, if only for that twist?
Plus, the "blind" people in this movie aren't the kind of "blind" people you represent. So, why don't you just take it down a peg and stop surfing the net at work.
14. Bill - October 3, 2008 2:59 PM
Everybody's gotta protest something. Personally I like tripping blind people as they walk down the street.
15. Peanut - October 3, 2008 11:54 PM
The Growing Pains reference brought me lolz.
16. SandraB - October 4, 2008 7:23 AM
It's sort of like when Fatal Instinct came out..
"Oh no, a gay person is the killer. Now everyone is going to think gays and lesbians are murderers"
I would have been more offended that my people were being portrayed by Sharon Stone.
17. dee - October 4, 2008 3:24 PM
My husband and I walked out of the film. It was awful. I would honestly like to believe that people are better than the animals in that movie.
18. Eddie Van Halen - October 6, 2008 10:06 AM
I live with two blind people and they're both members of the NFB. We personally know Marc Maurer and he's a good dude. They just don't take kindly to being portreyed as fucking animals. Unless you've actually seen the movie, you really have no business talking on it. Not only is it completely inaccurate, it's a genuinely retarded movie with a retarded concept. Nobody from the NFB is telling YOU not to see it, they're just saying they're boycotting it on the grounds that it's stupid as hell.
19. John T. Cahle (New Hampton ,NH) - October 6, 2008 10:37 AM
(Location added in case anyone has the balls to debate me in person. :) )
First off, this movie is in no way about people with long term blindness, like the people Mr. Maurer represents, these are people who have spent their whole life with (near)perfect sight, and have suddenly, and without any warning, peen plunged into sightlessness. These people when then taken, issolated, and forced to fend for themselves. The things that happened would happen with sighted people if they were isolates, as they would ANYONE onder those situations. The contagious blindness was not the point of the movie, nor was blindness in general, the blindness was a tool to show that human kind, when issolated, becomes nearly feral and self destructive. In fact, the blindness was an ilustration of ignorance (figurativly, i am in no way intending to call real blind people ignorand.) while the one sighted person represented civility (though not perfection)
To sum it up, don't take it personaly, I find that life is better if you assume people don't mean you harm. :)
20. Malicious Lingerer - October 7, 2008 10:58 PM
I cant believe they're going to protest this film... it's like peta protesting beverly hills chihuahua... by the way they probably are
21. Biz - September 10, 2009 8:51 AM
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.