Oct 3 2008 L@@K: It's Five Minutes of 'Blindness'
For those still deciding whether to see Blindness or protest it this weekend, here's the first five minutes to help you decide. Personally, I'll see you guys from the picket line. I just won't tolerate the way the blind man in this clip is portrayed: having a normal conversation, stumbling on the steps he can't see, logically thinking the weird guy who offers to drive him home might be trying to steal his car. HE'S A MONSTER!
Oct 2 2008 Key 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.)
Apr 7 2008 'Blindness' Poster Accurately Simulates Actual Blindness
Hmm, how can we portray blindness in a poster for the movie Blindness...? Wait, I think I got it! If my understanding is correct, being blind is a lot like always seeing the form of a beautiful, long-haired woman behind a haze of foggy glass, so how about that? Oh... you say it's more like eternal darkness in an unaccommodating world than a graceful female form exiting a shower? That's weird. Well, let's split the difference and go with the lady behind glass, but make the title lettering sort of like it's an eye chart--you know, the kind blind people use to make sure they're still living in shadow.
Blindness Poster [IMPA]
