Was he deliberately trying to screw with John by not telling him that as well as some fresh milk and sandwiches in the fridge there's also some food and milk in there that has gone past it to the point it's green? Can't believe he wouldn't have mentioned that otherwise.
The eye surgeon was just careless about hygiene and about the contents of his fridge, he probably wasn't even aware that his fridge had already amassed such an amount of moldy, rotten food, including an (once) identical sandwich and bottle of milk. He lacks the discipline to clean his fridge (or have it cleaned) regularly. Moreover, John is a big boy, so the surgeon wouldn't think he has to hold John's hands trying to find the right food; the surgeon already did his share helping John.
I think the scene served a double function: on one hand as comic relief, and on the other hand to enforce the theme of acting prudently when one cannot see the error of one's ways until one's eyes are opened - literally in the case of John reaching for the sandwich and milk, and figuratively in the case of all pre-murderers (including John) who would kill while blinded by the passion of the moment, unless they were somehow halted and brought to their senses.
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Joe Satriani - "Always With Me, Always With You"
http://youtu.be/VI57QHL6ge0
It also asks, “Is blind choice really a choice or fate?” Like John's vision [and the sandwich], it’s fuzzy.
But the movie wasn't about "blind choice". Furthermore, "blind choice" means not (able of) making an own effort to determine the best option, but instead putting the outcome of your choice into fate's hands. "Strawberry or chocolate? Well, I'll just cover my eyes, spin two times, and point my finger to a random pie." Or as another example: choosing between two identical-looking envelopes, with different amounts of money inside. So, the answer to your question is simple: "blind choice" is not a choice, it's the express deference of choice.
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Joe Satriani - "Always With Me, Always With You"
http://youtu.be/VI57QHL6ge0
But the movie wasn't about "blind choice"
I agree, one of the major themes in the movie was "free will versus predestination". But that's not the same thing as blind choice.
In my examples, the two options aren't necessarily equally good things. I could just as well have said "Strawberry pie or broccoli pie" (and the guarantee that you'll hate one but love the other, although you can't know in advance how each tastes), or the two envelopes contained "You win $3000!" and "Pay $3000 taxes", it wouldn't have made a difference to what I wanted to say.
My point was that in a blind choice, one cannot see or predict what's behind the curtain or in the boxes, as you said; so one lets fate decide (unless one chooses to not play the game, which is the only true choice the person has in a truly blind choice). Another case of blind choice is when the person has the possibility to put in some effort (such as reasoning, investigation, taking one's time to think about something) to determine which of the offered options is the best, but instead forgoes that possibility and chooses to pick one of the options at random, without knowing (or having any expectations) how his choice will work out; which again is a case of letting fate decide.
None of those is what happened in the movie (outside the fridge-scene), though. What happened in the movie, is that the characters were faced with a situation where they saw only one option (or one best option), and they chose for that one option that they considered to be the best option (because it's "justified" and the most satisfying option, in their minds), immediately and automatically, without giving the situation much thought. Their choice was not a "blind choice", they knew what their choice contained, and they had expectations of how it would work out; they merely thought that it was the only good option they had in the heat of that moment. They did not choose at random, they could not with equal likelihood have arrived at a different choice; they just automatically gravitated towards the one specific option that their emotional minds/primitive instincts believed to serve their needs the best at that moment.
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Joe Satriani - "Always With Me, Always With You"
http://youtu.be/VI57QHL6ge0
I think the scene served a double function: on one hand as comic relief
That scene evokes horror and disgust not comedy.Daffy Duck losing his beak after being shot in the face by Porky Pig evokes more horror and disgust than Anderton taking a bite from a rotten sandwich.
The vast majority of people didn't find comedy in that scene. When I saw it in the theater no one was laughing. And there are several threads on this where people found it disgusting.
Everything about the scene from the lighting to the music invokes drama not comedy. A guy waking up from eye surgery in desperate need of nutrition grabbing a rotted sandwich blindly isn't funny.
Unless you find blind people fumbling around funny? Who knows? There are a lot of sociopaths in our society especially online.
Yeah... right. Nice try, but no cigar. Just because a scene in this movie doesn't include a typical American sitcom's laugh track to cue the sheepish audience that it's time to laugh, doesn't mean that it wasn't intended as comedy.
The music score and lighting that were used in the "yoga class" scene, the "Anderton chasing his dropped eyeballs" scene and the "Rufus Riley" scenes didn't particularly invoke comedy either. (By the way, how does lighting ever invoke comedy?) Come to think of it, none of the scenes in this movie contained music that particularly invoked comedy, but that doesn't mean that the movie didn't contain any scenes of comic relief at all.
In the fridge scene, Tom Cruise depicted an otherwise skillful and able non-blind man who is fumbling because he has temporarily lost his eyesight and because he isn't used to working/moving/doing stuff without being able to see. The scene was not making fun of blind people, because it wasn't depicting blind people in the first place. Nor was it depicting someone "in desperate need of nutrition" (and he wasn't waking up from eye surgery either).
By the way, where are all those threads where the vast majority of people commented that the scene was disgusting and therefore not funny? I know that movies such as American Pie, Superbad, The Hangover, Borat and Jackass contain lots of scenes that are disgusting; could it be that you got mixed up with threads on those movies' messageboards?
______
Joe Satriani - "Always With Me, Always With You"
http://youtu.be/VI57QHL6ge0
Here's the scene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GurNiNV5XvY
Notice at the 50th second mark that the shot of the rotted milk on the ground, there's nothing funny about that.
And the shattering of the glass was also not comedic and usually is not in film. I don't recall if he was barefoot in the scene, but that would have added more peril to the situation.
By the way, where are all those threads where the vast majority of people commented that the scene was disgusting and therefore not funny?
Here's the scene:That fresh sandwich though; have you ever seen such a tasty and attractive-looking sandwich in real life? It was a typical "cartoon" sandwich. Even the Big Kahuna Burger in Pulp Fiction didn't look that good. It was also shown teasingly right in front of the camera a few scenes earlier, before the female assistant put it into the fridge.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GurNiNV5XvY
Notice at the 50th second mark that the shot of the rotted milk on the ground, there's nothing funny about that.
And the shattering of the glass was also not comedic and usually is not in film. I don't recall if he was barefoot in the scene, but that would have added more peril to the situation.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=154080Vast majority?
As I said, the vast majority found it off-putting.
Here's one (on this site):From the 7 IMDb users who posted in that thread, there was only one who said that the scene was disgusting and hence not funny.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181689/board/thread/241914857
I think the responses are split on the latter one.
Obviously, movies are subjective. Some people may find making snow angels out of puke hilarious. Some people might enjoy watching Tom Cruise eating and drinking rotted perishables for their own personal reasons. However, it is IMDB and, personally, I find the majority of people on this site abnormal.That's a moot point. If you read back what I wrote, you'll see that my point was that the filmmakers intended the fridge scene (partly) as comedy; I didn't write that everyone in the audience thought it was indeed funny (nor did I write that I personally found the scene funny).
Personally, the thought of ingesting rotted milk is revolting but there are a lot of strange people especially online that probably think otherwise; and really don't take what goes into one's mouth with any regard at all.So you think that when people found the fridge scene funny, it means that those people would put anything into their mouths? I have no idea how that strange logic works.
Usually when someone vomits or expels something dangerous to their body, it's not comedic.The "usually" that you're talking about refers to "in real-life", not to scenes in movies and other media meant for entertainment.
sorry tl;dr
you'll see that my point was that the filmmakers intended the fridge scene (partly) as comedy
Just gonna add my two-penny's worth (because I like to).
This scene was not funny or comedic in any way and anyone who found it funny has a pretty crap sense of humour.
Spoilers!Spoilers!Spoilers!Spoilers!Spoilers!Spoilers!Spoilers!Spoile
shareI thought it was hilarious, and laughed my ass off! You thinking I have a so-called "crap sense of humor" means less than nothing to me. Humor can be found in every type of situation, even a movie this dark and serious.
shareI LMAO when the Dr. said he could stitch a dead cat into John's chest cavity and he wouldn't get an infection!!!!
shareIt's meant to be gross out humour.
~ I'm a 21st century man and I don't wanna be here.
Blind choice? Foregoing free will? ...... Yeah whatever guys. It's a guy who's just had eye surgery grabbing the wrong thing. Get over yourselves.
shareI -love- that scene. There are half a dozen little vignette scenes in this thing that are a mix of a) a deep concept b) slapstick humour. c) something disturbing. d) a twisted character actor bit of virtuoso acting. e) each of these characters is a philosopher.
The scenes with Hineman, at the VR place, with Gideon. etc.
In this case, he has bad feelings about Anderton for putting him in jail, but he also apparently has some empathy for his current situation. Everything about this guy is binary: 2 sandwiches, 2 ropes.
Why? I came into this game for the action, the excitement... Listen, kid, we're all in it together.
I didn't take it as humor in the least. I took it as the eye surgeon screwing with John as revenge for John for putting hm away years earlier. I think he got a kick out of the prospect of the luck of the draw in choosing the wrong sandwich. You could find meaning in that -- luck of the draw vs free will, etc., but bottom line was he was a sicko.
shareWhoa— it’s apparent this scene has much deeper meaning than many would think judging by these older responses. They are... eye-opening! (Pun intended.) XD
I do believe the surgeon’s intentions were to mess with John, and whether people find this to be amusing or not, as far as I can tell this scene was intended to be humorish. But assuming it wasn’t, the end results were nonetheless funny in a dark humor kinda way. I can’t help but laugh at poor John in that moment.
And man was that place filthy!