Blindness: Difference between revisions

Content added Content deleted
VisualWikitext
(tropelist)
(update links)
Line 4: Line 4:
''Blindness'' (original title ''Ensaio Sobre a Cegueira'' meaning "An Essay on Blindness") is a 1995 novel by José Saramago that was adapted into a film in 2008.
''Blindness'' (original title ''Ensaio Sobre a Cegueira'' meaning "An Essay on Blindness") is a 1995 novel by José Saramago that was adapted into a film in 2008.


In an unnamed large city, an unexplainable and sudden outbreak of instant blindness is affecting people rapidly. In an attempt to prevent the epidemic from growing out of control, those suffering this are taken away and forced into a derelict mental asylum and held there until further notice. But the military guarding the place becomes increasingly hostile to the inmates, keeping them in at gunpoint. The government refuses to allow in basic medicines, so the hygiene and living conditions degrade horrifically within a short time.
In an unnamed large city, an unexplainable and sudden outbreak of instant blindness is affecting people rapidly. In an attempt to prevent the epidemic from growing out of control, those suffering this are taken away and forced into a derelict mental asylum and held there until further notice. But the military guarding the place becomes increasingly hostile to the inmates, keeping them in at gunpoint. The government refuses to allow in basic medicines, so the hygiene and living conditions degrade horrifically within a short time.


The protagonist is the wife of an eye doctor who was among the first people to go blind. Because she is mysteriously immune to whatever is causing the blindness, she acts as a leader of her ward and tries to keep control over a situation which is rapidly deteriorating. [[It Got Worse|It gets worse.]] Much, much worse.
The protagonist is the wife of an eye doctor who was among the first people to go blind. Because she is mysteriously immune to whatever is causing the blindness, she acts as a leader of her ward and tries to keep control over a situation which is rapidly deteriorating. [[It Got Worse|It gets worse.]] Much, much worse.
Line 25: Line 25:
* [[Cool Shades]]: The Girl with Dark Glasses, who wore them at first for medical reasons, but after she went blind it pretty much became [[Rule of Cool]].
* [[Cool Shades]]: The Girl with Dark Glasses, who wore them at first for medical reasons, but after she went blind it pretty much became [[Rule of Cool]].
* [[Decoy Protagonist]]: When watching the film, it might appear at first the movie's main character would be the Japanese man, or the Doctor, but after a while it is made clear that the Doctor's Wife is the real main character of the story.
* [[Decoy Protagonist]]: When watching the film, it might appear at first the movie's main character would be the Japanese man, or the Doctor, but after a while it is made clear that the Doctor's Wife is the real main character of the story.
* [[Disability Superpower]]: By being an ordinary blind man prior to the outbreak, the Accountant is fully capable of functioning normally, and so he quickly gains the upper hand over everyone else in the facility.
* [[Disability Superpower]]: By being an ordinary blind man prior to the outbreak, the Accountant is fully capable of functioning normally, and so he quickly gains the upper hand over everyone else in the facility.
* [[Dying Like Animals]]: Blind crowds, nervous armed soldiers. Bad combination.
* [[Dying Like Animals]]: Blind crowds, nervous armed soldiers. Bad combination.
* [[Emergency Presidential Address]]: There is a scene showing a public address from the governor, where she solemnly confesses that she too has gone blind.
* [[Emergency Presidential Address]]: There is a scene showing a public address from the governor, where she solemnly confesses that she too has gone blind.
* [[Fade to White]]
* [[Fade to White]]
* [[From Nobody to Nightmare]]: The King of Ward 3 is seen, early on in the movie, as just a normal bartender who works at the luxury hotel and chats to the girl with dark glasses.
* [[From Nobody to Nightmare]]: The King of Ward 3 is seen, early on in the movie, as just a normal bartender who works at the luxury hotel and chats to the girl with dark glasses.
* [[Happy Rain]]
* [[Happy Rain]]
* [[Hooker with a Heart of Gold]]: The Girl with Dark Glasses is a high-class callgirl, but soon after she is put in the fetid asylum, she becomes a caring motherly figure to the orphaned young boy.
* [[Hooker with a Heart of Gold]]: The Girl with Dark Glasses is a high-class callgirl, but soon after she is put in the fetid asylum, she becomes a caring motherly figure to the orphaned young boy.
Line 45: Line 45:
* [[Out with a Bang]]: {{spoiler|The King of Ward 3}} is stabbed to death in the middle of receiving a blow job.
* [[Out with a Bang]]: {{spoiler|The King of Ward 3}} is stabbed to death in the middle of receiving a blow job.
* [[Parental Abandonment]]: The Boy gets separated from his parents when sent to the asylum.
* [[Parental Abandonment]]: The Boy gets separated from his parents when sent to the asylum.
* [[Parenting the Husband]]: Much to the doctor's annoyance and embarrassment.
* [[Parenting the Husband]]: Much to the doctor's annoyance and embarrassment.
* [[Primal Fear]]: The film just goes down the list with this trope.
* [[Primal Fear]]: The film just goes down the list with this trope.
* [[Religious Horror]]: {{spoiler|When they get outside of the facility}}, the group sees how churches are putting blindfolds over their Jesus statues and begin spouting prophecies of doom, proclaiming the outbreak of blindness to be an act of punishment from God.
* [[Religious Horror]]: {{spoiler|When they get outside of the facility}}, the group sees how churches are putting blindfolds over their Jesus statues and begin spouting prophecies of doom, proclaiming the outbreak of blindness to be an act of punishment from God.
* [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]]: {{spoiler|The Doctor's Wife}} becomes hell-bent on revenge when {{spoiler|she is raped by the King of Ward 3.}}
* [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]]: {{spoiler|The Doctor's Wife}} becomes hell-bent on revenge when {{spoiler|she is raped by the King of Ward 3.}}
* [[Scarpia Ultimatum]]: After the Ward 3 clique has taken all the valuable possessions the others have in exchange for food, the King of Ward 3 starts demanding all women of each ward to come have sex with his boys if they want to keep from starving. They do.
* [[Scarpia Ultimatum]]: After the Ward 3 clique has taken all the valuable possessions the others have in exchange for food, the King of Ward 3 starts demanding all women of each ward to come have sex with his boys if they want to keep from starving. They do.
* [[Scavenger World]]: What the world is reduced to after the blindness outbreak got out of hand.
* [[Scavenger World]]: What the world is reduced to after the blindness outbreak got out of hand.
Line 56: Line 56:
* {{spoiler|[[Temporary Blindness]]}}: It's shown to be this in the end.
* {{spoiler|[[Temporary Blindness]]}}: It's shown to be this in the end.
* [[The Fellowship Has Ended]]: {{spoiler|When the group escapes the asylum}}, one bump on the ground causes members to get separated completely, without any of them realizing it as they wander away.
* [[The Fellowship Has Ended]]: {{spoiler|When the group escapes the asylum}}, one bump on the ground causes members to get separated completely, without any of them realizing it as they wander away.
* [[Took a Level In Badass]]: Because the Doctor's Wife is the only one who can see, she is pretty much obligated to take responsibility over her ward as well as the others, everything that this entails caused her to go from a sweet and normal housewife to a [[The Determinator|unstoppable force of nature in a pink sweater.]]
* [[Took a Level in Badass]]: Because the Doctor's Wife is the only one who can see, she is pretty much obligated to take responsibility over her ward as well as the others, everything that this entails caused her to go from a sweet and normal housewife to a [[The Determinator|unstoppable force of nature in a pink sweater.]]
* [[True Companions]]: The Doctor's Wife, the Doctor, the Japanese couple, the Girl with Dark Glasses, the Man with the Eyepatch, and the Boy. They become bonded together like a family, though they don't really have much of choice.
* [[True Companions]]: The Doctor's Wife, the Doctor, the Japanese couple, the Girl with Dark Glasses, the Man with the Eyepatch, and the Boy. They become bonded together like a family, though they don't really have much of choice.
* [[Your Cheating Heart]]: The Doctor has an affair with the Girl with Dark Glasses after he becomes oppressed and emasculated by no longer having any control over anything anymore. To make it all the more awkward? His wife walks in right in the middle of their sex. Since it's such a horrible and desperate situation they're in, she forgives her husband.
* [[Your Cheating Heart]]: The Doctor has an affair with the Girl with Dark Glasses after he becomes oppressed and emasculated by no longer having any control over anything anymore. To make it all the more awkward? His wife walks in right in the middle of their sex. Since it's such a horrible and desperate situation they're in, she forgives her husband.
Line 62: Line 62:
{{reflist}}
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Films of the 2000s]]
[[Category:Films of the 2000s]]
[[Category:Blindness]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Blindness"