Las representaciones de la otredad en Ensayo sobre la ceguera de José Saramago y Blindness de Fernando Meirelles

Abstract

This paper proposes a comparative analysis between José Saramago's novel Blindness and Fernando Meirelles's film Blindness. Major focus is cast on the respresentation of the other and special attention is paid to the "stereotypes", according to Stuart Hall, as well as to his ideas developed in “The Spectacle of the Other”, “The Work of Representation”, and “The West and the Other: Discourse and Power”. The aim of this paper is to examine both the ways the other is represented, as in a significant continuous practice, and the discursive consequences of using these ways, since they work as directives in every discourse; not only because they involve feelings, attitudes and emotions but because, as the Jamaican critic claims, they calm fears and anxiety. And finally, in this manner, via this examination, the existence of radical differences between the two productions will be confirmed. On the one hand, when shaping his characters, the Portuguese writer is capable of abandoning every racial stereotype in order to achieve a more plural (not that universal but occidental) representation of the other which allows a profound meditation on the human dimension. On the other hand, in the film, Meirelles exacerbates these racial stereotypes which are representative of the occidental imaginary and that due to being naturalized in their normalcy in a Foucauldian way, transmit a hegemonic and discursive form of power which functions through culture, knowledge production, images, representations and even more means. By "stereotyping", based on our hypothesis, Meirelles's Blindness invites you to the typical hypnosis of commercial films without provoking critical thinking as it is, in turn, the case in Saramago's novel.