Final essay material Prompt #1

Blindness, in my mind, is the inability to see past a stereotype or inaccurate first impression. These characters tend to only see things on a surface level, either to make a circumstance cater to their needs or out of naivety. Rashomon: All the characters, and their corresponding stories, are different in what each character wants to portray. The "blindness" is intentional, only seeing what they want to see rather than what is really happening. The bandit wanted to be seen as a victor, powerful and uncontrolled. The woman wanted to be seen as vulnerable, innocent, and powerless (reflecting the time period the film was meant to take place). The witness omitted stealing the knife, after witnessing the crime to be perceived as merely someone in the wrong place and wrong time and the husband was portrayed as betrayed by his wife. I think mainly the story reflects how our perceptions are often in favor of what we want/need/ and hope for. This is possibly unintentional, but shows the injustice in the world and how the truth is something distant from what we actually hear or see, which leads me to Dancer in the Dark. Dancer in the Dark: In this film blindness is referred to in a literal and figurative sense. Her blindness comes from a disease that progresses and leads to her loss of sight in it's entirety. The figurative bindles is her naivety at the situation. She sees the world in an image of a child, an image that doesn't account for injustice or unfair treatment. The director goes to great lengths to ensure the audience realizes how as much as we may strive for the truth it isn't readily available. The man that stole her money, and claimed it as his knowing his reputation as an upstanding citizen would "validate" his story even was willing to die rather than face the truth of his bankruptcy. She was blinded by his apparent wealth and good nature, she was unable to see his actions and how they were irreversible. He was not forfeiting the money, even when caught and during her pleading. We are often fooled by perfect endings, these endings make us unable to see that outcomes aren't always positive. The media blinds us with perfectly painted images of endings that are neat, but misleading. Life doesn't provide us with what we want, but instead shows us things we can't control and predict. This movie was unpredictable at best, as I thought her luck would change we see her fall deeper into awful circumstances. The movie debunks luck entirely, as does Rashomon. Luck may be an aspect of the blindness, a way to explain why things happen the way they do. Society tends to lack order, people want justification as to why bad things happen to people who do not deserve it, maybe the term bad luck is that justification. And we are all blinded by what we want to see, a perfect, just world. 12 Angry Men: This represents a blindness that i referred to above in the form of naivety. On the stand they saw a teenager from a area referred to as the slums where the assumption is all the criminals are. But that is a generalization that puts great limitations on these individuals. Stereotypes such as those make people believe they aren't capable of more than their reputation. And basing someone's life on their apparent socioeconomic status is an unjust action, especially from a committee of jurors. Juror 8 saw more than a delinquent kid on the stand, and as the book progresses you see the level of empathy correspond with the people's experience. But again this is limiting an individuals perception, only seeing from experience. The jurors with careers that were more profitable weren't able to see past the word "slum," this blindness is the result of many conflicts within our society. Prejudice is born from it.