One Shame
"It's a good thing she can't think or feel."
Johnny Belinda (1948)
Points
for Reflection
Jean Negulesco's Johnny Belinda (1948)
- does the opening heighten the film’s realism? Does it immediately feel like a fictional drama, a documentary, or something else?
- does the film question, or perpetuate, common prejudices concerning the intersections of various disabilities?
- does the non-diegetic musical score provide merely an atmospheric backdrop to the film’s events, or does it overtly work to shape our attitude towards the characters? Consider the music’s changing dynamics (i.e. volume), instrumentation, and/or tempo.
- do the filmmakers’ lighting choices heighten the tale’s drama in subtle or melodramatic ways?
- which of Locky McCormick’s personality traits, on display in the film’s opening prove, reliable indicators of later behavior?
- what types of medical advice does Dr. Richardson typically give to his clients?
- how do Stella’s interactions with Dr. Richardson, her employer, compare with those of Locky McCormick?
- why has Dr. Robert Richardson come to Nova Scotia?
- does the film adopt a particular, implicit attitude towards churchgoing? Does this align with or deviate from its attitude towards the exercise of faith outside of church?
- what do Belinda’s early responses to Dr. Richardson’s attempts to teach her sign language suggest about her native intelligence?
- what assumptions has Belinda’s father, Black, made about his daughter’s mental capacity?
- which characters call Belinda “dummy” or “dimwit,” and why?
- does sign language appear to foster or to discourage touch?
- do Black’s and Aggie’s responses to seeing sign language mirror those of the community at large?
- does Belinda grow to rely more heavily on lip-reading than sign language when communicating with Robert and her father?
- does music appreciation remain far out of reach for our protagonist?
- whom does Stella prefer, Locky or Robert?
- what do Locky’s interactions with women suggest about his character?
- how does the event which occurs in secret the night of the dance party impact Belinda in the days which follow?
- is Belinda configured as asexual because of her disability?
- is Dr. Richardson consistently accurate in the professional assessments he makes of Belinda?
- what does Dr. Richardson learn from Dr. Gray during his and Belinda’s visit to the big city, and how does this shape Dr. Richardson’s behavior towards Belinda?
- how does Aggie respond to Dr. Richardson’s revelation, following the return from the big city? Is this reaction in keeping with Aggie’s character up to this point?
- does Belinda respond to the enormous life change introduced into her life--in the second half of the film--in a way that normalizes her?
- what opportunities does being able to communicate open up for Belinda?
- does Dr. Richardson respond to news of the marriage feted by the town the same way that everyone else does?
- what factors increase the poignancy of Black MacDonald’s character arc?
- does the film suggest that not reporting a crime can be the right thing to do, or does it implicitly critique this omission?
- how should we characterize Dr. Richardson’s changing relationship with Belinda? Is the audience’s conclusion supposed to echo that of the gossiping villagers?
- does Belinda have a sixth sense?
- do Belinda's final, irrevocable actions disqualify her, or solidify her, as heroic?
Johnny Belinda (1948)
one poster from original film release
Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu
