Is the film industry finally listening?
Empire contributor Liam O’dell gives a personal view on a historic year for Deaf representation
When CODA defied early predictions and scored Best Picture at this year’s Academy Awards, the audience stood and signed their applause. It was a small gesture, sure, but I can’t help but feel as though the rising representation of Deaf people in cinema has finally brought hearing people to a point we’ve been pushing them towards for decades: to connect with us.
CODA is one of two films that have scored big this awards season that feature sign language, along with fellow Oscar-winner Drive My Car, a Japanese road drama that features a mute actor performing a stunning monologue in Korean Sign Language.
This on-screen representation isn’t always perfect. Sound Of Metal, for example, takes a very hearing-centric approach when showing Riz Ahmed’s Deaf drummer Ruben looking to “cure” his hearing and reconnect with music. Yet it does have its moments. ‘Dinner-table syndrome’, the devastating isolation Deaf people experience in inaccessible social situations, is flipped on its head in the film, when Ruben finds himself disorientated around signing Deaf people. In CODA, when protagonist Ruby sings on stage, her Deaf parents disengage completely, hilariously deciding to talk about their spaghetti dinner instead.
I cannot understate the impact of this representation. Deaf children finally have a superhero to dress up as thanks to Makkari in Eternals, as Lauren Ridloff, the actor playing her, notes. Hearing people are being made more aware of the barriers we face through CODA, picking up basic signs as a result. It’s helped by the fact that, unlike the French film on which it’s loosely based,
CODA cast Deaf actors in Deaf roles.
grow more and more hopeful about what comes next. Casting for an upcoming Michael B. Jordan project — presumably Creed III
— specifically appealed for Deaf children to audition. There’s also A Quiet Place Part III, and Marvel’s Echo, which will see Hawkeye standout Maya (Alaqua Cox) take centre stage.
Bigger franchises are noticing our talent, and that is to be welcomed, but we must continue to be cautious of a one-size-fits-all approach to Deaf representation. Directors must value our whole identities as individuals. Our language, while visually stunning, is only one part of what makes us, and our culture, so fascinating to explore on screen.