Five Shades of BLACK

When it was announced that we’re going to watch an Indian movie regarding a special child, what I had in mind was the movie Every Child is Special. Waiting for Saturday to come, my anticipation was gradually building up. I had already watched that movie once and I was so struck by the story, with matching lively song and dance numbers which made the movie even better and a memorable one. But I was wrong, so wrong.

For what was played on the laptop was an entirely different thing. Whether I would be delighted since I’ll get to see a new movie or not, that I did find out after two hours of watching it. That movie was Black, an after going home, I searched for its tidbits of information and read that it was produced last 2005.

Honestly, I admit that it was the longest two hours of my life in a while. And I mean that not in a delighted and positive way. I don’t really know whether it’s purely due to my disappointment that it’s not what I had in my mind or greatly due to my emotional and mental state at that time or coupled with the undeniable fact that I simply did not enjoy it.

And why is that so, I’ll try to explain the movie’s different shades. And when I say shade, I was glad that it encompasses a lot of meaning which may help me explain my feelings while and after watching it.

Shade may refer to variations of a particular color under consideration, and having different shades means that one shade is slightly different from the original. In this case, I used the word shade to refer to the different subjective feelings the movie made upon me. And it is subjective since it is biased, my feelings that is. The messages I received and read from watching the movie depend on my own decoder of things. And that decoder of encoded messages within the movie is forever under constant change. It is dynamic. And it was affected and molded by our society, by the things I’ve learned and chose not to learn, by my beliefs, by my philosophy, by my constant interactions with other people, by the things I’ve read, by my professors, by my friends and family, and among  the other things which made me who and what I am today.

           

In addition, shade being a shadow, a casting of darkness, obscuring and intercepting the rays of light is what I also mean in my title. I know that it’s actually a movie with a positive and happy, optimistic mood along the way, but instead what it brought me was feelings of darkness, a very sad feeling. This is in connection to the things I’ve explained above regarding my inner decoder of things. 

So what made me not like it and say those things? What’s the point of my explanations of some of the meaning of the word shade? The answers to that are my readings of the movie’s messages, my so-called realizations.

First, the history of special education, of how the society treated “abnormal” people as they or we call it, is indeed so messed up in comparison to today’s views. Watching the child in her early days, how her father treated her like a dog, how she was seen as a disgrace, a shame, and a burden was so excruciating it made me cringe. I really can’t decide if the movie was set in the early 1900s or what. The technology seemed present-ish, the family was rich, so why are they so stupid enough to do those things. 

I know they have consulted different teachers, but it was not seen that the child was taught in any way somehow, I did not see any other teachers beside “The Magician.” I just didn’t get it. I was so mad. I was so confused as to how come the child was like that. So to pacify myself, I reckoned that it’s set in the past, in the early days of SPED. Or else it’s just plain stupid plot. My learning? That the past of SPED is such a cruel event I don’t even wanna see it visually anymore, that reading or knowing it is enough for me. 

Second, society’s idea of patriarchy is one of the ever unchanging things in our history. Whew. I don’t even know where to start. I just hate it. How the father gets to decide on things. How the mother was so passively just obeying whatever her husband wants, how she’s afraid to get him mad, how she can’t get to have the final say, how she has to do things behind his back regarding the approval for allowing the teacher to stay for twenty days etc. I don’t really like how these power allocations were made.

Is this another thing of being consistent with the timeline of the movie? Or is this happening in the present time? I’m not a man hater. I just really really hate the idea of patriarchy, how women are treated as subjects, how women are voiceless, seen as either lower in men or treated as just the men’s trophy, a proof that he has a beautiful wife for he is powerful. My realization? I don’t wanna live in that kind of society.

Third, the society’s idea of heterosexuality. We’ve seen that in the latter part of the movie, the sister eventually married a man. Is that even an issue here? Is that even a part of the movie’s list of messages to portray. I guess not. But it really hit me. I mean, why not for a change throw in some woman partner or just throw in some incest plot. Oops. Am I even allowed to say that? 

What I’m trying to say is the influence of our society’s norms, magnified by what kind of religion we believe in, can really have a big influence on how we live our lives. A subset of this realization is my  fourth realization. 

Fourth, the idea that someone cannot be wholly completed without a love one. This throwing in of romance in the movie was out of place for me. And the fact the she kind of subtext-edly fell in love with her teacher and with that kiss scene was so traumatizing for me. The girl even mentioned that it was a sacrifice on her teacher’s part for he disgraced himself as teacher just to fulfill her “wish.” Oh, come on. Who are you kidding? Me? Girl, with what you’ve said, it  made it feels like you’re making it a point that women needs to be loved romantically or else life is ever empty. Plus, you’re making it looks like this case is for women only, that men are not like that, that they are more capable of living life without romantic love. Realization? Not all women are like that. Romantic life is not a necessary thing to feel complete. And I’m not being cynical.

Fifth, that at least the movie has showed that those who never give up can succeed. Imagine, it took her twelve years to finish her college degree. Atta girl! It really made my wailing student spirit lift up and be invigorated with a new sense of “I can do this!”  This fifth realization might be the only redeeming point of the movie, at least for me. Her perseverance really inspired me. 

With that all, I don’t know how to end this. Maybe, I’ll just say that the movie’s aim to lighten up the black worlds of people watching it was a failure in my case. It just showed me those five shades of black, which may even be darker than the black itself.