PEANUT BUTTER IS GREEN
A short documentary about seeing the world through colourblind eyes.
Colour-blindness: also known as Colour Vision Deficiency (CVD).
Colourblindness is an often overlooked condition.
I want to change that.
Colourblindness affects approximately 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women. In the UK today, there are approximately three million colourblind people. That’s about 4.5% of the entire population of the UK.
You’ve probably heard statistics like these before. Despite them being interesting stats, they do nothing to help communicate the experience of living with colour blindness. Too often, people talk about the science, the how and why, of colour blindness, whilst ignoring the actual lived experience of people with the condition.
What we don’t see often enough, is stories about the colourblind experience.
Colour blindness can be a relatively insignificant fact for some people, and a major impairment for others. I can’t see whether a banana is ripe, and other people live in an entirely monochromatic world. There are seven different official diagnoses of colour blindness, and each will come with its own set of challenges.
It’s rare that I meet another colourblind person. But when I do, I find we have a lot of experiences in common, and it’s always interesting to hear about someone else’s visual experience of the world.
Like every colourblind person, I’m often bombarded with questions when someone finds out this fact about me, and so I’ve explained colourblindness a thousand times before. This film will exist not only as a way to explain what the condition is, but also what it’s actually like to see the world through colourblind eyes.
A common surprise for colour-blind people is the discovery that peanut butter is in fact not green.
Colourblindness is typically only discussed by doctors, teachers, and woefully misinformed internet personalities. This film will take a different approach. Our focus will be the lived experience of colourblindness—showing what it's like to navigate daily life with this visual impairment.
We'll achieve this by filming conversations with a diverse group of colourblind people. Each participant will have different types and severities of colourblindness, along with varied careers, hobbies, and backgrounds. We'll explore their individual stories, highlighting what makes their experiences uniquely interesting and challenging. This will provide a more holistic and inclusive glimpse into the colourblind experience.
Through this film, we'll explore stories that would usually go untold—from the traumatic and sad to the funny and bizarre. How has someone’s career been halted by indifferent bosses and corporate apathy? How has a child struggled to adapt to a school curriculum that discriminates against them? And why on Earth do I think peanut butter is green?!
As with all good films, our aim is for it to foster empathy and entertain.
We also hope to illuminate the kinds of inclusivity that could help create a more colourblind-friendly world.
Why Me? Why am I making this film?
The idea for this film has been simmering in my mind for years. Perhaps as a result of having to explain my visual experience of the world so many times—an irritation that certainly all colourblind people are familiar with. Followed by the inevitable barrage of "What colour is this?" type-questions. Whilst these conversations can be entertaining, and I've never had a problem with helping people understand CVD better, I've always found it surprising that education about colour blindness is so lacking, given that it's not hugely uncommon, and it's incredibly interesting.
As a colourblind filmmaker, I run into colour-related quirks and obstacles often. Most of these quirks are, at least in my own life, quite funny. For example: Why is my dog bright green when he sits on red carpet? It's an experience that is, as far as I can tell, unique to me, and one that has a genuinely fascinating scientific explanation. But some other stories are much less funny. Because people generally understand so little about the condition, discrimination and bullying are more common than you may think.
“The f*** do you know? You’re f***ing colourblind!”
A few recent incidents have nudged me to finally make this film. One in particular was an incident at work, in which a superior mocked my disability in front of my co-workers and used it to discredit my opinion. This is not the only incident like this that I've encountered, and far from the only one I've heard of. Why does it seem socially acceptable to openly mock my disability? I've seen too often how this little-understood condition can be disregarded as something insignificant. Well, sometimes it isn't insignificant. And if I can help educate people on this condition, I will. I believe film is the most powerful tool I have at my disposal to do so.
“Peanut butter is brown” - I choose to reject this notion. Throughout this film, I aim to build the case that peanut butter is indeed green, and demonstrate that colour is truly in the eye of the beholder.
PEANUT BUTTER IS GREEN
PEANUT BUTTER IS GREEN
What’s the current status of the film?
The film is currently in pre-production.
We’re writing, we’re networking, we’re plotting and planning.
More specifically, we’re casting.
You can be a part of this story.
At this time, we’re in need of all kinds of support - there are many ways in which you can help us bring this film to life.
In particular, we’re on the lookout for colourblind people with interesting stories to tell. If you feel you’ve got anything to share with us, please reach out below.
Get in touch with us
peanutbutterisgreenfilm@gmail.com
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