Audism Runs Amok in Hollywood!
There’s an uproar in the Deaf Community over how we were portrayed in the recent episode of ‘Cold Case’. A Deaf person murdered a cochlear implanted person over the implant. Now, I haven’t seen the episode myself, but a comment (#31) over on MishkaZena’s blog caught my attention.
This person is basically saying we’re getting upset over nothing, we’re too sensitive, being unrealistic, and s/he’s tired of listening to our complaints.
You know what? When Hollywood consistently portrays a minority in a negative light, that is an issue. The media plays a huge role in shaping public perception.
Don’t believe me? Look at how the movie “Jaws” impacted the audience’s opinion of Great White sharks. That movie barely had any grounding in reality, but after the movie’s release, the population of Great Whites actually declined and people would be more fearful of swimming in the ocean.
If it was that bad for sharks, imagine how bad it is for minorities.
Look at how Hollywood presents gays/lesbians, for instance. I cannot tell you how many people still think that all gay males are feminine or that lesbians are masculine. Where did those misconceptions come from? It obviously didn’t come solely from Hollywood and rest of the media, but it sure did play a big role.
Those minorities fought back, and no longer are the African-Americans and Native Americans being cast in such a negative light on a consistent basis. It’s slowly changing for the gay/lesbian communities as well, but it still has a while to go.
In terms of the Deaf Community, Hollywood’s recent presentation of us has been mainly negative. Those who ASL Deaf are supposedly rabid CI haters who would resort to murder to stop the spread of CIs. Give me a break! If they varied it’s portrayal of us, then I along with so many others wouldn’t be objecting to what’s going on.
11 Comments
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J.J. said,
March 31, 2008 at 7:48 pm
Thoughts:
1.) At least, it wasn’t as bad as “Birth of a Nation” was for African Americans.
2.) At least, deaf actors are being employed…and that’s the biggest thing. I thought every actor did a good job.
3.) Now for the bad parts:
a.) LOL at how they made Soshannah Stern be able to hear and understand voices easily only 2-3 years after getting implants…listening takes a life time of practice…
b.) LOL at the short turnaround from the time Ryan Lane (Andy) got his implants and was able to hear the piano and play beautifully. I know he used to play before becoming deaf, my point is that the show made it seem as if CI’s are an outpatient procedure rather than an invasive procedure that requires about 2-3 weeks to recover from and then get the implants activated/mapped (as per Jamie Berke’s blog about her own implants). There is no way the mother couldn’t have known because her son would be at home lying down with bandages around his head…
c.) Yep, of course there’s the same old, “Miliant-Deaf-Will-Kill-You-Over-Implants” theme…but then again..it’s television and it makes for great drama…if there were a “cure” that could make African Americans white..I am sure there would be a million TV shows about African Americans killing their friends for being white…
d.) Oh, then there was that teacher/administrator acting as an interpreter DURING POLICE INTERVIEWS!!! OMG, that was a reeeeaaaacccchhh…no self respecting deaf person would talk to the cops without a TOP NOTCH interpreter present! Also, wasn’t this person at one point a suspect in the investigation??? Since when do cops let one time suspects interview other suspects…
e.) Oh then there were two scenes where two cops would interview deaf people (the murder Carlos and the parents) on two occasions without any interpreters present…
f.) And at the beginning of the show..the kids were having an alcohol party with music blaring in the dorms and the teacher/administrator lady came in and allowed them to have one more song before shutting down the party? Yeah right…I went to a deaf institution..we’d have gotten our asses creamed for EVEN THINKING about doing such a thing…and where were the other teachers, supervisors, and etc? Just one hearing person ran the whole school?
4.) Other than those plot holes…I enjoyed the show because half of the time I was laughing at how absurd the whole thing was…and it was totally cool seeing Evelina in it because I just met her…and the guy who acted as Carlos the murder…I recognized him from a social event I just attended…that was cool…any time we can see deaf actors on TV…it’s good…we just need to get more actors and writers into Hollywood and things will change over the long run…I mean CBS has done a lot of work with deaf people from CSI to Jericho to Cold Case…
5.) Last, but not least…this makes me wonder what other misconceptions I do not know about other groups of disabled people or cultures???
Candy said,
March 31, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Since when do TV shows mimic reality in life? Even REALITY shows are exagerated. That’s show biz for ya.
Kate said,
March 31, 2008 at 10:53 pm
Did you ever see the Scrubs episode about the CI? They used the janitor as the interpreter. It was soooo wrong. Ordinarily I really like that show though.
A Deaf Pundit said,
April 1, 2008 at 8:18 am
TV shows like those are based somewhat on reality. Law and Order is famous for using real life cases as a basis for their stories.
I agree that TV shows are exaggerated – but that’s no justification for smearing an entire community repeatedly. If this happened once, I wouldn’t complain, but this has happened three times in the last several months.
Candy said,
April 1, 2008 at 9:09 am
yeah ya know I kind of laughed when I saw that show because I know in real life, NO WAY would any smart deaf person let themselves be stuck with less than qualified terp. Yet, look at media..Milwaukee deaf couple case and their interpreter situation. Wasn’t there a case in NJ where the Mom of the perp was doing a prelim court interpreting – definitely conflict of interest. And then look at DR and how the controversey went in relation to CI. Deaf Roger made a very good point in Mishkazena’s post regarding that. Sometimes we need to look to ourselves and our people and the world around us to understand why some TV shows are like that. Deaf community are not the only victims of misrepresentation in show biz. Do do? Start embracing all kinds of deaf. Is it possible that the writers are aware of DR and checked DR to see what the latest controversy is? Think about it, we have no one to blame but ourselves in some respects.
Anne Marie said,
April 1, 2008 at 10:43 am
True, true, however I think the idea of axing a Deaf CI friend to death seems not the writer’s idea but someone’s suggestion. It is easy to see the writer’s stupidest ignorance, using school teacher as an interpreter but his/her idea about ASL Deaf people hating CI people that so raw…? How would s/he comes up with this such idea?
mcconnell said,
April 1, 2008 at 11:51 am
Um, there are African Americans who are white. Terresa Heinz (John F. Kerry’s wife) is white and is an African. There are Africans who are white. Just as there are Europeans or Americans who are black who were born and raised in that country.
A Deaf Pundit said,
April 1, 2008 at 12:01 pm
McConnell. Please.
If you want to have an argument about semantics, go argue with your wife, or your friends. People, including you, know exactly what I’m talking about. Shove off.
mishkazena said,
April 1, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Interesting to see how some people pooh-pooh the accumulative effects of Hollywood promoting negative stereotypes and misconceptions of a linguistic minority. It seems they don’t care what the price the Deaf Community pays, perhaps because it doesn’t affect them personally, especially if they can hear and talk well enough to be integrated in the hearing society successfully. So this does explain their insensitivity.
The jeers and insults of deaf and hearing people, labeling Deaf People offensive and derogatory terms as whiners and complainers, terms reserved for ‘naughty and spoiled children,’ turns me off big time. The use of these terms indicates that these critics don’t see Deaf people as equals.
Of course nobody wants to be characterized in a negative spotlight consistently. If it is once or twice, that would be a different story, but we are seeing a persistent pattern.
Native Americans and African Americans paid dearly for the bias and prejudice promoted by Hollywood and adopted by the viewers. This lasted until they revolted and told Hollywood in no unclear terms this practice is no longer acceptable. Jewish people are also vigilant, too.
It wasn’t too long ago that illegal drugs were glorified by Hollywood. This practice ceased after the spiral of illegal drug addictions arose and Hollywood was put on notice for its failure of being socially responsible.
It is time for Deaf Community to assert itself from the negative biases. People who really care about Deaf Community should support them instead of ridiculing them.
Stanelle said,
April 11, 2008 at 11:36 am
What makes me shiver is the thought of Hearing parents, who are told that their deaf child or deaf children..will become “born-again hearing children..just as if they had never been deaf at all,..if the parent will..”..just have the CI put in early enough and keep the kid away from any signed languages!!
Such Hearing parents do exist and they scare me!
What scares me more are the so called..”educators” and manufacturers of CI’s, who lie to such uninformed parents and play on these poor individuals’ ignorance about Deafness!!
FDR said,
April 21, 2008 at 12:34 am
Your argument would be valid *if only* being gay was a disability. I have seen many anti-CI pundits such as yourself try to compare being deaf to race, sex, and sexuality and how offensive it is to try and cure those. But it’s comparing apples and oranges.
Compare cochlear implants curing deafness to any other disability being cured and your point falls apart. Let’s compare apples to apples shall we? A parent refuses to allow a child to get an operation that will restore their ability to walk. Sure, the kid will still live their life despite the hurdles, but they are still disabled and what their parent did to them was wrong.
Deaf culture is a form of segregation that deaf people impose upon themselves. Forcing that segregation on your child because you think it is the right thing to do is just wrong. (The rest of your post has been deleted because of ad hominem attacks. You’re entitled to your opinions, but I’m not going to tolerate name calling and such. Have a nice day – DP)