All The Young Dudes

Hearing Actors Playing Deaf Characters

Mike of Kokonut Pundit asks in his post Hearing Actors Playing The Role Of Deaf Characters, whether hearing actors should be given the opportunity to explore the use of sign language in plays portraying as deaf or hard of hearing characters?

If we take this question at face value, the answer would be why not? After all, it is about artistic expression, and artists of all calibre should be free to explore the full range of human experience. However, I always do this, put forth the HOWEVER. However, Mike has posed the question in a one dimensional manner and doesn’t ask [or even consider] many other questions that spring to mind. Some of which were explored in a previous post, Deafies In The Movies - Who’s Story? Mine Or Yours?.

• Why do Deafies complain about Hearing People
• Do they have a valid complaint? If so, why? If not, why not?
• Are Deafies given the opportunities to explore the full range of human experience that Hearies have?
• How does it benefit us Deafies when a Hearing person portrays us?
• Why are Deaf relegated to issues status in movies, television shows?
• Why are Deaf raised as curiosity satiating spectacles?
• Why are images of us in the mainstream media so fleeting, that anytime we are shown, it’s a big event?
• Why do some artists use Sign Language to boost their profile?
• Why do so many of them drop Sign Language after the initial flurry of interest?
• What are the long term benefits for us?
• How does it open up opportunities?
• How does it promote awareness?
• Isn’t it ironical when a Hearing actor wins an oscar [or an award] for their portrayal of a Deaf person?
• Why are we bit players and supporting actors?
• Why are these, and many more, questions never answered?

In a perfect world, these questions would be superfluous. But we don’t live in a perfect world. We live in a Hearing world. And it is a world where being Hearing is the default, and that is reflected in the arts - movies, television, theatre, music, and so on. If  this was a perfect world, these questions would never be asked. If this was a perfect world, being Deaf would be taken as given and Deaf Artists would be thriving alongside their Hearing colleagues. But it is not a perfect world, and as such, we can’t take the question that Mike posed, at face value. You cannot give an honest answer without confronting all the other questions that inevitably rise.

Let’s take this further. Let’s look at how other groups are treated. Gays and Lesbians, People of Colour, Ethnic and Racial minorities [how often have u seen one actor play a Jew, an Arab, a Serb, or European, as if they are all interchangeable?]? Don’t you find the irony rather strong when William Hurt won an oscar for his portrayal of a Gay Man in the movie, Kiss Of The Spider Woman? Yet, no Gay man has ever won an award for their portrayal of heterosexual character! Of course, there can be no irony in a Gay man portraying a straight man, because pretending to be heterosexual is quite a common occurrence among Gays and Lesbians [now don't rush with your rebuttals, take some time to actually think about it]. We are much better at pretending to be straight than some misguided Deafies are at pretending to be hearing!

Of course there are many other questions to be asked, but those are for another time and another post!

FURTHER READING:

Deafies In The Movies - Who’s Story? Mine Or Yours?
Can Hearing Directors Make Deaf Films [Guardian Article]
Can Hearing Directors Make Deaf Films [See Hear Forum]
Can Hearing Directors Make Deaf Films [G.O.D]
Hollywood Speaks: Deafness And The Film Entertainment Industry
Text, Batteries And Earwax
The Association
Coming Out
Four Deaf Yorkshire Men
Film Review - Bangkok Dangerous
Alert: Youtube Flik: Coming Out
Anders.se - TV-Series For Deaf and Sign Language Users
The Deaf Man: Movie Trailer
Hollywood Speaks: Deafness And The Film Entertainment Industry
Louis Neethling: Director
deafo.com: purveyors of quality Deaf comedy
Through Deaf Eyes: A Review
Through Deaf Eyes: A Reappraisal?

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Deafies In The Movies - Who’s Story? Mine Or Yours?

I was alerted to this article, Can Hearing Directors Make Deaf Films, on a one of my regular stopovers to the See Hear forums, which I have affectionately dubbed The Tower Of Babble [Ask me later. Not now]. A new thread was started by William Mager, Deaf filmmaker of Text, Batteries And Earwax and The Association fame, posing the same question Can Hearing Directors Make Deaf Films?

If you take the question at face value, of course the answer is no. They couldn’t because they are not Deaf. They don’t know what being Deaf is like. And so the objections flow.

Filmmaking is an artform, and as such, all the people involved are “artists” - from the writer all the way up to the director [except for the financiers, or the money men] - and as “artists”, they have the right to use any subject as a basis for a film. However, as we know from our own collective history, this art form has been inaccessible or denied to us, and any portrayals of Deafness and, indeed, deafness [you know the one with that wee, little d] was in the hands [or at the mercy] of Hearing film makers. John S. Schuchman’s book, Hollywood Speaks: Deafness And The Film Entertainment Industry, gives a good overview of the issues that continue to plague us Deafies.

Unlike the view posited by MM [a deaf person], Catherine Heffernan, is asking “….should deaf stories only be told by directors who are deaf themselves?” Again, if you take the question at face value, of course the answer is yes. Because they are Deaf. The know what being Deaf is like. And so the justifications flow.

It’s true, no one can tell your story better than you can. No one is more qualified to tell your story than you are. No one knows you better than you do. As such, the outsider, often gets it wrong. When you think of the prejudice that exists in this world. Prejudice that is based on assumptions about other people. And how this prejudice manifests itself in various cultural media, then we as Deaf [and not forgetting our colleagues of the wee, little d] deaf people, are quite right to ask, “How can a Hearing person make a movie about Deaf people?”

But the crux of the problem remains. Filmmaking is an artform. Hearing people are artists too. So the right to make a film of their choice remains.

I have to agree with Catherine’s assessment of Children of a Lesser God, which is arguably the best-known Deaf film, made by the hearing director Mark Medoff.

Its lead, for which actress Marlee Matlin won an Oscar in 1987, is angry, frustrated and unhappy … and not much else.

When I saw Children of Lesser God recently, as part of a film studies subject, my first reaction upon Sarah’s entrance was, Taming of The Shrew. It gets worse, in that Sarah is also a woman, and as such, it is the man who takes it upon himself to save her. And boy did I wanna slap James some! Children Of  A Lesser God was an advance for its time, but, it remains a paternalistic film

Catherine is right when she states that,

There remains a huge gap between how deaf people perceive themselves and how they are perceived by society, and as a result the “deaf film genre” remains ghettoised and underfunded.

and the question we should be asking is, “WHY?” which Catherine doesn’t, and is one that some bloggers don’t. I’m not sure  how aware of Deaf Culture and Deaf History Catherine is, and while the article is good, it does raise more questions than it answers. She concludes the same paragraph, saying,

But if people can open their minds and help to spread awareness, there’s a wealth short films just waiting to be watched.

Which is all very well, but we Deafies are still struggling to access all the things that Hearing people take for granted. Sure, we have it better than we did, even ten years ago, but we are still being fed crumbs. AND, it is very unfair of MM,to turn the article around and blame on Deaf people for this state of affairs.

Anyway, let’s turn the question around, with more and more Deaf artists, and filmmakers coming to the fore, can Deaf Directors Make Hearing Films? I haven’t, as yet, seen such a film. It would be rather interesting to see a Deaf take on the Hearing world. The way Hearing people live and the way Hearing people [fill in your own idea of what it is Hearing people do, here].

With that, I bid you good night!

UPDATE: I have just been informed by See Hear, that Catherine Heffernan is deaf.

Linx:

Can Hearing Directors Make Deaf Films [Guardian Article]

Can Hearing Directors Make Deaf Films [See Hear Forum]

Elsewhere In The City:

Can Hearing Directors Make Deaf Films [G.O.D]

Hollywood Speaks: Deafness And The Film Entertainment Industry

Text, Batteries And Earwax

The Association

Coming Out

Four Deaf Yorkshire Men

Film Review - Bangkok Dangerous

Alert: Youtube Flik: Coming Out

Anders.se - TV-Series For Deaf and Sign Language Users

The Deaf Man: Movie Trailer

Hollywood Speaks: Deafness And The Film Entertainment Industry

Louis Neethling: Director

deafo.com: purveyors of quality Deaf comedy

Through Deaf Eyes: A Review

Through Deaf Eyes: A Reappraisal?

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The Gay Wizard V2

Perusing through DeafRead, I came across a response to the news that ALBUS DUMBLEDORE [The Wizard in the Harry Potter series] is Gay.

I was hoping for something a bit more witty, enlightening and informative. Instead, we get the same, old, tired, ignorant crap about homosexuality, that underlines [or underscores] a poor understanding of sexuality in general. The article is reproduced here [complete with erroneous points highlighted and rebutted], or you can read it at the The Gay Wizard?” originating blog. Though, I do wonder if he will approve my comment?

It is a very confused post, and even thought he writer may not have intended any offence, it is a prejudiced and ill-informed commentary about the author, J D Rowling’s intentions and the role of sexuality in human beings lives. There are quite a few erroneous points, which I have highlighted and rebutted

If you read it, then here’s the main point I will make: I have read ALL of Harry Potter’s books. While it is all about Magic, THERE IS NOTHING ABOUT ALBUS DUMBLEDORE BEING GAY!

So what if there wasn’t anything written about the Wizard being Gay. This does not mean he wasn’t. This silence, or ommission of homosexuality, is endemic in our culture anyway.

JR Rowleg is so wrong.

How could she be wrong if she wrote the book?

If she wanted to write about something of a sexual nature of Harry Potter being alone at longer times with Albus Dumbledore, then she should have written that.

This is where the blogger really starts getting offensive. Automatically insinuating sexual connotations between Harry Potter and the Wizard, on account fo the Wizard being Gay. More than this, does it mean that sex is all there is to being Gay. If that’s the case, what do we make of heterosexuality? They are slavering whores in comparison.

But, no. I sense that Harry looks up to Albus Dumbledore as a Grandfatherly figure that takes on the parenting job for Harry’s dead parents.

Sure. Being Gay does not diminish this in any way.

Despite the Albus Dumbledore’s death in book 6 (yes, folks. if you haven’t read it.. SNAPE KILLS ALBUS DUMBLEDORE!) Harry still looks up to Dumbledore in the picture frame.Who said there has to be? And once again, what does the sex have to do with being Gay?

But if it was, JR Rowleg’s books would not have the smash hit success it enjoys today if Albus Dumbledore was pictured as a pedophile. This is the second point where the blogger gets it so wrong. Linking pedophilia and homosexuality. This is utter stupidity on the bloggers part. Not only that, it directly contradicts DeafRead’s assertions of quality posts.

That is an adult having sex with young kids.

Yes, Sherlock Steve we know what pedophilia is, but what has it got to do with the Wizard being Gay?

We live in a concern filled world. We have people trying to control certain people from having sex with young kids. This latest news would put a downer on the Harry Potter sales. It would even give the CHRISTIAN RIGHTS groups a chance to attack the Harry Potter series and call it “CHILD PORN and GAYISM”.

Who gives a fuck about the Christian rights groups and what they think. They fart out of the collective arses, and try to convince us that it’s the word of God.

I would be afraid of that if I was a newbie then to the Harry Potter series then. I hope JR Rowleg reconsiders her statements. Albus Dumbledore is a Grandfather. That’s how I picture him. That how I feel him. Powerful as he is.. even in death, he has respect. But whatever you think it is.. don’t ever think he’s gay because he’s not. He is just a lone wizard set in his ways.Semper FI Albus Dumbledore.

This says more about the blogger himself. Esteem issues? Once again, what is the problem with the Wizard being Gay? Does being Gay diminish your worth as a human being. Not only that, the Wizard being a grandfather figure, is also de-sexualised. Older people are sexual beings too. Not only this, your sexuality does not disappear because you are alone. Not only that, JD Rowling is the frigging writer, she wrote the frigging Harry Potter series, so how is she wrong and why should she retract her statement?

To cap it all off, the blogger himself, by Sherlock Steve, is Gay. So, why isn’t he welcoming a Gay role model and pushing this badly written rubbish?

Further Reading:

J.K. Rowling Outs Hogwarts Character
The Gay Wizard?”
Rowling outs Hogwarts head Dumbledore 

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ALERT: YOUTUBE FLIK: COMING OUT

Alison just alerted me to a fantastic short flik on Youtube, called COMING OUT.

COMING OUT is about a  son comes to his mother with a compelling secret. Will she understand? It is a quirky comedy written by Charlie Swinbourne and directed by Louis Neethling (who also directed BBC2’s ‘Switch’). The film was made for the London Deaf Film Festival and premiered in January 2007. It stars David Hay, Debbie Norman and Ilan Dwek.

Without giving away the storyline [and spoiling your viewing pleasure], it uses the coming out process, that Gays and Lesbians  only know too well, and posits it as a coming out as a Deaf Person. It’s fucking fantastic, and if you remember your first forays into dirty videos and dirty magazines, you are in for a treat here. The parallels between being Deaf and being Gay/ Lesbian are so similar. The ending took me by surprise and is a stark reminder of how well we don’t know a person, and how our worse fears can come true. That the people we know and love, is not the person we thought they were.

There are some issues I have with the film, a concern that I have been aware of for some time.
In exploring Deafness, it unfortunately reinforces the male view of the world:
Man = Active, Initiator, Makes Things Happens and Woman = Passive, Wallflower.
Not only that, it also a white male [people] world.

This particular world view, informs much of the films that are produced. Which goes along way to explaining why Deafies, Gays/ Lesbians, Blacks, different ethnicities, et al, are not given enduring treatments, and tend to be issue or flavour of the month. Even within other cultures, the male view is the dominant one.

But for the subject explored, the film still deserves a “Fuck! Go and watch it! COMING OUT”

See also:

Coming Out
Four Deaf Yorkshiremen, A Trailer
BBC Access 2.0: Interview with Charlie Swinbourne

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Anders.se - TV-Series For Deaf and Sign Language Users

Courtesy of THOUGHTS OF MINE blog comes news of another long forgotten website [on my behalf] ANDERS.SE - TV Series For Deaf And Sign Language Users. With a link tot he trailer, which you can all watch to whet your appetites.

And the official website is here ANDERS.SE.

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