The incident that occurred during the Academy Awards ceremony made history and you might have missed it. The film about the only hearing daughter in a fishing family was released on Apple TV+ more than a year ago. Despite being nominated for just three Oscars, the film gained steam over the course of awards season and on Sunday won in all of its categories. We were watching as it was the first movie with a predominantly deaf cast to be up for an award.
The Best Supporting Actor win of Kotsur was celebrated universally within the community, but it has been met with mixed reactions. It is a film made by hearing people and centering a hearing character, and it relies on stereotypes in its portrayal of the deafness experience. The fact that the Rossi parents expect their teen daughter to interpret for them in situations where the Americans With Disabilities Act entitles them to a real interpreter, like in a doctor's office or in court. The idea that a hearing child likes to sing and that a deafness is not a problem is silly. Matlin was the only person who had ever won an Oscar who was a sign language performer.
CODA's Oscar-winning performance is even better if you understand American Sign Language.
And yet. 40 percent of the movie is in American Sign Language. It is powered by the talent of a mostly deaf cast. The older brother of the family is pushing back against his parents by using his sister Ruby as a family interpreter.
The film's weaknesses are not an indictment of the film itself, but a reminder of how desperately we need more deaf representation on-screen and behind the scenes. It's unfortunate that the story of a single family is an intimate one, and that it's expected to represent millions of people. I was fully invested in the movie even though it didn't ring true or was too saccharine for my taste. I like seeing people with disabilities on the screen, and I want more of it.
First and foremost, CODA has pushed the industry in the right direction by casting actual deafness people in roles. The decision to screen the film in theaters with opencaptions that are on-screen for all, rather than requiring an additional step to view them was unique. These may seem like small things to a hearing viewer, but to me, having sat through a lot of films where hearing people sign badly, or having arrived at the movie theater only to be told that someone forgot to charge, is something that should not be taken lightly.
For a show that didn't have a wheelchair ramp until last year, the Oscars was a big leap forward. I yelled at my television when Amy Schumer called. I ran back into the room to see the people on-screen. The entire broadcast of the Oscars was offered live on theYouTube channel, which was a historic first. It was even better to see an interpreter in the Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture speeches. It was a big production win that the camera operators stayed focused on Kotsur for the entire speech, instead of cutting away.
CODA is not the same as the French movie it re-is.
The American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation on the Oscars was spotty, and many people didn't know it existed, and it required two devices to actually watch the show. There was a phantom hand in the frame that distracted from the interpretation. Sometimes the feed was ahead, sometimes it was behind, depending on commercials and internet speed. It cut out completely for a while.
The production and network are unwilling to go the full mile when it comes to inclusion because of a hearing-centered understanding of what access actually means. It's not equity to require the deafness person to run multiple devices and feeds if they have the bandwidth and equipment.
If the interpreter had been integrated into the television broadcast, we could have watched alongside our hearing peers in sync, and I doubt hearing viewers would have suffered much missing out on an inch or two of empty stage in the corner. For three minutes, they would get a sweet American Sign Language interpretation of Dos Oruguitas. Will the show have an American Sign Language interpreter for viewers even if there are no deaf nominees?
The film world needs to be more inclusive. Pressures and expectations of representation can be mitigated by a number of deaf stories. Allowing space for stories created by and centering deaf people is the only way to approach authentic depictions of a diverse community. It is easy to be frustrated at an industry that has spoken over us, excluded us, and appropriated our culture. I don't want the past to obscure the progress being made or the possibility of an inclusive future.
I choose joy because activism without it is unsustainable. I hope that we are at the beginning of an explosion of stories about deafness, as well as films about deafness that have nothing to do with deafness at all. I'm hopeful that seeing Troy Kotsur being awarded the highest honor in his field and accepting that award in American Sign Language with the entire audience hand-waving in applause will do more to emphasize the talent and worth of the deafness community. I am so proud of the people who are blind. May the doors open wide. Maybe we won't have to wait another 35 years.
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