Education and Teacher Portrayed in Film - Essay Example

Education and Teacher Portrayed in Film Summary Film plays an important role in education. Most academic institutions make use of films, plays and movies as a subsidiary source of information for their students, especially in providing them with a real life experience in film. The film under scrutiny is “23 Paces to Baker Street”. This film focuses on disability, as the protagonist of the film is a blind man. Through this film, learners get to understand that disability is not inability, and as such, the society needs to take seriously even those who have physical deformities, as that does not deny them the opportunity to lead a normal life (Bolas, 2009). The film “23 Paces to Baker Street” is an American dram film released in 1956 by the 20th century fox, with Van Johnson and Vera Miles are the main stars. The focus of the film is on a blind playwright, Philip Hannon. Philip overhears a partial conversation from criminals that makes him believe the criminals are planning a kidnapping. He goes to the police to make a deposition of his findings, but the police dismiss him because of his blindness and adamantly refuse to take any substantial action. In fact, they refuse to believe his story judging it was merely a product of the fertile imagination of the writer. However, this does not deter Hannon from searching for the kidnapped child with the assistance of his fiancée and butler. The acute sense of hearing that Hannon developed due to his blindness plays a critical role in his investigations as it enables him to gather more evidence on the crime, as well as serve as his guidance in the search (John, Miller & Vandome, 2010). Analysis of the play This play is very educational. It centers on a blind playwright. Most communities usually disregard people with physical disabilities as useless persons who need to depend on others in order to undertake their daily chores. However, in this case, we see a man with a physical disability, blindness, taking the lead in rescuing a child kidnapped by some criminals. Even the able-bodied individuals tasked and trained to undertake such rescue missions, the police, fail to execute their duties proficiently thereby leaving the whole mantle to the blind man. The police dismiss him for being a playwright and take his report as part of his imagination as a writer. Considering all basic points, it seems that if the man was not blind and still a writer, then the police would have taken his report seriously and acted promptly to rescue the life of the innocent child from the kidnappers (Kempe, 2013). However, the blind playwright goes against all odds to conduct an investigation, which in normal circumstances even defeats the able-bodied person. He resorts to search and rescue the child from the kidnappers on his own after the police refuse to take any substantial action. In addition, he uses a rare sense that only the blind are gifted to have, his acute sense of hearing. When a person becomes disabled, he losses total sense of the organ that is not working properly. For instance, in this case, the man disabled was a blind man, and so he lost very all the ability to see anything, which makes it queer for him to lead a search party to rescue a kidnapped child. The loss of one major sense of the body leads to the enhanced development of other sensory parts of the body. As for the case of this blind man, his hearing senses enhanced drastically to the extent that he could hear even mumbled voices and make sense out of them (Reimer, 2000). The blind man makes use of his improved hearing sense to lead the search for the child, with the help of his fiancée and his butler, who now provide him with what he lacks, sight. He is the leader as he relies on his strong hearing sense to gather evidence about the kidnap, as well as guide his search for the kidnapped child. From this film, learners get to know that even the disabled can undertake major stakes in the society because they are just like normal people. Film Comparison The plotline of the film bears resemblance to other plays such as Rear Window of 1954, by Hitchcock that similarly features a disabled protagonist who witnesses a crime, reports it to the police and the police still refuse to take him seriously. This puts the disabled person in grave danger and now has to overcome the danger personally by fighting off the criminals involved. The second film that bears resemblance is Blind (2011 film). This film is of a missing person involving a female university student, and the victim in a hit and run case, which appears related. The protagonist is a blind detective, who got blind after an accident and dismissed from the police force. However, she leads the other detectives in unlocking this case, who first doubt and ignore her, but later believe in her after she displays her acute senses. Blind Fury (1989) is another film that bears close resemblance to the above film. This film also involves a blind man, a Vietnamese veterinary doctor, also a trained swordfighter, who moves to America and assists his fellow soldier to rescue his son (Reynolds, 2007). Conclusion 23 Paces to Baker Street is very informative and influential in a classroom setting as it enables learners to get knowledge from the film. The film teaches learners that disability is not inability. As such, anyone that has any form of physical disability deserves equal respect and admiration just like any other normal persons. This is because the disabled persons can do what normal persons can do, and some are even much better in this, take for instance the blind playwright in the film who leads in a rescue investigation of a kidnapped child. The other persons involved in the rescue mission are all of normal senses, not blind, yet they rely on the leadership and guidance of the blind man to undertake the mission (John, Miller & Vandome, 2010). References Bolas, T. (2009). Screen Education: From Film Appreciation to Media Studies. Bristol: Intellect Books. John, M., Miller, F. & Vandome, A. (2010). 23 Paces to Baker Street. Saarbrücken: VDM Publishing. Kempe, A. (2013). Drama, Disability and Education: A Critical Exploration for Students and Practitioners. London: Routledge. Reimer, R. (2000). Cultural History through a National Socialist Lens: Essays on the Cinema of the Third Reich. New York: Camden House. Reynolds, P. (2007). The "Reel" Professoriate: The Portrayal of Professors in American Film, 1930—1950. Ann Habor: ProQuest. Read More