[nabs-l] Romanticisation of Blindness

Sun Apr 26 04:20:47 UTC 2009

For the record, Daredevil is a comic book character created in 1964 
by Stan Lee.  He was originally drawn by Bill Everett, and Jack Kirby 
was also in on his creation.  Frank Miller brought Daredevil into the   
Marvel universe mainstream, according to many.  Comic book nerds will 
recognize all of these names as staples of the industry.

A young Matt Murdock pushed a blind man out of the path of a speeding 
truck.  In a twist of comic book irony at its unpredictable best, 
radioactive material fell off the back of this truck, and it caused 
Matt's own blindness.  Of course, you're shocked it was radioactive 
material, right?  And of course, you know what that means--superpower 
time!  He later discovers his other senses are superpowered.

Matt's dad, a boxer, is killed by gangsters when he refuses to throw 
a fight.  Eventually (like 1979 or 1980 or so, when Frank Miller took 
over the writing), these gangsters worked for the Kingpin.  Matt, who 
realizes that he has these superpowers, decides he wants revenge.  So 
he dons a red and devil costume and decides to go beat up bad guys 
for fun and revenge.  He has nothing to fear because he has nothing 
left.

Blindness has very little to do with Daredevil, and in fact Matt 
Murdock does a better job at being a good blind person than the 
average portrayal of a blind person by sighted people.  He folds his 
money, he listens to what's going on around him, and is a successful 
lawyer who uses his brain and nonvisual techniques.

He later gets hooked up with Black Widow, a defector from the USSR 
who runs around shooting everything and wears a skin-tight black 
outfit that is usually inked to look like either shiny leather or 
latex.  The barrels of her weapons aren't the only thing the average 
male teenager is expected to find smoking.

More recently the character's gone through craziness, because he's a 
comic book character, and insanity, character reboots, retroactive 
continuity, and other such things are commonplace.  Also note that 
I'm describing the Daredevil of Earth 616, one universe.

Daredevil was always one of my favorites--along with Batman and the 
X-Men.  I don't look at him as any kind of model of a blind person 
really because blind person is just his "secret identity".  Remember, 
this is stuff like Superman becoming Clark Kent by putting on a pair 
of glasses.  You've gotta suspend a LOT of disbelief.

Hmm, I just defeated a blind lawyer in court even though he knew I 
was lying.  Tonight, a blind superhero who knows all about court this 
afternoon beats the living crap out of me.  What a coincidence!

Joseph

On Thu, Apr 23, 2009 at 05:45:32PM -0500, Linda Stover wrote:
>Jim,
>
>I don't think this is quite what people are referring to.  When
>someone romanticizes blindness, they often make it look far easier to
>be blind than it is.  A particularly overused clitche is to give the
>blind individual special "superpowers" arising from their blindness.
>
>For example, about five years ago, there was a movie produced called
>Daredevil.  The protagonist of the film was a blind vidgulantee.  This
>man, using only the senses of hearing/smell/touch could stalk
>criminals across the rooftops of buildings in the dead of night, and
>was a very accurate knifethrower seeing as he couldn't see his
>targets.  This is the type of scenario people are referring to when
>they speak of romanticizing blindness.  Hth
>Courtney
>
>On 4/23/09, Jim Reed <jim275_2 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>> Hey,
>>
>> Does romanticisation of blindness have anything to do with
>> dependence/interdependence? In romances, relationships, and family, there is
>> a certian amout of interdependence among the lovebirds. is it because blind
>> people are already closer to dependency than others, that we are some how
>> inherently more qualified for a relationship? Or is it based on society's
>> view of romance that one partner strives to take care of the other (ie. the
>> man as the "bread winner"), thus there is a natural tendanc to view blind
>> people in a similar light, that we need/want to be taken care of like the
>> helpless housewife (put away your claws ladies, I;m not suggesting women are
>> helpless or need/want to be taken cvare of).
>> Ive never been good at philosopy.
>>
>> Jim
>>
>> "Ignorance killed the cat; curiosity was framed."
>>
>>
>>
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