From BBC, AP/MSNBC:

The National Federation of the Blind has announced plans to stage protests against the movie “Blindness” at 75 theaters across the country when it opens this weekend.

The NFB says the movie, a Miramax Films release starring Julianne Moore, reinforces inaccurate stereotypes by portraying blind people as helpless, perpetually disoriented and unable to care for themselves.

“We face a 70 percent unemployment rate and other social problems because people don’t think we can do anything, and this movie is not going to help — at all,” said Christopher Danielsen, a spokesman for the NFB.

Based on a novel by Nobel Prize winner Jose Saramago, the film depicts a mysterious epidemic that causes residents of a town to go blind, resulting in a collapse of the social order. Blind people are portrayed as quarantined in a mental asylum, attacking each other, soiling themselves and trading sex for food.

“The movie portrays blind people as monsters, and I believe it to be a lie,” said Marc Maurer, president of the NFB. “Blindness doesn’t turn decent people into monsters.”

“Blindness” director Fernando Meirelles, an Academy Award nominee for “City of God,” was shooting on location Thursday and unavailable for comment, according to Miramax. The studio released a statement that read, in part, “We are saddened to learn that the National Federation of the Blind plans to protest the film `Blindness.’”

See also:

National Federation of the Blind Condemns and Deplores the Movie Blindness — MarketWatch (press release) An excerpt:

Blind people are a cross-section of society, and as such we represent the broad range of human capacities and characteristics. We are not helpless children or immoral, degenerate monsters; we are teachers, lawyers, mechanics, plumbers, computer programmers, and social workers. We go to church, volunteer our time for worthy causes, raise children, operate businesses, and engage in recreational activities, just like everyone else.

Portraying the blind on movie screens across America as little better than animals will reinforce the unfounded fears, misconceptions, and stereotypes in the general public about blindness.

Earlier post here.

(Mark Ruffalo and Julianne Moore, AP/MSNBC photo)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 at 8:44 am and is filed under advocacy, blindness/visual impairments, celebrities, employment/jobs, entertainment, movies, public attitudes, stigma. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.