MINOR SPOILER WARNING
On Nov. 30th, I thankfully had the opportunity to see the film CODA, presented by the Cornell University Deaf Awareness Project and the Department of Linguistics, in Cornell Cinema. I found CODA to be an intriguing and insightful watch, as it made me analyze my own understanding, or lack thereof, of aspects of deaf culture.
Following the conclusion of the film, Cornell’s Children of Deaf Adults members held a panel where they discussed their views on the film and answered questions; below is a snippet of some of the topics that were explored. Phrasing is adjusted slightly for grammatical and brevity/length purposes, but nothing related to experiences shared was altered.
Analysis from Cornell’s CODAs (Children of Deaf Parents)
Panelists:
Dawson Postl ’24 ([email protected])
Janel Excell ’23 ([email protected])
Susan Wardwell ([email protected])
Moderated by Prof. Brenda Schertz, linguistics ([email protected])
Question 1: What did you all think about the film? What’s your overall opinion? What did you like/not like about it?
Janel: I overall felt like the movie was really good. Not everything was completely perfect in its portrayal; however, it was nice to have that representation.
Dawson: I agree. Some parts felt exaggerated and weren’t entirely accurate; some things were kind of spot on for past generations of CODAs, while others didn’t resonate. But it was nice to see that representation.
Susan: I related to the sibling jealousy dynamic. I felt like my sister had it all: the school for the deaf and attention from our parents. But my sister felt like because I was hearing, I had it all. The scene where Ruby’s mother talks about wanting Ruby to be deaf also resonates; my sister expressed that she wanted her son to be born deaf so that it would be easier to bond as well, so it was interesting to see that perspective play out in the movie.
Question 2: What did you all think of Ruby?
Janel: It would have been nice to have an actual CODA play the role, but the actress did a really good job regardless, and it’s good to have that portrayal.
Dawson: In some ways, I couldn’t quite relate to Ruby, but I felt this was due to the writing of the movie, not the actress herself. My parents always emphasized to me that they didn’t expect me to be their interpreter forever.
Susan: Ruby’s experience does resonate with me because I come from an older generation than you all! For me, there weren’t a lot of options available. Deaf people were considered “deaf and dumb.” I had to be protective of my family and experience their pain and look out for them, because interpreters were not available the way they are today.
Moderator: Absolutely. And this is a movie that, it feels like, should have been made thirty years ago, in terms of the representation.
Question 3: What are some examples of scenes from the movie that you all did not like?
Janel: I did have a similar situation that Ruby had. Like when Ruby’s parents ask her to interpret for them on the phone because they don’t want to use the video phone since they do not want the interpreter to be in their business. Also, Ruby wanted to hang out with her friends instead. There were definitely times that happened to me and my parents would ask because it was more personal and they didn’t really want to involve others, and I’d help them. I didn’t relate to Ruby’s mother not liking music; my parents really like music because they like hearing the vibrations of loud music. They also don’t care whenever I listen to music.
Dawson: I agree. We’d have birthday parties and be really loud and my parents could hear the vibrations, but that was it. The courtroom scene really resonated with me. There were times when I did interpret difficult situations for my parents in dire circumstances. I remember when I was six and it was my first day of school, the bus driver was supposed to stop at my driveway, but instead I had to walk across the street. My mom was really mad about that, and I was with my eight and ten year old siblings, and while my mom was visibly angry, we had to kind of relay the situation to the bus driver for her.
Question 4: What did you all think of the scene where Ruby sings to her father? For me, that scene was a bit awkward.
Susan: For me, I did resonate with that moment. As a child, I loved to sing, and very often, there were times when — not so much my parents or grandparents — but my sister would ask me to sing for her. She was able to touch my throat and feel the vibrations, and that was a very emotional moment in the movie for me. Because often it’s so hard to see the other person’s perspective. And the scene where Ruby’s parents were looking around to see the audience’s reaction to what she was singing and what was going on because they couldn’t hear, there were things like that that I thought were represented the right way, including when she’s singing to her father and he’s able to feel her voice. In my experience, I did my best to try and represent that to my parents, and they never quite got it. I loved how when she did the audition that she did sign for her parents, I really enjoyed that moment.
Question 5: So for some scenes like the doctor’s appointment, some of you said you had similar experiences. Is that scene accurate? In the movie, it was really funny, and it really showed that in deaf culture they talk about more taboo topics, whereas hearing culture is more on the reserved side. Do you think hearing culture is less open as a whole than deaf culture?
To catch their full interview, visit https://cornellsun.com/ in the coming days!
Oluoma Iroajanma is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be reached at [email protected].