Not being deaf myself [and never having interacted at length with anyone who was] I can only speculate that this is an entirely different manner in which to embody dasein. You are outside the norm so you create a new norm in the deaf community. But in many different ways others are outside the norm too. And even within the norm you create there are as many different narratives as there for those outside your own. Somehow these gaps need to be bridged while at the same time accommodating the ones that can never be.
Here they do an admirable job in discovering that above all else this is never easy. And nothing [of importance] is ever really fully resolved.
But how large is the gap between being born deaf and having once being a hearing person and then gone deaf?
IMDb
[b]Marlee Matlin won the Best Actress Academy Award for her role as Sarah Norman in this film. At 21 (actually 21 years and 218 days), she is the youngest ever winner of a Best Actress Oscar.
Marlee Matlin has only one spoken line in English during the entire film. The rest of her performance is in American Sign Language.[/b]
wiki
[b]Marking the film debut for deaf actress Marlee Matlin, Children of a Lesser God is notable for being the first since the 1926 silent film You’d Be Surprised to feature a deaf actor in a major role.
There was some criticism that the film was told entirely from a hearing perspective, for a hearing audience. The film is not subtitled (neither the spoken dialogue nor the signing); instead, as pointed out by Roger Ebert, the signed dialogue is repeated aloud by Hurt’s character, “as if to himself.”[/b]
CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD
Directed by Randa Haines
[b]Dr. Franklin: This is the most amazing résumé I’ve ever seen.
James: I’ve been with some really good schools. The best.
Dr. Franklin: All of them. All of the best. One right after another. You’ve also been with the Lucky Erin Bar and Grill.
James: Pittsburgh. Bartender.
Dr. Franklin: And a disc jockey.
James: Yeah, that was in Oklahoma. I used to broadcast in sign language.
Dr. Franklin: You’ve covered all the map, Mr. Leeds.
James: I’ve got a lot of energy.
Dr.Franklin: I’m sure you do have a lot of energy and a lot of new ideas. I did too when…
[signing like a long time ago]
Dr. Franklin: But nobody’s trying to change the world around here. Just trying to help a few deaf kids get along a little better. But that’s all. Everything else is razzle-dazzle. Am I making myself clear?
James: Yes, I believe that are you.
…
James: You know, if you let me, I bet I could teach you how to speak.
Sarah: And I could teach you to mop the floor.
James: But I don’t want to mop the floor.
Sarah: And I don’t want to speak.
[She walks away]
James [to himself]: Schmuck.
…
James [of the waiter]: He doesn’t think you’re stupid. He thinks you’re deaf. No. Only stupid hearing people think that deaf people are stupid.
…
Sarah: I don’t do anything I can’t do well.
…
Mrs Norman: Let’s get this straight. Sarah doesn’t want to see me.
James: Has she said why?
Mrs Norman: We don’t communicate very well.
James: Did you ever learn to sign? Some of the parents…
Mrs Norman: I’m really sick of you people coming here every few years asking the same questions, blaming me.
James: God. No one’s blaming you.
Mrs Norman: Of course they are. They can’t blame themselves. So, it’s all my fault. Fine. I don’t give a damn anymore.
…
James: I really just came to ask one question. What happened when Sarah tried to speak?
Mrs: Norman: What happened? She looked awful. She sounded awful. People made fun of her. What do you think?
…
Dr. Franklin: Yelling at the back of a deaf person, very good James. He’s been to all the best schools.
…
Sarah: Hearing boys? They could never be bothered to learn my language. I was always expected to learn to speak. Well, I don’t speak. Sex was always something I could do as well as hearing girls. Better! At first, I let them have me because they wanted to. Before long, the boys were lined up on a waiting list my sister kept for me. No introduction, no talk. Just went to a dark place and fucked. They didn’t even take me out for a Coke first.
…
James: Sarah…you are the most mysterious, beautiful, angry person I have ever met.
…
Dr Franklin: Oh, uh…your size?
James: Yeah.
Dr. Franklin: Be careful, Jimbo.
…
Dr. Franklin: Nobody’s going to fuck with one of my students.
James: She’s no student! She’s a -year-old woman!
Dr. Franklin: Alright, nobody’s going to fuck with one of my employees. It’s going to stop!
James: She’s quitting her job! She’s quitting. She’s moving in with me!
Dr Franklin: Oh. Oh, I see. She’s going to be your maid now, huh?
…
James: Sarah…what do you want?
Sarah: You.
James: You got me. What else?
Sarah: Children. I want deaf children.
James: What do you want me to say, that I want deaf children? No, I don’t. But if they were, that would be fine.
…
James [on phone]: Don’t translate that to Orin. Please. No, I’m not saying please. Wait a minute. That was Orin saying please. Look, it’s my fault. I probably sounded like myself instead of like the dorm counselor sounding like Orin.
…
James: You know I haven’t turned on my hi-fi since you…Hold it. That sounds like…like I’m blaming you for me not listening to music…Thank you. I will. I’ll rest my hands nd listen to something beautiful.
[Bach Plays]
James: I can’t enjoy it. I can’t, because you can’t.
…
James: What do you hear? I mean, is it just silence
Sarah: No one has ever gotten in there to find out.
James: Will you ever let me in?
…
Sarah: Nothing. I can do nothing. I’m equipped for nothing and trained for nothing. I feel like an idiot. You treat me like an idiot. You pity me. And now you see Marian…
James: What about Marian?
Sarah: Let me be me. You don’t. You want me to be a deaf person so you can change me into a hearing person!
…
Sarah: You don’t want to help anybody. You just want to change and control them. I think that you want me to speak. And I just want to be me.
James: Well, who the hell are you?!
…
Sarah: …you think for me, think for Sarah. As though there were no “I.” I will be with you, quit my job, learn how to play poker, leave Orin’s party, learn how to speak." That’s all you, not me. Until you let me be an “I” the way you are, you can never come inside my silence and know me. And I can’t let myself know you.
James: Well…that’s all very moving. But how are you going to manage? You can lock yourself back in your precious silent castle…I heard. I heard every word, goddamn it. I translated for myself. It went from your hands into my brain and out my mouth. And you know what? I think you’re lying. I don’t think that you think being deaf is so goddamn wonderful. I think that you’re scared to death to try. I think it’s nothing but stupid pride that’s keeping you from speaking right. You want to be on your own. You don’t want to be pitied. Then you learn to read my lips and use your mouth for something besides showing me you’re better than hearing girls in bed. Read my lips. What am I saying? You want to talk to me, then you learn my language. Did you understand that? Of course you did. You’ve probably been reading lips for years. But that’s the great control game, isn’t it? I’m the controller? What a fucking joke. Now, come on! Speak to me! Speak! Speak to me!
Sarah [all but screaming]: Aah! See my mouth! Aah! Hear my voice! I’m not afraid!
…
Mother: I sent you away because I didn’t know how to take care of you. Your father couldn’t accept you. He felt he’d failed…You’re right. I hated you for driving him away. Please forgive me.
…
Sarah: I have been angry since I was a little girl. I didn’t want to hurt again, so I used my anger to push you away. I’m sorry.
James: I’m sorry…for hurting you.
Sarah: But I learned from you. I learned that I can hurt…and I won’t shrivel up and blow away.
James: I don’t want to be without you, either. Do you think that we could find a place where we can meet not in silence and not in sound? [/b]