In this lesson, students will be viewing the recently released movie, Blindness, based on a book by the same name. This movie is particularly relevant because disability, in this case blindness, is used as a metaphor for chaos and disorder. Essentially, it is the story of a world where everyone suddenly becomes blind. While such an event would surely cause chaos simply because such extreme change of any kind would cause moral panic, some criticise the fact that disability is used as the example which leads to chaos. Some argue that this metaphor should not be taken literally, while others state that if any other minority group were used as a metaphor in such a degrating way (such as ethnicity) the reaction would be much different. Students are assigned several readings that will provide background to the debates and contraversy regarding this film, and will be asked to respond to it in their blogs.
The only objective of this lesson is that students must be critical while watching this movie. Students should formulate their own opinions while observing the unfolding plots. Can blindness or disability in general be used as a metaphor for something else? Would you feel the same if it were ethnicity? Why or why not? How does this metaphor attribute to the attitudes and beliefs towards persons with disabilities? What side of the debate do you most agree with?
After this lesson then, students will be able to apply real life debates to the movie blindness, and understand how the media – and artwork as a whole – sometimes uses disability as a metaphor for something else.
Students will be watching this film in the computer labs, and will thus have access to computers. They are therefore encouraged to take notes, specifically, regarding examples they can draw upon during their blog responses to this film. As this film is longer than the alotted time for class, it will also be made available in the library. Students who wish to view the movie entirely are free to stay, as the movie will continue playing after the class ends.
The teacher will begin playing the movie promptly as soon as class commences, to ensure that no time is lost.
Write a response to the debates introduced in this movie in your blogs.