Category: Cinema 31
Here in the UK, there was a documentary about a college for blind people, and blind people made sure they didn't miss it. There was also a programme about blind parents.
Last Year there was a blind man in Big Brother, and blind people were very interested in him, because he was blind.
No doubt if a blind singer made it to the latter stages of a reality singing contest such as X Factor or American Idle, blind people would be interested in that specific contestant.
If you are one of those visually impaired people who aims to watch every programme that comes on TV that focuses on blind people, or that features blind people, why do you watch those programmes?
hey wayne.
your point about blind singers... was stevie wonder blind?. well look how far he got.
as for the blind contestant on big brother, i think he set a really bad example. same goes for the movie " blindness", even though i did enjoy watching it.
on another note, yesterday on bbc radio 4 there was a programme about accessible websites, and are developers doing enough to make them accessible?.
as for me, not really a fan of the blind programmes. i watched the documentry about rnc, but only because i was thinking about going to study there
I couldn't tell you anything about Mikey except he worked for Insight Radio.
There are also blind people who take an interest in Stevie Wonder because he's blind.
I wonder if the blind people who watch programmes that feature blind people analyse them to see if they give a good impression of blind people in general? If so, why do they do that? It's as if they think that blind people who appear in public or on television are representing the "blind community", when like sighted people, they're probably representing themselves.
To Senior's last post. I don't think that blind people who are in the media "represent" blind people, but the way humanity tends to stereotype tends to make people without disabilities stereotype "the blind" as all being like Mr. or Ms. Blind that is this week's "famous blind person." Usually, I don't watch programs about blind people, unless Ive been told about it by a number of people, and then feel almost compelled to do so in order to converse inteligently about the program.
Lou
I don't know many TV shows that have blind people in them, but I do know of many many movies in them. One of my least favorites is the third blade movie, the blind person in that was either doing things we could never do, or she was totally helpless, and its what killed her. Still a good movie, just not with a good blind girl. also, the village has a horrible blind girl in it, who is portrayed horribly by some acress or another. then you have the classic movie daredevil, that might have well have given sighted people who don't know about us, a long list of myths to ask us about.
On the other hand, there are some good movies with blind people in them, scent of a woman for instance, not exactly accurate, but hell, I wish I were half as cool as al pacino as a blind guy. Also, in the 80's, they made a movie called, if you could see what I here, based on the life of a blind pianist named tom sulivan, absolutely fantastic movie if you can find it.
so I guess its all in what you watch. I will only watch a movie with a blind person in it for that reason, if its a cool blind person. that is to say, if it has a cool blindy, I'll watch it for the blindy. If not, its just a movie.
Although, little theory, anyone ever notice that blind girls are always really really helpless, and blind men in movies are either really cool, or have super powers. I mean, look at the girl from the village, and then look at stick from electra, or daredevil, or whistler from sneakers. they were cool, she was a helpless whimpering blindy with mobility issues. Stereotype anyone?
Off the top of my head, I can think of one really cool blind woman in the very first Star Trek Series. Miranda wore this sensor dress that she used to get around with.
Lou
I saw the TV show Blind Justice. I liked it and wish they had more than one season.
I have not seen many programs featuring blind people myself, but I do like watching some programs featuring them or people with other disabilities just to see how they are portrayed or how they deal with life. Sometimes it is irritating usually not so much the disabled characters themselves, but the other people and how they treat them. For instance, if a disabled character feels helpless or sorry for themselves I can get that maybe they are newly disabled or felt conditioned by others to feel like that or whatever, but if a not-disabled character treats them like they can't do anything or like they are inferior to them, that behavior would irritate me more than the disabled character feeling sorry for themselves (assuming that at some point they will either get passed it or be confident in at least something). The only show I've watched that consistently had a blind character in it was Becker. The blind guy (Jake) was a newsstand owner who had turned out to be blinded when he had been involved in a car accident. A sighted guy played him, and although Becker is a sit-com, I thought most of it was a good and realistic picture of a blind person. Also, Jake was mostly treated like anyone else by the other characters. I liked that there were some parts where one could really learn something, like when this girl went out with him and thought she could get away with not dressing presentably because he couldn't see her anyway, or when he finally told this other date off because she kept describing litterally every detail of everything, and there are probably other things I can think of. But yeah, I generally liked how he was portrayed and how the other regular characters were toward him.
y'all can say I'm unkind, but I normally don't like blind people in the public. They tend to be stuck on themselves or something. Also as a kid I always remember people saying they were role models for me. How is stevie one of those for me. 1. i'm a girl. 2. i'm white. 3. i have no musical talent whatsoever. so as as an overweight, shy, and insecure, teen hearing how I'm supposed to emmulate him was impossible and made me feel even worse about myself. Ditto jose feliciano and ray charles. This girl can't sing, dance, play any instrument, or climb mount everest.
Who is a role model for you is something only you can decide. I have never been judged in the context of a blind person on the Martin Kelly (telly).
I find it interesting how everyone seems to flock to shows in which blind people play a signifigant roles. That said, sometimes the public sensationalizes it. A couple years ago I was on the recieving end of a rather elaborate scheme, the purpose of which was to take my life. This scheme was purpitrated by a woman who was blind, and who was also close to being one of the finalists in a program called Star Acadomy, a sort of American Idle clone that I believe (but am not posative) was focused in quebec. . The media made a huge deal about us because of the fact we were both blind, and because of her standing in that program. The media loved it, even if half the information they used was pure bullshit or misrepresented facts. ANyway, they even made a doccumentary about it on a Montreal TV station. It's in french so I've never seen it, but the point I'm trying to make here is that the media just eats this stuff up with spoons whenever something happens that makes us seem just like everyone else.
Guardian
the thing which really frosts me is i have never seen a movie about a blind person where the actor or actress couldn't see. I have heard it said by many directors that blind people can't be directed. therefore they aren't on tv shows, movies or news comentators. It would be my opinion that the problem lies with the directors and not with the blind performers. kind of like my opinion that there are no bad students just teachers who need to be flexible.
turricane, I can think of two instances where a blind guy was played by a blind guy, and I say guy because it actually was a guy. First, in the show mash from the seventies, they had an episode where hawk-eye pierce, one of the surgeons, is blinded. One of the patience in the hospital is also blind, and is played by tom sulivan, a blind musician. If I'm not mistaken, the same man, tom sulivan, played himself in the early 80's movie, if you could see what I hear. both are hilariously funny, and worth a watch. the mash episode, if you ever want to look it up is called "out of sight, out of mind", and is in season five. enjoy.
I also saw Tom Sullivan in of all things a Mork and Mindy show from the late 70's.
I saw the documentary about RNC, but didn't think it was representing the college very well because it mostly only showed the performing arts and music technology sections. Well I was told that some of the staff refused to be filmed for it because they'd been told the classes could be interrupted at any time, but still ... and apparently a few of the students there at the time thought it was just being done for entertainment and stuff, the same as some of the staff. I did like the radio program though about accessible websites and I enjoy listening to the program on radio 4 called In Touch which is about different things each week and presented by a blind person.
I actually thought about auditioning for the second season of the now-cancelled Rocck Star show on CBS three years ago. Then again I was never a fan of Motley Cue so I don't know if I'd have wanted to be in a band with Tommy Lee. Now if it'd been Inxs again that might have been a different story. And they're once again without a frontman after firing J.D. Fortune.
Tom Sullivan was in Touched by an angel, designing Women, and Highway To Heaven.
He did not play himself on if you could see what I hear, I forget the name of the guy who did, but I think that Tom Sullivan is the only "blind" person to actually play a blind person I've never seen anyone else do this.
Also Tom Sullivan was the mentor for Ben Affleck for the Daredevil movie.
Exactly. It's usually sighted folks playing the blind folks.
I'd recommend the documentary called Snowblind. It's about a woman with a lifelong visual impairment who competes in the Iditarod with a racing partner. Pretty good, doesn't seem to pull any punches.