[nfb-talk] Fwd: Monk episode about blindness

[melissa R. Green]

Dar,
its a show on the USA Network.
Which is a cable network.

Not a local one.
Just my opinion.
You aren't missing anything by not watching it.
Lol!
Melissa R. Green
"Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together"
  
-----Original Message-----
From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of dmgina
Sent: Monday, July 31, 2006 7:10 AM
To: NFB Talk Mailing List
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Fwd: Monk episode about blindness

No wonder I don't watch local TV.


--Dar
Every Saint has a future,
Every Sinner has a past


----- Original Message -----
From: "David Andrews" <dandrews at visi.com>
To: <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>; <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>; <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, July 30, 2006 9:17 PM
Subject: [nfb-talk] Fwd: Monk episode about blindness


>
>>From: "Angie Matney" <Angie at mpmail.net>
>>To: "David Andrews" <dandrews at visi.com>
>>Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2006 13:59:16 -0400
>>Subject: Monk episode about blindness
>>
>>Hi Dave,
>>
>>This is not appropriate for any of the lists I'm on. But feel free to 
>>forward it to lists where you think it might be appropriate,
>>if there are any.
>>
>>Did anybody here watch Monk this weekend? A sighted friend wrote her 
>>observations. I'm going to post them here and
>>follow with a few comments of my own.
>>
>>Okay, I'll try to get this down from my notes before I lose it.
>>
>>Although come to think of it, I'll be glad when it's gone.
>>
>>First, I should say that I don't watch this show. Neither am I blind.
>>Neither have I ever been in the presence of a blind person for more
>>than an hour, and that was a long time ago. So I'm coming at this
>>from the point of view of a sighted person who's a stranger both to
>>blindness and to the show.
>>
>>Second, there are lots of stupid things in this episode, but two
>>things strike me as globally offensive: the overall slapstick tone
>>and the patronizing way other people treat Monk.
>>
>>First, the slapstick. Some of what contributes to this may in fact be
>>an accurate portrayal of how a newly blind person with virtually no
>>training (he's had a little, but how much is unclear, and given the
>>time frame, it can't be much) would try to function, but while I
>>think that might be an excuse the show's producers would offer, given
>>the context, I think it's no excuse at all.
>>
>>One of the things that contributes to this tone is the way they have
>>him moveing, with a weird gait that has him walking bent over at the
>>waist and knees, holding his white cane out at about the level of his
>>waist. Whether this is an accurate or inaccurate portrayal of what
>>some people try to do when they first lose their sight, the fact is
>>that the impression it leaves is classic slapstick. And he just keeps
>>moving around, again and again, whether the plot calls for it or not,
>>giving him ample opportunity to bump into things, wave his cane
>>around in the air so it becomes a menace, get tangled up in police
>>crime tape, and in general make an idiot out of himself while
>>everyone else simply stands there and watches. Nor, when he and
>>someone else are in an unfamiliar environment, does anyone attempt to
>>orient him or, with only one or two exceptions, give him any directions.
>>
>>So on the one hand, everyone around the guy seems to have this hands-
>>off policy, though there's nothing in their facial expressions or
>>dialogue to indicate that this might be deliberate. That is, if it's
>>their way of trying to "respect" his "independence" we certainly
>>aren't told this. And anyway, on the other hand, they're as
>>patronizing as it's possible to be. If their policy is hands-off,
>>it's only in the figurative sense. In the literal sense, they pat him
>>on the shoulder. They pat him on the back. They grab him and drag him
>>around. (Although, to give them their due, he's acting so stupidly
>>that maybe they really think it's called for.) They tell him one
>>thing while indicating to each other, with nods, head-shakes, and
>>facial expressions, that they mean just the opposite. In short, they
>>treat him like a three-ear-old. Or maybe younger?
>>
>>Finally, there are so many stupidities that I couldn't keep up with
>>them all. I just don't write that fast, but here are a few I managed
>>to get down: 1) The ophthalmologist says that Monk is going to have to
>>get used to "the dark." 2) Shortly thereafter, Monk assumes, though
>>for a relatively brief period, what I think of as the stereotypical
>>facial expression of the blind, a kind of vague, benevolent smile, as
>>though his blindness had also caused his IQ to drop to well below
>>100, or even more obnoxiously, as though he had suddenly been
>>admitted to a realm in which he is "seeing" something wonderful to
>>which the sighted world isn't privy. 3) Throughout, when he's not
>>flailing around on his own, he's constantly being guided by sighted
>>people, but they're always holding *his* arm. Nor does he
>>correct them. 4) Several times, while he's doing his slapstick grope-
>>around-with-bent-knees thing, Natalie (who can't act her way out of a
>>paper bag, though that's beside the point) stands by holding his cane
>>while he risks limb, if not exactly life. 5) He does not object when,
>>after he has hit something harmlessly--for once--with his cane, the
>>captain simply takes it away from him and throws it aside. 6) Not
>>only does he agree to feel a suspect's face (finds a convenient wart
>>and decides it's not the guy, whom he saw before his tragedy
>>occurred) but later on, realizing that there's someone standing in
>>front of him, and suspecting it's the killer, he actually stands
>>there, gropes the guy's facial features, and decides this one is for
>>real. (And the murderer just lets him do it. Hard to tell who's
>>dumber.) 7) Getting into an outdoor construction-site elevator that
>>bears an out-of-order sign, he fails to figure out that it's not
>>moving--though there's no indication that his hearing is going--and
>>consequently thinks that when he gets out of it, he's very high up,
>>but he never uses his cane to discover that in fact he's standing on
>>a beam later described as 10 inches off the ground. 8) Talking to his
>>therapist, he's suddenly wearing dark glasses. They are little, round
>>things, rather like the kind the Annie Sullivan character wore in
>>Miracle Worker. Although the Johns Lennon and Denver wore them in the
>>1970's, in today's context all they do is scream "blind." This is, by
>>the way, the only scene in which he wears them, perhaps to impress
>>his therapist, but for no other discernible purpose.
>>
>>I really didn't know that in these times of political correctness it
>>was still okay to misrepresent, make fun of, patronize, and insult
>>blind people. I'm pissed, astonished, dismayed, and most of all,
>>thoroughly disgusted. As someone who rejects political correctness
>>most of the time, I've got to admit that this one made me want to go
>>and take a shower.
>>
>>OK, here are my comments about the episode. I think it would have been 
>>nice if the lady from the school for the blind
>>had also been blind. That would have
>>been a great opportunity to show a functioning blind person, even if they 
>>*would* insist on the slapstick for Monk. And I
>>know this is *Monk,* a comedy.
>>I know I'm probably expecting too much. But still...
>>
>>Also, at one point, Monk asks Natalie about other blind people who have 
>>done great things. She comes up with Ray
>>Charles and (I'm not kidding here) Mr.
>>Magoo. Part of this is supposed to be funny because Monk doesn't know who 
>>Mr. Magoo is. Natalie tells him Magoo is a
>>great inventor. But...come on! Even
>>a show like Monk could do better with a list of blind folks than Ray 
>>Charles and Mr. Magoo.
>>
>>The scary thing is that I think they actually *consulted* people before 
>>airing this episode. They consulted *blind* people. I
>>guess I can't see why they
>>bothered if they were going to do this anyway.
>>
>>
>>
>>
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