When light blurs vision: Ensaio Sobre a Cegueira and Blindnes: Ensaio Sobre a Cegueira and Blindness

Abstract

The theme of this article is blindness as the norm rather than the exception in a predominantly visual-technical-scientific context, analyzed through the perspective of José Saramago’s novel, Blindness, and its homonymous film adaptation, written by Don McKellar and directed by Fernando Meirelles. The initial purpose is to determine the causes of the blindness that plunges the society depicted in these two works into complete chaos. The article argues that the prevailing paradigm of visuality in this society encompasses three key aspects: asymmetry, derivation from a power project, and the condemnation of the characters to blindness. To support this argument, an analysis is conducted through key passages from the novel and the film, in dialogue with the theories of Alfredo Bosi (1988), Sandra Ferreira (2015), Adam Jaworski (1993), David Le Breton (2016; 2019), Eduardo Lourenço (2022), Sérgio Paulo Rouanet (1988), and Maria Alzira Seixo (2015), as well as Fernando Meirelles’ blog post on Diário de Blindness (2007).