Abstract
This entry focuses on films made by American and foreign filmmakers who have little or no special interest in or knowledge about deaf people or Deaf communities. Casting hearing actors to portray deaf characters is unfortunately common. Because neither the filmmakers, the expected audiences, nor the actors know anything about d/Deaf people, inauthenticities are widespread. These problems are only slightly improved by casting a Deaf actor: Deaf actors can portray authentic use of a sign language but are often limited by the script, the director, and the editing process. Therefore, while the signing community commends the casting of Deaf actors, the discussion here focuses on the deaf characters themselves and reasons for their inclusion in the story. In the following, the actors are labeled either “D” for Deaf or “h” for hearing. If there is no label, the actor’s status is unknown.
Publication Date
2016
Document Type
Book Chapter
Department, Program, or Center
Department of Access Services (NTID)
Recommended Citation
Lerner, M.N., & Sayers, E.E. (2016). Film: Deaf Characters. In G. Gertz & P. Boudreault (Ed.) SAGE Deaf Studies Encyclopedia. (pp. 411-414). Retrieved from: http://sk.sagepub.com/reference/the-sage-deaf-studies-encyclopedia/i2282.xml
Campus
RIT – Main Campus
Comments
© 2016 by SAGE Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reposted with permission.