Saturday, February 25, 2012

Sound and Fury


Sound and Fury is a documentary that made me actually think about how I treat people, and how I view others that are different from myself.  It is not all that often that you watch a movie and it makes you question your ethics or moral compass.  This documentary did that for me.  Sound and Fury addresses the issue of cochlear implants (a listening device that allows deaf people to hear).  I was unaware of the controversy surrounding this implant and the deaf community.  I was unaware of what is addressed in the movie as “deaf culture”.  This documentary does a good job presenting the arguments of both sides without taking a stance on one side or the other.  It follows one family that has multiple deaf and hearing parents and multiple deaf children in the family.  In the two families the fathers of the children are brothers.  They both have young deaf children, and both have to make the decision whether or not to implant their children with a cochlear listening device.  You follow their decision making process, see family fighting over decisions made, and get conflicting opinions from different sets of grandparents.  I think this movie challenges you to think about the respect you give to different cultures and possibly reexamine how you may view cultures that are not your own.




            In my life I have not had much interaction with deaf people.  I think I could probably sign the alphabet, but would have a hard time communicating to a deaf person due to my limited signing and terrible spelling.   My initial reaction to this documentary was that of most hearing people, “If someone can’t hear, and you have the ability to make them hearing, then do the surgery to fix their disability.”  One of the Dads in the movie says something that stuck with me to really question my thoughts on the subject.  He talks about how he doesn’t think that deafness is a disability.  He says that he has his own language and own culture.  Much of his communication comes from the beauty of signing.  His inability to hear makes him more perceptive to the actions of others. 
            I started to question my initial reaction when I thought what the major argument is for making a deaf person hearing, and then thinking about what would the reaction be if we were to apply that to other cultures. 
-       It would make their lives easier if we implanted them because they could then hear and talk like everyone else.  If there were a pill that we could give all non-white people in America and then they would turn white like the majority of America they would be more like everyone else and would not have to deal with racism.  But the thought of this seems appalling, racist, and would be compared by many to a form of genocide on other races.  Many people argue that “deaf culture” is just like any races culture, not with where you are born or to whom you are born but how you are born.  If every deaf child were implanted it would effectively eradicate “deaf culture”.
The question that it raised for me was the notion of “fixing” someone who was not like the majority of others. Does the fact that someone is different from the majority mean that they need to be fixed to be like the majority? Carrying that notion that we must make others assimilate to the majority only breeds hatred and resentment for those who hold on to the things that make them uniquely who they are.     
            Here is the crazy part about all of this.  If I had a child born today that was deaf, I have no idea whether or not I would give them a cochlear implant.   I did not walk away from the movie with a clear cut decision on my choice for my family, I only walked away with a new respect for other cultures and how I view values held dear to those cultures.   I think when hearing parents have deaf children they get put into a position where they must address how much, if any, of the deaf culture they want to bring into the child’s life.  I think this is very much like parents who adopt children from other cultures.  It is not as though the family will completely change their own culture to the origin of the child, but how much of the child’s original culture do they embrace, teach, and encourage.   These types of situations are deeply personal to the families, but not issues that can go ignored.
            Sound and Fury made me look at the notion that differences are not things that need to be “fixed”, but merely things we should try to understand. 






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