- What role does the old woman who lives by herself and feeds on raw rabbit play in the novel? As the doctor's wife says, "I can assure you that not even where we were living before were things so repugnant" (251). How can her life we worse that the hell they have escaped from?
- Why does the blind author write if there is no one to read his work?
- What role does the dog of tears play in the novel?
- The doctor's wife says, "In a way, everything we eat has been stolen from the mouths of others and if we rob them of too much we are responsible for their death, one way or another we are all murderers" (314). Remember what I said about sci-fi: That it's always about our life here, now? What does this statement say about our world?
- Why have the eyes of all the images and sculptures in the church been covered with white bandages or swipes of paint?
- Why do you think that people start to regain their eyesight at the end of the novel?
- When Fernando Meirelles asked Jose Saramago if he could film his novel, Saramago said that he could as long as the setting wasn't any recognizable city. Why do you think he made that condition?
- Why are there so many ethnicities represented in the film? Why do you think the first blind man and his wife speak Japanese?
- All adaptations are just some people's interpretation of a text. That's why Shakespeare still gets performed even though his plays are over five hundred years old. What do you think of Meirelles' interpretation of the novel? In what ways did he realize your idea of the book? What things would you have done different if it were your movie?
Welcome to the blog for Prof. John Talbird's English 102 class. The purpose of this site is two-fold: 1) to continue the conversations we start in class (or to start conversations before we get to class) and 2) to practice our writing, reading, and thinking on a weekly basis in an informal setting.
Sunday, May 5, 2019
Blindness: Film and Novel
As we finish the novel and watch the film adaptation this week (dir.
Fernando Meirelles, 2008), I would like you think about both the
conclusion of the novel and also the film adaptation. Some specific
questions I have:
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The woman who lives by herself and feeds on raw rabbits represents the psychological effects of the white plague. The aftermath for the people who went blind and were institutionalized was pretty gruesome. They were living in feces, they couldn't take showers, they had no connection to the outside world and they had no food to eat. Everyone felt as if they were carrying the world on their shoulders and like there was no hope. Although they were confined to a sealed building, they worked with what they had and remained as civil as possible. But once they came across the old woman eating the rabbits they realized that living in the institution wasn't that bad because they still had at least some of their sanity and dignity. The blind author continues to write when there is no one to read his work because he is most likely hanging onto that idea that things will get better, someone will find a cure or the white plague would miraculously go away and someone will eventually be there to read his writing representing that humanity has been saved. The dog of tears is like a hero in a way. Dogs are known for condoling people when they shows signs of sadness. They also help people gain insight to their problems just by the positive energy they give off. Just like when the doctor's wife was ready to give up, the dog showed up, and everything changed. For example, it began to rain and everyone had a chance to refreshen themselves, couples love were rekindled, and most importantly individuals like the first blind man regained their eyesight. I'm interpreting that the statement above states that our world today is very selfish, greedy and evil, and anyone would do anything to get by. People who have enough would still steal from those who have nothing, and those who have nothing would steal from those who have enough. Regardless of who's doing what everyone one has committed sin regardless if they had good intent or not. The images and sculptures in the church have been covered with white bandages or swipes of paint because people are starting to think that there is no God and others are questioning if they was ever a God. In the movie, where they show the sculptures and painting with no eyes, the preacher was making a reference to St. Paul killing Christians and being struck blind as a punishment, questioning if this is what God was doing to them. Maybe after all they were being punished by God. Again it all goes back to the selfishness, not being grateful and committing sin. God is punishing them with this blindness to get them to realize that God himself didn't changed but they have and they need to realize their wrongdoings before its too late. I believe people start to regain their eyesight at the end of the novel because everyone came together and was enjoying each other's company and wasn't complaining and dwelling on their hardships but were instead woking together to make things work so they can live comfortable as long as possible. I've said this before in a pervious blog but I think Saramago doesn't want the city to be recognizable because you can find selfish, greedy people anywhere in the world and anyone could face grave consequences that would force them to think about how life was before these hardships and what they would change if things were to be resolved.
ReplyDeleteThere are many ethnicities in the film because again it comes back to the God aspect. Our world is still segregated in a way. White people mostly interact with white people and black people mostly interact with black people. So God is brining all these people of different backgrounds to bring unity to humanity. I think Meirelles' interpretation of the novel was spot on at certain parts. If it were my movie, I would make the scene between the old man with the eyepatch and girl with the dark glasses a little more intimate. I would also give the government officials more parts because most people believe the government have a big part in why bad things happen to us such as killing people who may have found the cure to cancer.
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