Readers’ Forum: A Fiendish Flashback by Dan Sullivan

It has finally happened.  That moment we have all been waiting for is here.  Mr. Magoo has returned.
 
Thanks to a new series on NBC, that fumbling and bumbling character of nearsighted acclaim is once more educating us about the haphazard realities of diminished acuity.  Titled "Growing Up Fisher," this TV show is supposedly based on the real life of producer D.J. Nash's blind father.  Its main character is a blind attorney named Mel Fisher.  The first episode opened with the scene of Mr. Fisher firing up a chainsaw and preparing to cut down several trees in his front lawn.  To safeguard the gawking nearby family members, he shouts out "Danger Zone" and proceeds.  This becomes an indicator of all the Magoo moments that are to follow.  Of course there are the mundane stereotypical scenes of Fisher banging his shins against the coffee table.  To heighten the malarkey, Fisher teaches his daughter how to parallel park and later on is seen driving the luxury sports car of a client.  In another scene, Fisher goes rampaging through the neighborhood on his son's bike.  With his son seated precariously behind him, Fisher comically avoids one collision after another.  What a guy!
 
Throughout the first episode, the major theme appears to emphasize that those of us with vision losses will stoop to any level to conceal this fact.  To keep this series from becoming too far-fetched, however, Fisher has an epiphany in the second show where he comes clean by donning a guide dog, white cane, and dark glasses.  Toward the end of the show, it is then explained why both the cane and dog are necessary.  The cane is used to smack any approaching cars whenever Fisher ventures through a crosswalk.  In the most recent episode, the cane and glasses are gone, so that Fisher must now rely solely on his dog Elvis.  When he fails to do so, he ends up falling into a giant hole where street repairs are being done.
 
Leave it to Hollywood to once again reinforce the stigma that by losing sight of the world around us, we each become a Mr. Magoo.  In cartoon fashion, we open doors to fall down stairways, descend into empty elevator shafts, and perform all kinds of acrobatics by tumbling over every conceivable obstacle.  Although "Growing Up Fisher" attempts at times to touch upon sensitive issues, it nonetheless perpetuates the same old stereotypes that should have disappeared years ago with the original Mr. Magoo cartoon.   As such, the issue of blindness is being resurrected as comic relief and a collection of Magoo moments. Then again, why should that bother any of us when we have more important things to do, like cutting down that tree in the front yard? Now if I could just see where I put my chainsaw ...