 |
| Henry Winkler and Linda Bove on Happy Days. |
Stories about deaf characters just aren't that common in popular culture. Try to think of some. Well, there's the movie Children of a Lesser God from 1986. That was definitely about deaf people. A whole deaf school, in fact. And then, uh... wasn't there a biopic about Beethoven a while back? Not the dog, the composer. I think Gary Oldman was in it. Immortal something. Was he even deaf in that one? I wouldn't know, since I didn't see it. And now I'm out of ideas. I guess there are occasional deaf and hard-of-hearing characters on TV, like Mrs. Richards (Joan Sanderson), the old biddy on Fawlty Towers who refused to use her hearing aid because it runs down the batteries. Not exactly a role model.
You'd think there would be more movies and TV shows about deaf characters since those are supposed to be visual media. But, in reality, most films and shows are really quite talky and dependent on dialogue. Especially sitcoms, which developed directly from radio programs. I wonder if deaf people appreciated silent movies and the work of wordless comedians like Keaton and Chaplin. Those were the golden days before Al Jolson opened his big mouth and ruined things forever.
I suppose I should be grateful for the 1980 Happy Days episode "Allison," which features Sesame Street regular Linda Bove as a deaf woman who briefly romances Fonzie (Henry Winkler). The problem is that, since stories about the deaf are so uncommon, when one does come along, it carries a tremendous responsibility to portray the deaf accurately, fully, and fairly. Can any one story be a "perfect" representation of deaf people or deaf culture? I don't think so. It's certainly an issue that Children of a Lesser God faced back in 1986, judging by some of the vintage reviews I read. The problem would disappear or at least recede a bit if there were more deaf characters in popular culture. There wouldn't be so much pressure on any one story to get all the details right.
This week on These Days Are Ours: A Happy Days Podcast, we talk about "Allison" and whether or not it's a good story or a good representation of deaf people. Join us!