So, I’m rewatching Daredevil, between chemistry exams and writing rhetorical analysis essays. I first watched the first season when it first came out in 2015 when I was 15. When I did that math, I felt prompted to do some reflecting. Between 2015 and 2021, a lot has changed for me. For instance, I’ve grown more bitter, become a taxpayer, learned I don’t like dessert brownies as much as I thought I did, and, oh, how could I forget, I’ve lived through a plague. If you’re reading this, then you’ve lived through a plague too; so, congratulations! We should start a club.
However, one of the biggest changes in my life has been working as a writing center tutor. Training for the position required that I step back from myself and look at how others access the world, access writing. Accessibility in a writing center, and in any place, looks different for different people. For me, accessibility implies safety and that those with me, specifically in the writing center, will respect my identity and use my pronouns. For others, accessibility means installing a wheelchair ramp or having closed captioning available on instructional grammar videos. What I’m trying to say is this: my writing center work has expanded my perspective on accessibility and how people view others with disabilities.
At this point, you’re probably asking “what does your tutoring practice have to do with Daredevil?” or “when are you going to open your fanfiction request box?”. Both are fair questions, though I would like to focus on the former.
While rewatching Daredevil, specifically season one, I was struck by how no one realized that Matt was ‘The Devil of Hells Kitchen’. Yes, I know, he wears a mask so people can’t recognize him; however, his voice is unaltered. Also, his body shape and frame are clearly visible. Not to mention the fact his beard (stubble) and lower half of his face are almost entirely uncovered. These traits are unique to him. Karen, who’s been close with both Matt and the Devil seems to have failed to hear how they share the same tone of voice and the same handsome chin.
I say that, but I love Karen, and those traits by themselves, Matt’s voice and physicality may not be enough to give his identity away. However, in conjunction with the fact that he knows what’s going on with Fisk and openly talks about how he knows what’s going on with Fisk, as both Murdock, attorney at law, and as 'The Devil of Hells Kitchen’, there’s enough evidence for Matt’s friends and enemies to make a connection. For instance, Fisk knew that killing Elena Cardenas, a Nelson and Murdockclient, would stir the Devil into an angry rage. He couldn’t go a step further and consider that, perhaps, the attorneys and the vigilante were connected? How could he not at least assume that Matt and Foggy knew the Devil?
When I was younger, more naive, and a bigger fan of dessert brownies, I simply overlooked this lapse in judgment. On my rewatch, it stood out to me clearer than it did in 2015. I was sitting in my dorm wondering how Fisk could miss the glaringly obvious connection when it hit me. Matthew Murdock is blind and The Devil of Hells Kitchen moves like he can see his assailants strike before they have the chance to land. Any connection was severed by Matthew’s very visible blindness. People who could have made the connection, Fisk, and Karen, would most likely stop short. Matt has a disability, the Devil does not.
Most people assume that those with disabilities struggle through life, even when it comes to 'simple’ tasks. While this may be true in some respects, working with people with disabilities in the writing center has shown me otherwise. Accessibility is different for people with disabilities, and struggling to have their needs met is an all too common occurrence; but that is not synonymous with impossibility. If anything, it is more related to one’s adaptability, how they handle and overcome disadvantages. Matthew Murdock proves that. He’s a blind man living in a world of sight. An attorney by day and crime fighter at night!
I, by no means, mean to invalidate the struggles or alienate people with disabilities by referencing how Matt lives a…we’ll say busyand fulfilling life with his disability. I simply mean to highlight how, while the people in Matt’s life see him as a blind man who will be unable to experience/do certain things, he proves, as 'The Devil of Hells Kitchen’, that his disability does not limit him. Granted, the chemical spill that caused his blindness may have something to do with his abilities, and Stick’s fucked up training, but I digress.
While I may be backing down and off of this strange, Marvel-related soapbox, my point still stands proud. That point being: despite all of the fairly hard-hitting connections one could make between the man, Matthew Murdock, and the Devil, each one is discounted on the count of Matthew’s blindness. In the words of Ben Urich, “no one would look at a blind man twice.” The thought 'no blind man could move like that’ probably danced in the back of Fisk’s bald head once or twice. I wonder if he ever kicks himself about that…
I also wonder what you think. I know this analysis is a pretty obvious one. While I was writing, I found myself shaking my head. How did younger me miss this? I was an idiot, lost in myself, and a proponent of dessert brownies, that’s how. Anyway, what do you think?
‘sup folks, this is yet another old drawing I forgot to post. I’d really like to create something new, expecially now that nwh is out and Matt’s in it, but university said ✨ no ✨
I don’t really like it anymore but whatevs it is what it is,,,
Fanart February #SaveDaredevil screencap challenge, week 2: A Daredevil Valentine’s Day
In honor of the holiday this weekend, you’ll have an option of choosing your preferred image to recreate in your own original style! When you’re done, don’t forget to add our hashtag + tag us so we can share your work! We can’t wait to see what you all do with this one ❤️
