[stylist] New Book, blindness on TV

Sun Feb 16 15:38:34 UTC 2014

Halle Berry is the actress in Monster Ball who won the Oscar, and I
don't recall her character being less than admirable. Her character
meets and develops a relationship with a white prison guard, played by
Billy Bob Thorton, who, as it turns out, not only comes from a family of
racists, but who was one of the guards to usher her husband to the
electric chair in prison. The film, if I remember, is about their
relationship and how they cope with all their individual issues--
racism, suicide, single-motherhood, Billy Bob Thortons job, etc. And
yes, Halle Berry is actually half white, half black, much like our
President, but she is considered a black actress nonetheless including
by Berry herself.

White people did black-face on the stage, but I can't recall a film
where a white person played a black person. Yes, black characters were
usually portrayed as Uncle Tom's, as they called it back then, or
uneducated or as fools or very stereotypical characters. It really
wasn't until the 50's and 60's that stronger, competent black characters
were seen in films. But to this day, it tends to be lighter-skinned
black actors who are cast. And unfortunately, we still have yet to see a
balance in films and plays with characters and actors of various races
and ethnicities.

One of my favorite plays is For Colored Girls Who've Considered Suicide
When the Rainbow isn't Enuf (this is how it's spelled in the play). I
hoped the film a version a few years ago would be good, but it didn't
live up to the play, I think. It was, however, adapted, produced and
directed by black people along with having an all-black cast. The film
The Help has black  characters played by black actors, and while the
characters are shown in subservient roles as maids and nannies in the
60's, it actually portrays the characters as strong, intelligent,
capable women equal to the white people they work for.

In my theatre classes, this was an often discussed issue if actors could
play races different than their own. As you can imagine, this is a
controversial subject with many tightly held opinions. At the end of the
day, if over-simplifying the issue, those on all sides of the
discussion, tend to agree that if a character is intended to be of a
certain skin color or ethnicity, an actor of that color or ethnicity
should play the part purely because it's a question of aesthetics. Of
course, this issue goes much deeper though.

With something like blindness though... Of course I think blind actors
should be considered for roles of both blind and non-blind characters,
and like any area of life, they should be treated as equals. But I still
have no problem with a non-blind actor playing the part of a blind
character though. Again, the job of an actor is to portray a character
to the best of their abilities, and usually this character has little to
nothing in common with the actors real life. This is the job description
of any actor. Take a role, study it, learn about it, portray the part as
well as you can.

Again, I ask, how is this all that different than a straight person
playing a gay person? A person who does not have with CP playing a role
of a character who does? An actor learning an accent or dialect
different from their own? Acting is pretending to be something you're
not, so I don't see the problem in casting an actor who is not disabled
to play a disabled character.

Bridgit

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Lynda
Lambert
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2014 5:07 PM
To: Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] New Book, blindness on TV

oH, YES, indeed white actors portrayed black people in the movies,
theater, 
Vaudeville, and on radio. That was the norm to do it.  This is how black

actors were kept out of jobs in the movies - I taught African American 
Literature and Arts at Geneva College for years, and I lectured on this 
topic for the PA Humanities Council all over PA in the past so I can
tell 
you for sure, this is absolutely the truth of the matter.   If you think

back at the roles that black people portrayed themselves, they were 
presented as fools, criminals, and very stupid servants who just LOVED
the 
people they had to care for and labor for.  Think about Gone With the
Wind - 
for instance.  And, think about more recent years when  Monster's Ball
won 
academy awards - for an actor who was very very light skinned, but a
black 
woman nevertheless, who played the part of a woman who was less than 
admirable.  I am trying to think of a really good role model at this
time 
for a black actor who is shown in a very positive light but is not in a 
movie about slavery.

To me, this is the same kind of thing - a sighted actor who presumes to 
understand how to play a blind man. And, there are some outstanding
blind 
actors - i think Tom Sullivan is one that comes to my mind. I have read
his 
books. I think that is his name.  It is naieve of anyone to think this
is 
appropriate in this day and age when there is so much education
available on 
disabilities, inclusion, and diversity.

Just me going on a rant because this is one of my tipping points. Lynda
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Applebutter Hill" <applebutterhill at gmail.com>
To: "'Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2014 3:59 PM
Subject: Re: [stylist] New Book, blindness on TV

> Yes, this is a major flaw, and I remember hearing that quote about how

> he was going to portray the blind man and thinking it sounded a bit 
> simplistic. There are blind people who want to be on stage, and some 
> have had some luck
> in community theater groups, but a lot of them get told it's too 
> complicated
> to get them in the right place for their scenes.
>
> I wonder if there was a time when white actors portrayed black people 
> in film or TV? I'm pretty sure that did happen, but I can't think of 
> specific examples. Donna
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Lynda
> Lambert
> Sent: Friday, February 14, 2014 1:12 PM
> To: meekerorgas at ameritech.net; Writer's Division Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [stylist] New Book, blindness on TV
>
> Bill, I agree with all you have said here. What an enormous 
> disappointment it is to me, to know that a sighted person is the actor

> playing a blind character. I guess that means, that acting is not a 
> skill a blind person can be successul at?  We know better than that! 
> So it is a major flaw in my opinion.
>
> My experience this past 6 1/2 years after my own sight loss is that 
> our close friends drop off like crazy when we become different - only 
> a very few remain. but, the good news is that other great people step 
> forward and become our friends.  We live in a world between sighted 
> and blind, most of the time, when we are pursuing our careers, and 
> doing the things we did before we lost our sight. We become very 
> strange to many people who do not know how to deal with it at all, and

> really do not want to. I have had to very consciously put all this 
> aside, and continue on my own career path and
> not dwell on the negativity - but keep my mind focused on the
positive. We
> all have negative thoughts, but we do not have to verbalize them. I
> concentrate on being positive and up beat, and that becomes the
reality in
> my life. Otherwise, we are taken prisoner by our sight loss and the
> perceptions of others.
>
> Lynda
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Cheryl Orgas & William Meeker" <meekerorgas at ameritech.net>
> To: "'Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, February 14, 2014 12:44 PM
> Subject: Re: [stylist] New Book, blindness on TV
>
>
>> Several things bode well for the portrayal of a blind character in 
>> "Growing Up Fisher."
>>
>> 1.  The blind guy is one of the heads of the family, not the main 
>> character. I believe the sighted public is not ready for a blind main

>> character. Rather, blindness is most effectively approached 
>> obliquely.
>>
>> 2.  The show's creator has experience living with a blind person.
>> Sighted
>> people who relate most easily to me have been used to being around a
>> person
>> with a disability.
>>
>> 3.  The show's creator has perspective about blindness.   He says
>> "...blindness is like the seventeenth thing wrong with him...".
>>
>> 4.  The show's creator intends to portray the character as a distinct

>> person rather than as an Everyman.  He said "I don't want this to be 
>> every visually
>> impaired person's story."  For me, a unique, distinct character is
more
>> engaging and memorable than an Everyman.
>>
>>
>> The weak point may be in the blind character's portrayal.  The actor 
>> playing the blind dad is sighted, and talks about "Your whole life is

>> naturally fixed on picked up movements," and "throwing things out of 
>> focus," although
>> it's possible that he is alluding to his character's having some
residual
>> vision.  Regardless, the show's success or failure will depend on
much
>> more
>> than the blind character.
>>
>>
>>
>> Bill Meeker
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Chris
>> Kuell
>> Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2014 7:50 AM
>> To: Writer's Division Mailing List
>> Subject: Re: [stylist] New Book, blindness on TV
>>
>> I don't know if anyone has been watching the Winter Olympics, or can 
>> tell from the commercials, but NBC is plugging a new show called 
>> 'Growing up Fisher' that is about a family with a blind father. My 
>> wife says the commercials show him riding a bike, cooking, and 
>> cutting down a tree with a chainsaw. The show is based on the life of

>> one of the writers who grew up with a blind father. Maybe there's 
>> hope after all.
>>
>> Here's what I found in USA today:
>>
>> PASADENA, Calif. - NBC's Growing Up Fisher is another family comedy, 
>> but there's a difference: the father, Mel Fisher (J.K. Simmons), is 
>> blind (pictured). It's not arbitrary. Fisher, which premieres 
>> following Olympics coverage on
>> Feb. 23 (10:30 p.m. ET/PT), is based on the childhood of series
creator 
>> DJ
>> Nash. It moves to its regular Tuesday slot (9:30 p.m. ET/PT) on Feb.
25.
>> "My dad went blind when he was 11 and hid his blindness (to) pretty
much
>> everyone outside the family" until he and his wife divorced and he
got a
>> guide dog, Nash said Sunday at the Television Critics Association
winter
>> press tour. A scene where the father cuts down a tree with a chainsaw
is
>> based on his own experiences.
>> Fisher's premise is not a gimmick, said executive producer Jason
Bateman,
>> who provides the voiceover for Mel's son, Henry, looking back on his
>> youth.
>> "It's his true story. Cynicism, be gone," he said.
>>
>>
>>
>> The show, which is set in the present day, looks at the Fisher family

>> after Mel and his wife, Joyce (Jenna Elfman), decide to divorce. They

>> remain "amazing parents" to teenage daughter Katie (Ava 
>> Deluca-Verley) and 11-year-old son Henry (Eli Baker).
>>
>> There were challenges to the situation at the time, Nash said, but 
>> "looking back, I wouldn't change a thing."
>> Simmons, who is not blind, said he had help from Nash, a visually 
>> impaired
>> consultant and another consultant in learning how to play a man who
can't
>> see.
>>
>> "Your whole life is naturally fixed on picked-up movement, so it's a 
>> simple case of throwing your eyes out of focus," he said. "The main 
>> things I learned (were) all the other bits of behavior, how you 
>> handle things, what
>> you do with your hands, how you interact physically with other
people."
>>
>> Although Mel's blindness may stand out initially, Nash said that's 
>> only one aspect of the character's personality and one element of the

>> family's story.
>>
>> Some viewers may "see the first thing about Mel is that he's blind. 
>> My
>> dad
>> being blind is like the 17th thing wrong with him. He's stubborn. He
hugs
>> too much. He's a lawyer. There's a lot of craziness going on over
there,"
>> he
>> said. "I don't want this to be every visually impaired person's
story. 
>> ...
>> We're trying to tell Henry's perspective of what that was like and
how it
>> informs who he is as a father today."
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Bridgit Pollpeter" <bpollpeter at hotmail.com>
>> To: "'Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Monday, February 10, 2014 10:51 PM
>> Subject: Re: [stylist] My New Book
>>
>>
>>> It's very true. And most of us have come across literary characters 
>>> who are less than positive examples of blindness, so why not combat 
>>> it by writing our own strong, independent blind characters? Writing 
>>> in any form is a potentially great tool for change. When you look at

>>> history, it's not politicians or their legislation that has made the

>>> most change, but it is the artistic community who have organized and

>>> used their talents to create change. The Civil Rights movement, LBGT

>>> issues, feminism... The deepest change has occurred through art, 
>>> theatre, music, dance and yes, writing. So why can't the disabled 
>>> community do the same?
>>>
>>> Bridgit
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of P. 
>>> Campbell
>>> Sent: Monday, February 10, 2014 6:39 AM
>>> To: newmanrl at cox.net; Writer's Division Mailing List
>>> Subject: Re: [stylist] My New Book
>>>
>>>
>>>    Thank you.  I feel that fiction, accurate fiction, is a good way 
>>> to promote the blind.  People who will not read an article, no 
>>> matter how well written, will read fiction.
>>>
>>> I feel that in some cases this is equally true where the blind 
>>> themselves are concerned.  This is especially true for young people,

>>> who often feel
>>>
>>> that their problems are unique to them.  Reading about a character 
>>> who may have the same problems is often inspiring.
>>>
>>> "Mrs. Campbell, I didn't know that happened to other people." or "Do

>>> other people feel that way, too?"  are things I often hear from 
>>> young people who
>>> are blind.
>>>
>>> Phyllis
>>>
>>>
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>>
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